I had good intentions...

...to purchase beets at the grocery store and make a healthy salad. Really, I did. Then I found this recipe: Beet cake with cream cheese frosting.


It really is a beautiful batter and looks like a natural substitute for red velvet cake. The natural dye eventually cooks out, leaving a moist cake.

It really was delicious, but I would probably grate the beets on the smaller holes of the vegetable grater for the next batch; the pieces were a little too large for cake.


All in all, a good recipe. It reminds me of V8 fusion - a great way for me to get my veggies...with cream cheese frosting on top.

Christmas, snow and Florida!

Hello again? Miss me? I've taken a little vacation from...everything. So here I am with an update of recent culinary adventures.

My car looked like this during the blizzard on December 19th:


So, I made chocolate chip cookies and this...

Mug cakes in less than 5 minutes!

Microwave for 90 seconds, or a little less, and you have fluffy cake deserving of a snow day. I would probably subtract some sugar next time, but otherwise, a decent recipe.

A few days later, I made yeast rolls from a great book: Mama Dip's Kitchen. Mama owned a fabulous restaurant by the same name in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which is a MUST visit if you are in the area. The book, unfortunately, does not list a few essential items including *cough* the oven temperature - so do yourself a favor and search on epicurious for yeast rolls.


Was my Christmas held in the freezing, snow-ridden, rainy, windy Maryland region? Heck, no! We flew ourselves down to Florida and enjoyed a lovely, green and warm Christmas. We even enjoyed champagne, beer and nibbles on the beach! I felt like Ina, without the assistance of her table-scape decorators. And sans hydrangeas and over-sized denim shirts.

My mother, who seriously needs to start her own food show, cooked up quite a feast Christmas evening.

Prime rib, asparagus, yorkshire pudding and buttery mashed potatoes. For dessert: ice cream sundaes with warm chocolate ganache.

Wow.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. Friday looks to be an awful weather day, which means TONS of cooking!

Chi-town

*snore, snore*

*nudge*

"Jen, you were having that dream again."

"Huh?"

"You know, about the perfect city."

"Oh yeah, the one with the four food groups."

"Yeah, I remember. Hot dogs, deep dish pizza, beer and beef."

"Yup. It was beautiful...but I froze to death."

"Yeah, Chicago can do that to you."

That was my dream - and it came to reality for a short 48 hours. Ladies & Gentlemen -- I give you Chicago.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Jen! You're a Baltimore girl! Born and bred!" Not entirely true, my friend. Let me explain.

When I was just a young bacon lover, my parents moved from Maryland to Alabama to Chicago. For one glorious (and freezing) year, we were locals. Back when metabolism was still working in our genes, we feasted on the local fare. I was too young to remember all this, but the impact was made - I became a foodie. Besides, I'm allergic to the local Baltimore fav, crabs.

So, my mom and I decided to go back to the place where it all began, foodie central.

We arrived in zero, as in 0, degree weather, on the hunt for prime rib. Lawry's met that need and exceeded it with accoutrements such as yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes with gravy and a spinning salad bowl. Umm....yes!!! Despite the fact that the restaurant and poor servers are straight from the 50's, we had one incredible meal that kept us warm for the frigid four block walk back to the hotel. (It was so cold that we had to stop at the John Hancock building for a nightcap. Don't judge.)

The next day, we stopped for breakfast at a local favorite, Tempo cafe. My mom ordered a lovely three egg omelette with cheddar and asparagus. I ordered banana nut pancakes. Everything was incredible. The pancakes were incredibly fluffy and the skillet that came with my mom's food had perfectly crispy home fries. When you sit, you are greeted with a prune and orange slice, homemade orange marmalade and an over-enthusiastic waiter desperately trying to serve you coffee. It was local, fast, clean and delicious. It was so good that we decided to go here for breakfast both days.

When walking to or from Tempo, stop in More Cupcakes, located right down the street on Delaware Ave.

A good recommendation for deep dish pizza? Pizano's Restaurant. I ordered

a classic with sausage and fresh mozzarella. Pair it with a Fat Tire beer, and you, my friend, have the perfect meal. The sauce was incredible and really fresh. New York pizza has NOTHING on this.

And how could we leave without hotdogs? We feasted on chili-cheese and Chi-town dogs with crinkle fries and an antacid shake.

*Sigh*

I thought I could only dream about such a place, but I'm glad it exists and is only a short plane ride away.

Much thanks to the greatest tour guide, my momma!

Rookie mistake.

There are few things that make me happier than my mom's cooking...especially when she volunteers to bring the main course. I had a lovely lunch with her, my step-daddy-o and the boyfriend. We decided to invite the 'rents over for a simple, hearty lunch since we have been recently smacked with freezing temperature. They also brought a lovely poinsettia!


My mom brought a delicious and spicy chili with a hint of cinnamon. Wow. I made my favorite Trader Joe's cornbread muffins with honey and curry as well as pan seared green beans.


For dessert, I decided to try a cupcake recipe from Gourmet.


Mini Vanilla Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache. Yummy, right? Yes, but there's something missing. They lack height. Umm...what happened?

Then, I suddenly heard my 8th grade home economics teacher scream in my ear, "Check the expiration date on the baking powder, dummy!"

*Slap on the forehead*

Great.

And that's it, ladies and gentlemen. Baking powder that was expired by ONE MONTH from today's date. They still tasted VERY yummy, but were probably slightly denser because of the lack of rise.

That'll teach me a lesson.

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

"Fra-GEE-Lay. That must be Italian!"

"I think that says FRAGILE, dear."

"Oh."

In case you don't know me personally, you simply don't understand my love of the greatest movie of all time, A Christmas Story. I look forward to watching it every Christmas and try my darndest to ONLY watch it during the month of December. I slip and sometimes watch it in July. Oh well.

Sauteed red cabbage is featured during the movie and really got me in the mood for the sweet, tangy flavor. I'll search for recipes this week and hopefully find a favorite soon.

Thanks to Dad for this lovely leg-lamp night-light.


And thanks to my cousin, Stephanie, for giving me this leg-lamp in a box Christmas ornament last year. Push a button on the back, and it recites memorable lines from the movie.

They have only added to my obsession.

Rest in Peace

I have been in mourning this week for two kitchen items that have crossed over to the other side. How am I to live without my griddle and food chopper? The griddle died during pancakes the other morning. It tried desperately to revive after only one batch was finished, but it slowly deteriorated after that moment. Within ten minutes, the little red light flickered one last time and slowly dimmed to nothing.

In an act of pure emotion over the death of the griddle, the top of the chopper flung itself from the top of the counter. It was found a few moments later, cracked in half. (Actually, I dropped the top when I was taking it out of the dishwasher).

Despite all the trauma, I've manager to whip together some Trader Joe's pumpkin waffles and crispy hash browns.


Oops...not enough batter.

I'll deal.

Ahhh...

I did it; I finished teaching my first college-level course in speech communication. And how do I celebrate, you ask? Well, we start with a pound of bacon and...gotcha! No bacon tonight, but I will catch-up soon, I promise. Tonight, we feast on tacos and beer.

Spicy-spicy chicken tacos, to be exact. First, marinade boneless chicken thighs in your choice of Mexican spices - but not, for crying out loud, not Chi Chi's dry rub - that's just criminal. If you cannot find a decent spice mix in the grocery store, improvise to your liking with these ingredients:

- chili powder
- cumin
- salt
- oregano
- salt
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- touch of cinnamon and clove

Mix together with A LOT of hot sauce and olive oil, marinade the chicken for 24 hours, grill on both sides, finish in a 325 degree oven and you'll get this...

DELICIOUS.

Add to a corn taco shell with black beans, corn and tomato salsa, a few slices of avocado and a squirt of lime. *Sigh* My very sad excuse for a local grocery store did not have any decent avocados in stock. Still, it was very tasty.

Add some lovely beer to the mix and you have one of my favorite meals.

Cheers!

Christmas gifts?

No peeking!

Thanks to a recent candy making class at the Cake and Wedding Cottage, I will try to re-create the CUTEST little "cupcakes" I have ever seen: cupcake bites.

Imagine a little Christmas bag with a few of these candy coated creations in red and green or blue and white. (Imagine my belly full of these when I have to "dispose" of the rejects - yikes!)

Thanks, Bakerella! Love your ideas!!