Monthly Archives: December 2014

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus

Lunch and Dinner

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I certainly did- the whole day was filled with family, friends, and lots of food. We had a delicious rib roast, broccoli, baked potatoes, and some fantastic asparagus! The asparagus was inspired by a book called The Flavor Bible that my brother gave me for Christmas, and it was so good that I decided you all should get the recipe too. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. green asparagus
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

First, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Set a wire rack in a baking sheet that the asparagus can sit on and roast. Then, wash the asparagus and trim the bottoms of the asparagus so that you only get the tender, green part instead of the woody ends. Set the asparagus aside. Now, combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice in a shallow plate or bowl.

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Toss the asparagus in the olive oil marinade and shake the excess marinade off. Arrange the asparagus on the baking sheet rack. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top.

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Put them in the oven, and roast them for about 15 minutes.  When they come out, the cheese should be melted and golden and bubbly, and the asparagus will be incredibly tender!

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Now you can either eat them from the rack, or plate them for a family dinner!

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These asparagus were so good! They were the first menu item gone, and we were wishing we had some more.  I would also suggest that you take a look at The Flavor Bible- it’s just a list of foods and different flavors that work well with those foods. Super helpful but still allows you to be creative! I hope you enjoy this recipe, and that you all have a happy New Year!

Santa’s Coal

Miscellaneous

Hi friends! Merry Christmas Eve! I have some awesome news for everyone- I’m engaged! That’s right, the same guy who has appeared in a few of my posts put a ring on it!

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That kept me occupied for several days, but I finally have some time to post, just in time for Christmas. If you’re strapped for a snack to bring to the holiday party tomorrow, I’ve got the perfect, quick, easy, DELICIOUS snack! It’s Muddy Buddy Popcorn (aka Puppy Chow Popcorn, aka “coal”). Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
  • 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 3/4 bag semisweet chocolate chips
  • Powdered sugar

First, pop the kernels, either in an air popper or in a pan on the stove. Then, melt the peanut butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave, and pour it over the popcorn. With a spoon or spatula, toss the popcorn so that the peanut butter coats the kernels

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Now, melt the chocolate chips, 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate over the popcorn and toss again until the popcorn is completely coated in chocolate.

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Now, sprinkle powdered sugar over the entire bowl and toss so that each piece of popcorn has some powdered sugar on it. If you want the popcorn to become white, it’ll take a lot of powdered sugar, so I just added about two cups.

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At this point, you can either eat it, or bake it to make it crispier. Bake it in an even single layer on a baking sheet covered with wax paper at 350ºF for about 5 minutes. Now, eat it or package it to make a cute little party favor or gift! I gave this to my future in-laws (!!!), and I really liked how the little jar favor looked! Enjoy!

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I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and that you remember the true reason for Christmas. God bless you!

Sunday Special Coffee Cake

Cakes and Cupcakes

Hello, everyone! Happy December! We had our first big snowfall where I live recently, and I’m loving it! Not only is it fun to play in, it gives me an excuse to stay inside and bake if I don’t feel like going outside in the cold. Today’s recipe is an oldie but goodie- Sunday coffee cake, originally created by McCall’s Great American Recipe Card Collection. This recipe came out when my mom was a little girl, and it’s still very popular in my family! It’s the perfect warm, sweet, light cake with the cinnamon topping swirled throughout the cake, crisp on the top and soft on the inside. Everything good about cake is in this recipe! Here are the ingredients:

Topping:

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake Batter:

  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

First, let’s make the topping. Put all the topping ingredients into a small bowl, and mix it up with your hands so that all of the ingredients are combined and the topping is crumbly.

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Set the topping aside and start on the batter. First, crack the egg into a small bowl. Using either a hand mixer or a little rotary beater, beat the egg until it’s frothy.

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Now, add in your sugar and butter, and mix until the ingredients are fully combined. Tip: If your butter is still hot out of the microwave when you’re ready to add it, put a little of the butter in and stir it around before adding all of the hot butter to the mixture. If you add all the hot butter in at once, you might end up with a cooked egg. Now, add the milk and vanilla in and mix well. The batter at this point will be very fluid.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix well until everything is fully combined. Pour the batter into a greased 8x8x2″ pan, sprinkle evenly with the topping, and bake at 375ºF for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

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When it’s done, you can either cool it or serve it hot. My family refused to let me cool the cake because they wanted to eat it then, and it tasted great! The topping melted down into the cake, and made delicious cinnamon swirls in the cake.

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Although this recipe is great as it is, feel free to try putting fruit into it, like blueberries, apples, or peaches. After you pour the batter into the pan, put the fruit into a little flour (this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake) and then drop the flour-dusted fruits on the top of the cake batter. Then, sprinkle with the topping as usual, and bake away! I personally think the peach one sounds the best, but experiment with whatever type you want, and see how it goes!

A warning: once you make this cake, people will beg you to make it again and again! Happy baking!