Wordless Wednesday

What's Baking: March

March was a difficult month for my What's Baking entry.

1. I didn't know what nationality I was. (Checked with mom Scotch Irish. Welsh on my dad's side.)
2. Great. Fascinating. Fun times.
3. Google Irish desserts.
4. Google Scotch Desserts.
5. Google English Desserts.
6. Guess what.... this region is not known for desserts!

Bread and hard breads seem to be popular but the Irish are known for using what they have and making do with it. I also didn't want to make the normal Irish soda bread. I've never had soda bread or brown bread until I made it but the Brown Bread sounded more interesting.There are also lots of arguments saying that real Irish bread doesn't have anything "extra" in it, ie raisins, caraway seeds and that these are more of Americanized ingredients.

As I was making this, I made on a comment on Facebook and a friend of mine who had been to Ireland said that Irish Brown Bread was something she loved from her trip. SCORE! Something that we will actually eat!

I was very surprised by this bread! It was a hardy bread but had a wonderful flavor. It was sweet but not a sweet bread. It reminded me of the bread at Outback but not as strong in flavor. It's definitely a bread I can see myself making again.

Irish Brown Bread
recipe adapted from Homegrown Heaven Bound Cookbook

1 3/4 cups flour (can be a mixture of whole wheat, white, or both)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 teaspoons margarine (or butter),softened
1 cup oatmeal ( or 1/3 cup bran, cracked wheat, and wheat germ)
1 beaten egg
Buttermilk
raisins, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients. Add in margarine. Mix in beaten egg and enough milk to make dough stiff but not liquid. (I used about a cup of buttermilk.) Spoon dough into greased loaf pan and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. 

The original recipe says to enjoy with butter and sharp cheese and strong Irish Tea. Enjoy!



Also linked to Tasty Tuesday on Beauty and Bedlam and Tasty Tuesday on 33 Shades of Green

Menu Plan Monday

Monday-- Crossiant Egg Muffins and hashbrowns

Tuesday--  Sweet Potato Tacos

Wednesday-- Trader Joe's Orange chicken and fried rice and cucumber salad

Thursday-- PW's Edna Mae Sour Cream Pancakes and Bacon

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--- taking the day off of work and heading out of town for my best friend's wedding shower that I'm hosting!


This is being linked to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday

Banana Bars with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

This could also be known as Peanut Butter yummy cake if you work with me. But alas, there is not even peanut butter in it.

The icing was also an effort to use up cinnamon because I'm getting close to the bet being over and emptying the bottle of cinnamon is taking longer than I thought it would. (but that's ok too!)

I'm begining to think that I like having leftover bananas because then I can try new recipes! This bar was awesome! I wasn't quite sure how I would like it but  it's definitely worth waiting on bananas to get brown!

Banana Bars

recipe adapted from this recipe on Beauty and Bedlam

1/2 cup butter,softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup ripe bananas, mashed (about 3 medium)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs, bananas and vanilla. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt. Add flour mixture to butter and sugar mixture and mix well.

Pour into a greased, 15″ x10″ x 1″ (jelly roll pan).

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until bars test done. Cool. Frost with Cream Cheese Icing.

 Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick  butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 tsp. milk

2 tsp. cinnamon 

16 oz. powdered sugar

Beat together the cream cheese and butter until well mixed. Add in powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat together until incorporated. Spread over cooled Banana Bars.

 

Linked to

Family Friendly Fridays at Mommie Cooks

Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies  

Saturday Swap at Quit Eating Out

Spinoccoli Pizza

Annie's Eats is probably hands down my favorite food blog. I love everything about her blog and first found it as a "newlywed" a few years ago. If I am searching for a recipe, I normally go to her blog first and then see what I can find and then go from there.

This recipe is actually an Annie original. I knew that I would love it as soon as I saw it. It is now my favorite pizza. I normally make it once and a month and love that the boys will eat it too! The cheese sauce may seem complicated but it is really simple and totally worth the extra effort!

Spinoccoli Pizza
recipe adapted from this recipe on Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

For the white sauce:

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. flour

¾ cup heavy cream or half-and-half

1 clove garlic, smashed (I used minced and have had no issues.)

Salt and pepper, to taste

6 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese



For the pizza:

Pizza dough ( I used Trader Joe's pizza dough.)

Olive oil, for brushing

½ cup packed baby spinach leaves, torn

1 cup very small broccoli florets

2 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Grated Parmesan, optional



To make the white sauce:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook until bubbling and golden in color, about 1 minute. Whisk in the heavy cream and garlic, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and bubbles. Remove from the heat and whisk in the grated Parmesan until completely melted and smooth. I like a lot of sauce on my pizza but this is where you can use your discretion as to how much you use. (One of my friends actually had the idea of using asiago cheese instead of parmesan. He loves the asiago cheese sauce at Macaroni Grill and wanted to recreate it.)



To make the pizza:

Preheat the oven and a pizza stone at 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round. I roll out my pizza on parchment paper so it is easier to transfer the pizza from the rolling surface to the pizza stone as I don't have a pizza peel. Brush the perimeter of the pizza dough with olive oil. Spread a thin layer of the white sauce over the crust, leaving a border clear around the edge for the crust. Sprinkle the torn spinach leaves over the white sauce. Evenly distribute the broccoli florets over the pizza dough. Top pizza with the shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Finish with additional grated Parmesan, if desired. Transfer the pizza to the preheated pizza stone and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the crust is lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday--Pasta with Roasted Garlic

Tuesday-- Breakfast Taquitos

Wednesday--  Pizza using Philadelphia Cooking Creme (I got some for free and want to use it!)

Thursday--  BBQ Crockpot Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries (didn't make this last week)

Friday--  Flounder

Pineapple Cobbler

This weekend will be a very bittersweet weekend for me and my family.

My Grammie would have been 93 on Sunday (3/20) and this will be

the first birthday since she has been gone.

I've really been dreading writing this post because I didn't know how I could get through it without crying. The loss of Grammie still feels very fresh and I miss her tremendously.

I know that she would be mad though if we didn't go on with our lives because she hated being a burden but she truly was not a burden at all. She lived with my mom the last two years of her life and it was so much fun having her around all the time.

I could tell the weekend that we went home for Cole's 1st Birthday party that she wasn't feeling very well and was trying to make it a great occasion for us. She stayed in the kitchen with me the entire time I was cooking and baking away. She would just sit and read like she always would. That was the last weekend I saw her and 10 days later she went to be with Our Lord and Savior.

Pineapple cobbler was her favorite weeknight dessert. Yes, I said weeknight dessert. Because, It's so easy to mix together it makes a great weeknight treat. We love pineapple in my family (mainly because it is something EVERYONE will eat). So why not put it into a cobbler and enjoy it warm! When we moved to South Carolina, this was the first recipe she for from me! It's definitely a treat!

She loved desserts and I would always tell her when I wanted to make this and sometimes she would even have this for breakfast!

Pineapple Cobbler

recipe from my mom, pineapple is my addition

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup of self rising flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup of milk

1 can of pineapple chunks or tidbits,drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter into 9 by 9 baking dish and place into oven to melt. Watch the butter carefully as it could burn quickly. Once the butter is melted, let cool for a few minutes. Add drained pineapple to baking dish.

Mix together in a bowl the flour,sugar, and milk. Pour the dough onto the pineapple and butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Enjoy! 

  

Peanut Butter Frosting

A few weeks ago at work, we were really craving a baked good of some sort. Obviously, this cake was a day late of our craving but it was still so good!

I did cheat and made a regular chocolate cake from a cake mix. But the frosting. Oh the frosting. There was something so good about this peanut butter frosting.

While I love cake and sometimes don't want frosting, this frosting was definitely worth the effort!

Peanut Butter Frosting

recipe adapted from this recipe

printable recipe

1/2 cup butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

 4 cups confectioners sugar,sifted

 1/3 cup cream or milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy (You can use hand mixer or stand mixer). Slowly beat in 1/2 of the confectioners sugar. Mix in 1/4 cup of the cream or milk. Beat in the remaining confectioners' sugar. If necessary, add a little more cream or milk until the frosting reaches spreading consistency.

 Makes enough to frost one 2 layer 9 inch cake or one 9x13 inch cake.

Bacon Coleslaw

This coleslaw is all my husband's doing and his creation. We often crave this but yet I can not make it like he can.  My husband is a chef but he doesn't cook that often. I think that it is one of those ideas that since he is off he doesn't want to think about cooking.

He first made this coleslaw for me a few months after we were married and I kept wondering why he hadn't made it before. This is not the ideal healthy side but definitely something good for a change!

The hardest part about getting this recipe was that he doesn't measure ingredients. He throws things in a bowl and hopes it works. Last night I finally asked him step by step what he was putting in the bowl. He thinks these are the amounts that he puts in it!

Bacon Coleslaw

recipe from my husband

printable recipe

1/2 bag coleslaw mix

1/4 red onion, diced

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tbsp. cider vinegar

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. white sugar

3 pieces of Bacon, cooked and crumbled

Combine all ingredients but coleslaw mix into a bowl and stir until well combined. Add coleslaw mix and stir until coleslaw is well coated. This can be eaten immediately or refrigerated for later. Enjoy!


Linked to
Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam



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Wordless Wednesday

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

It seems that every week that I buy bananas, I always have a few that go brown too fast. Because of this, I am always on the search for new ways to make banana bread or muffins or cake.

I've had this recipe printed out for over a year and finally got around to making it.

I would have to say that this recipe certainly surprised me.

The muffins were extremely moist and I love what the chocolate added to them.

These will definitely be made again!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

recipe adapted from this recipe from Laura's Recipe Collection

printable recipe

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 egg

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup plain yogurt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 3 bananas

¾ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease 2 muffin pans or place liners in the tins.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the egg, bananas, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract.

Pour the flour mixture into the banana mixture and blend on low speed until just combined. Gently beat in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter into prepared muffin tin.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from the muffin pan.


Linked to
Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam
Tasty Tuesday at 33 Shades of Green

Menu Plan Monday!

This is being linked to Menu Plan Monday at Org Junkie!

Monday-- Chicken Taquitos

Tuesday-- (Shrove Tuesday)-- Pancakes and Sausage are the family tradition!!

Wednesday (Ash Wednesday- vegetarian Meal)-- Spicy Black Bean Burritos (we didn't have these last week)

Thursday-- Leftover

Friday-- going out of town for the weekend -- Fridays during Lent will be either meatless meals or meals with Fish involved-(The Chef and I found out the hard way last year that there aren't very many restaurants here that serve fish that we like.)

Roasted Shrimp Po Boys

I'm not much of a sandwich person but if there is one sandwich that I do love It is a Po'Boy.

I also love remoulade sauce and I have access to it pretty much any time I want it made already (thank you hubby!), I just have to ask my husband to bring some home from work!

This was the case last weekend. We always make a Sunday dinner but I was wanting something different for Sunday dinner and decided on these Po'Boys from Annie's Eats but I cheated a little by getting the dressing from his restaurant.

Roasted Shrimp Po' Boys

Po' Boys adapted from this recipe on Annie's Eats

Roasted Shrimp adapted from this recipe on Sing for Your Supper

For the remoulade sauce:

½ cup plus 2 tbsp. mayonnaise

2 tbsp. stone ground mustard

1 clove gminced garlic

1½ tbsp. pickle juice

½ tsp. prepared horseradish

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

¼ tsp. paprika

Dash of hot sauce



For the sandwiches:

2 pounds (12 to 15-count) shrimp

1 tablespoon good olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Sub or Hoagie Rolls

Lettuce and Tomato for topping the sandwich







Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and devein the shrimp. Place them on a sheet pan with the olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread them in 1 layer. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through. Set aside to cool.

To make the remoulade sauce just combine all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor or bowl and mix together.

Make the Po'Boy with the roasted shrimp, remoulade, hoagie roll, lettuce, and tomato.Enjoy!








Linked to Family Friendly Fridays at Mommie Cooks

Vanilla Stuffed Strawberry Cupcakes

Every Spring, I always look forward to fresh, ripe, red strawberries. I have a weird obsession with strawberries. I only like them fresh. The idea of a frozen strawberry is just sickening to me. There is nothing better than strawberries with angel food and some fresh whipped cream. I know I'm weird!

There is a local restaurant that makes a Fried Strawberry Shortcake and it would be so much better with FRESH strawberries. They use the ice cream sundae type of strawberries and it has a lot of gel to me. I've only gotten that dessert once because Cameron wanted it and I figured it was summer (at the time) and would be a nice treat.

I have been wanting to make this recipe since last Spring and I finally made it over the weekend. Wow! As easy as it was, it packed a lot of flavor and the custard truly made it.

Vanilla Stuffed Strawberry Cupcakes

recipe adapted from April 2010 Southern Living

printable recipe

1 package Angel Food Cake Mix

2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups halved fresh strawberries

Vanilla Bean Custard*

Preheat the oven to 325 degree. Place baking liners into muffin cups and do not grease them. Prepare angel food according to directions on box. Stir in vanilla paste. Carefully spoon batter into baking cups, filling completely full. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack and then remove from pans and cool completely.

Scoop out centers of cupcake, leaving a 1/2 inch border on bottom and sides. Spoon or pipe vanilla bean custard into the center of the cupcake. Top with Strawberries and desired garnish.

*Vanilla Bean Custard recipe*

2 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 egg yolks

2 tsp. vanilla bean paste OR 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk Together first 4 ingredients in a 3 quart sauce pan. Cook over medium-heat, whisking constantly, for 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla bean paste. Cover (I cover with saran wrap) and chill for 3 hours.

Linked to

Cupcake Tuesday at Hoosier Homemade

Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam

Mouthwatering Mondays

Tasty Tuesday at 33 Shades of Green

Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

I'm Loving It at Tidy Mom