Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Why, pray tell, is pumpkin only an fall food?? I mean, the canned stuff on the shelf year-round. And it tastes good year-round. And by good, I mean amazing. I love pumpkin. Nom nom nom nom nom. Get the picture?

I’ve love starting the morning with a smoothie. They don’t take long, they’re filling, nutritious, and easily adaptable.

Pre-blending. Not so pretty.

Since I’ll be gone all summer, I’ve been trying to use of a bunch of excess stuff I had in my pantry. So most recipes I’ll be posting will be part of a “cleaning out my pantry” series. I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry so I figured I should use it. Why not?? Just because its spring? Pshhh….bring on the pumpkin.

Recipe from: Oh She Glows

1 Tblsp Ground Flaxseed
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
1 heaping tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tsp Molasses
1/2 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
4-5 Cubes of Ice

Smokey Sweet Potato Homefries

Apparently I’m on a breakfast kick. I already told you I could eat breakfast for every meal so just go with it.

The boys loved these. But, I’ve determined they may not be the best taste testers since they seem to love everything. The Nutella cheesecake that I couldn’t get to set; they said “What are you talking about?! It tastes fantastic!” The time I couldn’t get my Texas Gold Bars just quite right; they begged for the whole pan. Maybe aesthetics don’t matter at all. I could just through a bunch of their favorite foods in bowl and hand them a spoon.

These called for smoked paprika. So I sprinkled it on. Then I saw chipotle powder in my spice drawer. And I smelled the essence of smokiness from the paprika. Then I looked back at the chipotle powder.

Yeah…it was asking, no begging, to be sprinkled on top of these succulent, smokey chunks of sweet potatoes.

So I did as the chipotle requested and dusted a little on top. It was a lovely little marriage.

Recipe adapted from: How Sweet It Is

2 large sweet potatoes-peeled and cut in cubes
1 small sweet onion-diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1-2 tblsp EVOO

Heat a skillet and EVOO over medium heat. Add onion. Season the sweet potato cubes with salt, pepper, paprika and chipotle powder. Add to skillet. Let brown, flip. Serve when softened.

Oh…and do that whole mimosa thing again. You still deserve one.

S’mores Pancakes and Brinner

I love breakfast food. In the morning. At night. For lunch. Brunch. Snack. Midnight feasts. And apparently brinner. (Remember the world’s best french toast?)

So when Josh asked for a “brinner” to celebrate his birthday and the end of finals, I couldn’t wait.
I had seen a recipe for s’mores pancakes recently, but decided to play around with it a little and see what I could do. I knew I had to have some graham flavor (I love graham crackers), chocolate and ‘mallow. (“Then you take the ‘mallow…” -Sandlot, anyone? Anyone?? ok. Moving on). I was quite happy with this concoction and, of course, the whole group loved them. I’m gonna miss my taste testers!

The usual group came, plus one of Scott’s friends from out of town, Brooks. Brooks brought some mexican martinis to the mix, Grant made breakfast burritos, Becca and Josh brought biscuits and I made pan sausage and white gravy to top the biscuits (we’re obviously southern), I made brown sugar bacon, some Pumpkin pancakes from a mix I got at one of my favorite restaurants, Kerby Lane, and some s’mores pancakes.

None of it made sense together. But, we didn’t care. Honestly, we were exhausted from the tediousness of the past week, the stress of the finals we’d just taken and all that mattered was spending out last weekend together before finals.

And, of course, it was an excellent way to put some food away before our partying. ; ) Yeah…it was the last day of finals. And we would be slowly leaving town over the next week. Its what we do.

Recipe adapted from: Food.com

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tblsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tblsp melted butter
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat griddle to medium/medium-high. Mix flours, graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a seperate bowl, mix egg, butter and milk until frothy. Add to wet ingredients and stir together. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour small amount onto griddle and cook a few minute on each side until golden brown.

Marshmallow sauce from: Can Do You Stay For Dinner?

1 cup marshmallow fluff
2 tblsp boiling water

Mix until mixture is syrup-y.

Top pancakes with fluff syrup and extra chocolate chips. EAT.

Oh…and have a mimosa, too. You deserve it!

Tiramisu French Toast

Before finals, the law school professors serve the students a “not-quite-midnight breakfast”. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit trays, biscuits and gravy. All dished up by our profs at about 9 pm on the last day of class. Its a wink-and-a-nudge to the fact that we’re in for numerous sleepless nights over the next couple of weeks.

So for my traditional sunday night dinner with the boys (my Law School Family), I decided we should do our own, even better, breakfast for dinner. The week before, I had made a tiramisu tart. Surprisingly, the boys informed me that they loved tiramisu. Which was good news because I had leftover mascarpone cheese. Lots of it.

Some of the ingredients

Note: Even after this meal, I still have leftover mascarpone cheese. I should never shop with out a list. I overestimate everything.

mmm....Kahlua

Then I found a recipe for Tiramisu French Toast. Problem solved…partially. Gooey, sweet, luscious. With Coffee. Perfect, pre-finals indulgence.

The recipe called for instant coffee powder. But I has espresso powder on hand from the Tiramisu tart. And I had some Kahlua. Yeah…I did that. Mmmmm Kahlua. Liquor and coffee. Two of my favorite things. Bottled together. I mixed them in all of their goodness with the honey and mascarpone cheese.

Hello, delicious, creamy, perfection. How nice of you to join us for dinner.

We rounded out the meal with some brown sugar baked bacon (which Rachel Ray once taught me all about), some scrambled eggs with a little gruyere cheese shaved on top, and some smoky sweet potato homefries (recipe to come later).

Oh…and Mimosas. Don’t forget the mimosas. Just one more way our dinner was better than the one the school serves.

Tiramisu French Toast
Serves 4-6

Recipe adapted from: How Sweet It Is

1 Loaf Challah Bread
8 Large Eggs
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Tblsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tblsp Instant Espresso Powder (divided)
1/2 Tblsp Sugar
1 Cup Mascarpone Cheese
1 Tblsp Honey
1 Tblsp Kahlua
Butter for griddle
1/2 Tblsp Cocoa Powder
Maple Syrup for Serving

1. Dissolve 1/2 tblsp espresso powder in 1 tblsp Kahlua. Microwave for about 10 seconds if needed to help dissolve. In separate bowl, mix mascarpone cheese, honey, and dissolved espresso powder and Kahlua. Set aside.
2. Whisk eggs, heavy cream, 1/2 Tblsp Espresso Powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Then transfer to baking dish to dredge the bread.
3. Preheat griddle or pan to medium to medium high heat.
4. Slice Challah bread in 1/2 inch slices.
5. Melt about a tablespoon of butter on griddle or pan.
5. Place challah slices in egg bath and let soak each side for about 30 seconds. Once coated, place on griddle. Let cook for about 1 minute (or until slightly browned) on each side.
6. Let the coated and cooked bread cool for about 1 minute before coating with the mascarpone mixture (it’ll melt if you put it on to early, but you still want nice warm french toast). Dust with cocoa powder. Drizzle with syrup and serve.

Enjoy.

*This was my first “food photography” experiment. Hopefully you’ll see my skills progress infinitely as I post more recipes. Thanks for bearing with me.

Nesting

I’ve been on a cooking/baking kick lately. Even more than is normal for me. I’ve started weekly “family dinner” for 3 of my great guy friends, which is nice just to give us a chance to hang out, force me to clean, give me a chance to try new recipes, and have a few glasses of wine with excellent company. Seriously, I’m so happy with my new friends here that I hardly leave. Don’t worry, I haven’t partaken in any kool-aid parties or joined a religious cult…yet.

Also, i’ve been baking cupcakes and taking them to school so ravenous law students can quiet their hunger pangs. Maybe I’m buying friends…but I like to cook and they aren’t complaining. Maybe I’ll have enough winning recipes to sell some creations to a coffee shop for some extra dough this summer. Get it…dough?? Yeah, I’m cheesy.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a few creations with you. I’ve been following a lot of cooking blogs lately and all of my ideas have come from there. I really recommend checking out cooking blogs; they’re like free cookbooks with lots of pictures. And you can find like a recipe for anything.

First; peanut butter cupcakes with peanut butter icing and chocolate ganache. (where i learned my first cardinal rule of cupcaking: let the cupcakes cool before icing)

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Second: red velvet with buttercream

Next: Graham with key lime cream cheese (note, my iPhone photgraphing of my cooking has gotten better. The good pics will get their own post)

Vanilla almond with maple cream cheese icing

Finally: apple cupcakes with caramel

Yum!! Stay posted for more pics and recipes!

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