Lobster bisque

Well here's another winner to add to the recipe arsenal. Lobster bisque.

For Christmas my mother, who works at QVC, sent to me and my husband a box of lobster tails and filet mignon. While I don't eat meat, I DO eat fish. And boy, do I love lobster! So I decided to make a nice soup using the lobster.

I found the original recipe here from Allrecipes.com and I have to say it was easy; most definitely a keeper.

LOBSTER BISQUE:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chicken broth
2 medium slices onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound cooked and cubed lobster meat
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper


DIRECTIONS:

In a small frying pan place 1/4 cup chicken broth and the onion. Cook over a low heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

In a medium size pot over medium heat melt the butter. Slowly whisk in flour. Whisk until a creamy mixture is created.Gradually pour in broth, whisking constantly. Whisk in milk, salt, onion, lobster meat, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper. Heat until soup is almost boiling. Do not boil the soup as the milk will curdle when boiled.

PERSONAL NOTES:

Mostly I followed the recipe as written. A few changes I made included: using 1C half and half and 1C fat free half and half instead of using regular milk.  I also added garlic when cooking the onions (which I actually used shallots) and 2TBSP tomato paste - to give the soup a pinkish color. It was really yummy!!!

Oh - and I also added 3 small new potatoes. I left on the skin and chopped them into small cubes.  I baked them in the oven for about 15 minutes to soften them up for a little while. Then when adding the flour to the frying pan, I made sure the potatoes were in there first, then I added an additional TBSP flour to bring it up to 3 TBSP total.

I let it simmer for about another 20 minutes before eating.

Cinnamon Swirl Blondies

So even though we're deep in the throes of the holiday season, I decided not to go the way I did last year baking RIDICULOUS amounts of cookies, etc. But that doesn't mean I'm not baking at all. I'm simply being more selective about my choices.

That said, I've been going through my Pinterest boards and came upon this one that I wanted to try out. It looked yummy and the recipe seemed easy enough. The outcome: It was and yes.

CINNAMON SWIRL BLONDIES

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE BLONDIES:
2/3 cup unsalted butter (although if you prefer your blondies a little salty, use salted butter)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

FOR THE CINNAMON SWIRL:
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8" baking pan. In a small saucepan, melt the 2/3 cup butter, and let it cook until it is golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar, and stir until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. In the same saucepan you used to melt the butter for the blondie batter, melt the 1/4 cup butter for the cinnamon swirl. Add the sugar and cinnamon and stir to combine. Drizzle the cinnamon sauce over the blondie batter and use a butter knife to swirl it in. Don't bother trying to do a fancy pattern; it just all melts together! Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it. Cool completely before serving. 

PERSONAL NOTES:

I followed this recipe to the letter. It was easy to put together and it came out GREAT. These are really very much like brownies only with vanilla and gooey cinnamon swirls throughout. SO GOOD. I will definitely make these again (and probably bring up to the in-laws for Christmas :)

Chocolate Pumpkin Cakes with Cream Cheese (Oreo) Frosting

My goodness, where has the summer gone??? Tomorrow is Labor Day, the unofficial end of the summer season. Boo! I'm sad. It's been a good few months.

My kitchen was completely overhauled. That took almost 2 months (my husband and I did it all ourselves - LOTS of work!). Then a few weeks ago my pc died. Just like that, in a flash. There goes all the pictures I was accumulating for new posts I was hoping to add to the blog. Eventually, when my husband fixes/rebuilds the pc I'll get those pics back. In the meantime, I've been building up a new library of photos for all the delectable dishes I made.

Yum.

That said, next up is a combination of recipes. 

Pumpkin Muffins.  Recipe can be found here.

Cream Cheese Icing. Recipe can be found here.

 

 

The good news is, this is really easy to make! Since the cake part itself is only 2 ingredients, you can't possibly mess it up. Seriously.  The originaly recipe calls for yellow cake mix with the canned pumpkin but what I did was use devil's food cake. You pretty much can't taste the pumpkin. So what are you left with? A yummy chocolate cake that is much lower in calories/fat than the regular boxed recipe. You're using no eggs, no oil. Pumpkin. It's healthier! Yay! 

If the frosting is cream cheese frosting, why does mine look like chocolate frosting? There's a very simple answer to that: I added a couple of Oreo cookies when mixing the icing. Sweet!

Oh, and what's that in the middle of the cupcake? That's right - it's a whole Oreo cookie. YUM!

So I supposed the "healthy" version of the cake didn't end up so completely healthy. Not with the added bonuses - but they are really yummy! I promise!

Avocado, Corn & Tomato Salad

What a yummy summer winner! I came across this recipe here and decided to give it a shot.

As it turns out, my kitchen is STILL under renovation (since, hell-o, MEMORIAL DAY weekend!!!). So cooking/baking anything is pretty tough.  Hence, I've been on a mission for two things. One: NO MORE TAKE-OUT. I swear, I've gained at least 6 pounds in the last 6 weeks.  And two: finding and making recipes that don't require any cooking.

This is how I turned to this current recipe.  And it is delicious! It only takes about 15 minutes to make (that includes the cooking time for the corn). I prepared everything else while the corn was cooking.  Then I soaked the corn in cold water for about 2 minutes before slicing it off.

Here it is...

AVOCADO, CORN & TOMATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

6 ears corn

3 large fresh tomatoes

1/2 large onion or about 1 cup chopped ( I used a sweet onion)

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

two to three sprigs fresh oregano (optional)

2 tablespoons white vinegar ( I used white balsamic)

1/4 cup olive oil

coarse sea salt

fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Boil corn in large pot of water for about 7 minutes. Drain and plunge corn into cool water. Cut corn off cob and set aside to cool completely.

Chunk tomatoes and onion. Coarsely chop basil and strip the oregano off stems. Place cooled corn, chopped vegetable and herbs into large bowl. Toss with vinegar and olive oil. Season to taste. Serve chilled or room temperature

Tips:

-The recipe called for white vinegar, but I love white balsamic (sweeter) vinegar. Apple cider vinegar would also work. I don't recommend regular balsamic vinegar. The dark red color will discolor the onion and corn and the overall look of the salad will change.

 

PERSONAL NOTES:

The original recipe calls for white balsamic vinegar.  That would certainly work.  I used a cabernet vinegar. So it was red, but as you can tell by my pictures it didn't turn the salad completely red.

It's so refreshing and simple to make!

Double Decker Oreo Fudge

Yes, I've been experimenting with fudge. Once I found out how ridiculously easy it was to make I've been putzing around with different ideas.  This one isn't exactly mine (original recipe can be found here) but I played around with it to bring you the following...

DOUBLE DECKER OREO FUDGE

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk, portioned in half

10 Oreos, chopped

1 cup white chocolate

2 tablespoon butter

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

1. Split sweetened condensed milk in half and set aside. Chop Oreos and set aside
2. Place white chocolate, one ½ of sweetened condensed milk, 2 tablespoon of butter in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Stir and mix until melted and combined. Fold in Oreos and stir to combine. Pour mixture into pan.
3. Place semi-sweet chocolate and remaining half sweetened condensed milk in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Stir and mix until melted and combined. Pour mixture on top of Oreo layer and refrigerate for 1 an hour to set.
4. Remove from refrigerator and peel away foil once set. For ease of cutting make sure to clean knife between cuts to prevent sticking.

PERSONAL NOTES:

As I've mentioned, these are ridiculously easy to make. That's actually a liability as I've eaten far too much of this lately. I really need to slow it down on the sugar!  Bad, bad... but oh so good...

Chocolate Caramel Macchiato Pie

This is serious guys.  Chocolate. Caramel macchiato. Pie.  All rolled into one bit of fabulousness.

Tomorrow is the Roaring 20's Lawn Party on Governor's Island.  This will be the first time attending.  For the last 5 years or so I was either working or in a yoga teacher training program.  This year I was determined to BE THERE.

That said, my sister-in-law informed me of a pie contest at the event and encouraged me to register.  So I did.  Then the big question of which pie would I make arose.  I tried experimenting with a few different options, but I'm pretty sure this chocolate caramel macchiato pie is the one I'm going with.  It's YUMMY.  And...it's pretty much all my own creation.  Well - at least the combination of layers involved.  The recipes are all from different places - none I can truthfully say are all mine.

I started with a sugar cookie layer, then espresso chocolate chip, then caramel, topped off with Oreo cookie truffle.

Here it is...

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL MACCHIATO PIE

INGREDIENTS:

For the sugar cookie layer:

1 1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C plus 2 TBLS margarine (I use butter sometimes)
1 C granulated sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the espresso chocolate chip layer:

1/2  stick butter, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 of a large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tsn instant espresso coffee powder

3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

For the caramel layer:

25 caramel candies
2 Tbls heavy cream

For the Oreo cookie layer:

1 package Oreo cookies
1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened

DIRECTIONS:

For the sugar cookie mix:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.  Using a mixer, cream together margarine and 2 C sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Slowly beat in dry mixture.

For the espresso chocolate chip mix:

Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 30 seconds. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

For the caramel layer:

Place the caramel candies in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the heavy cream and stir until completely melted. Pour hot caramel mixture over shortbread crust and spread into an even layer. Refrigerate until set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

For the Oreo cookie truffle layer:

Using a blender or hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a layer of sugar cookie mix on bottom of 8x8 pan (or just use a pie pan).  Chill at least 30 minutes (or an hour) then layer on the espresso chocolate chip mix.  Bake for about 10-15 minutes (or until edges turn brown) and allow to cool for about 20 minutes. 

Drizzle on the caramel and chill for about an hour.

Top off pie with the Oreo cookie truffle mix and chill again for about an hour.  Serve and enjoy!

PERSONAL NOTES:

Oh my, are these just yummy!  Since I pretty much put all of these layers together myself I already included any important notes.  If you let the pie sit out for a few minutes before eating it will be a little softer.  Either way it is DELICIOUS! Plus, my husband gave it 2 thumbs up so it passed the test :)

Keeping my fingers crossed it wins tomorrow!!!

Cake Batter Fudge

I'm learing it takes quite a bit of time when you undertake an entire kitchen renovation on your own.  And that's where a great deal of my time is spent, energy is focused.  However, I have made efforts to do some baking while waiting for everything to be hooked up, put back, finished/re-finished, etc...

As it turns out, my husband and I headed to NJ to see his brother (and family).  Not only do I not go anywhere empty handed, but if at all possible I bake something from scratch. That said, I made a batch of cake batter fudge. It was simple and didn't require dirtying up too many dishes. As a matter of fact, I used one bowl to mix the ingredients and a tray to spread out the fudge.  Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.

The original recipe can be found here, but I was inspired by the fun coloring/display as posted here by another blogger.  The first recipe is easy and fast, but I liked the idea of dropping in blue swirl to liven up the dessert.  YUM!

CAKE BATTER FUDGE

INGREDIENTS:

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
3.5 cups white chocolate chips
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
Rainbow Sprinkles


DIRECTIONS:

Pour milk and white chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 2-3 minutes, or until white chocolate is almost completely melted. DO NOT OVERHEAT. Stir until completely blended, melted, and smooth.

Immediately add vanilla and almond and combine thoroughly. Add a handful or so of rainbow sprinkles and fold in quickly, because they will melt (and if they are stirred for too long they’ll turn the fudge an ugly muddy color).

Transfer to an aluminum-foil lined 8×8 inch baking pan for very thick fudge, or a 11X7 pan (recommended). Let set at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Once set, cut into cubes (and peel off the foil!). Store leftovers in an airtight container in a cool place.


PERSONAL NOTES:

This was ridiculously easy to make.  I think the whole thing took 10 minutes, tops.  Of course, that doesn't include the setting time, but if you're looking for something fast to make (and you don't need it immediately), this is your dish. 

The only downside to this recipe is that I don't find it tastes a whole lot like cake batter. It's good - don't get me wrong (maybe even too good - I almost can't stop eating it once I start), but it tastes more like white chocolate fudge than anything else.