I miss this

I miss baking. I really do.

My collection of recipes keeps growing. But I don't bake much anymore.

Why?

Lots of reasons.

Grad school - yes, but not so much the main reason.
Healthy eating- certainly another reason. Yummy desserts aren't exactly on the paleo diet.
Busy - There is a lot of things to do these days, and not a lot of time to do them.
Mess- I am a messy baker, I will admit that. So baking for the blog means my kitchen gets destroyed. Then I have to clean it up. If only I had a maid :-D

But as I sit here thinking about my paper, and processing how I will write it, all I really want to be doing is baking and writing a blog post about it.

Maybe I will start using it as a procrastination tool (JK mom and dad)

So hopefully I find myself back in the kitchen soon. I miss you all. Sorry this blog has become stale and stagnant.

HA!

Since I started grad school, the baking and blogging have been at a minimum, and the stress has been at a MAX..

I am thinking I could adopt this chick's style and combat both problems!

So I give you - My Drunk Kitchen

Fresh Salsa

I love Mexican food. I could eat it everyday and be happy. I often get a craving for it and I won’t stop. I love to go to restaurants and eat the chips and salsa. I can crush a cup of salsa and chips in record time. It is embarrassing.

Part of my 26 before 27 challenge (which I am super behind on! AH!) was to make fresh salsa. I decided this Cinco de Mayo I was making salsa!

I made it the night before, and thank goodness I did, the first batch was SO HOT ( my dad and brother called me a wimp!) I learned to take out ALL the seeds for round two (which I made the next day)

It was so easy!! Seriously – I won’t be buying from the jar anymore!! EVER.

Ready….Vamonos!

I adapted this from Created by Diane

[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

1 clove of garlic

4-5 roma tomatoes

1 small onion

1/2-1 jalapeño (depending on the amount of heat you want)

handful of cilantro

salt

 

Directions:

Deseed and devein the pepper.

Grill the pepper and tomatoes

Rough chop the onion and peel your garlic.

Carefully quarter the tomatoes and pepper

Bust out our old 70’s food processor (or newer model if you are a lucky duck)

(Picture from another recipe)

Put tomatoes, garlic pepper and onion in the food processor and pulse.

Add cilantro and pulse a little more.

Add salt to taste.

Chow down!

         

 

This isn’t perfect, and every time I make it I am going to tweak it until I get it like the restaurants. Suggestions?

My suggestion is you run out and buy the stuff and chow down NOW! (Wish I could right now! Darn it!)

Royal Wedding Cake

I admit, I loved the Royal Wedding.

I didn't get up at 5am, but thanks to DVR, I saw it all.

Yes, her dress was amazing... you know what else was amazing?

THE CAKE!!!

OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!

Check it out. Royal Wedding Cake

p.s. the Groom's cake was impressive too, but I am still in love with the wedding cake! Groom's cake

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with PB Glaze

Holy yum!

My sweet, dear friend Amanda (wife of Jordan from the last post) sends me recipes regularly. When this one showed up in my inbox I immediately printed it, and went to work.

It helped that it was Monday afternoon and I knew I could get rid of it at playgroup the next day.

Yes, I have an obsession with PB and chocolate. 80% of the desserts I star/save are pb and chocolate.

I undercooked this one a bit and it sunk in a little, but it was still amazing! (seems even after almost 2 years I still don’t have my oven down!)

Recipe was adapted from RecipeGirl

[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter (don’t use natural)
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated white sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

1/2 c. peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease a tube pan ( I used Wilton Cake Release)

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In mixer, cream together peanut butter and butter.

           

Add sugar and beat for 5 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla beating until well combined.

Add dry ingredients a little at a time, beating just until incorporated.

Stir in chocolate and PB chips.

Pour batter into prepared tube pan.

Tap it a couple of times on the counter to shake out any hidden air pockets and get the batter level

Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes.

After an hour, check on the cake and make sure it isn’t browning too much- if it is, loosely cover with foil

When a toothpick comes out clean it is finished.

Let cool for 20 mins and then remove from pan and let cool completely.

Ice with glaze once totally cooled

GLAZE:
1 1/2 cups (sifted) powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter ( I actually ran out of creamy, so I used natural chunky and it was fine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini- chocolate chip

Directions: In a medium bowl, mix together powdered sugar, milk, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.

Drizzle glaze over the top of the cooled cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

The glaze will set eventually,  I let it set over night, but you could speed it up in the fridge.

 

This was rich and yummy and certainly will be made again.