18 Mar 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Dessert, Holiday
Tags: baileys, cupcakes, st patrick's day
St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone again. For so many years I went to the parade in the city and it was always cold and rainy. I haven’t been to the parade in ages now and I guess that’s ok-you can’t drink on the street anymore. Where’s the fun in that?
I’d tried to make Bailey’s cupcakes a few times and they always came out awful-either runny, not tasty, never set, hard as a rock or just flat gross. These were the opposite. While the cake is dense (almost like pound cake) the flavor’s there. These are pretty sweet hence the small schmear of frosting. Too much frosting irritates me anyway.
Bailey’s Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temp
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Insert 24 liners into tin(s).
- In a the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add eggs and vanilla to the sugar mixture and beat well.
- In a separate smaller bowl combine the Baileys water and milk. Mix well.
- In third bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the flour and Baileys mixture (alternating as you add) to the sugar mixture. Beat on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes.
- Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for about 25 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.
Frosting:
Makes about 1 cup of frosting.
Ingredients:
- 2/3 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp Baileys
- 10 drops green food coloring
- white or clear finishing sugar
Directions:
- Put butter in bowl of stand mixer and, with beater on low, slowly add the powdered sugar until combined.
- Add Baileys until desired taste/texture is achieved
- Add food coloring until desired shade is reached.
- Frost cupcakes. Finish with sugar if desired.
Note: if you put foil under the cupcakes while sprinkling the sugar you won’t lose any that falls off. Just resprinkle. See below.
Cake recipe from cupcakerehab.com
14 Mar 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish, Slow Cooker
Tags: chicken, quinoa
I really do like spicy and sweet foods-especially when I can let them cook all day and then put them over something delicious when I’m ready to eat with a minimum of effort. Yes-lazy days at their best. That day for me was Sunday this past weekend. I wanted to catch up on some shows that evening and have a yummy and really easy dinner too so I made this delicious chicken and put it over quinoa which, I’m so happy to say, is easier than rice to cook. I always seem to burn or undercook rice. Anyway this chicken turned out so delicious-moist, flavorful, pretty darn waist-line friendly and enough for left overs the next day or 2. I served it over quinoa for no other reason than I’m bored of (fill in the blank) over rice. And it was yummy!!
Spicy Honey Chicken (over quinoa) in the slow cooker
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast (2 breasts)
- black pepper, to taste
- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp dried onion
- 1 tsp sriracha (or more to taste)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 medium scallions, chopped for garnish
- quinoa, prepared as per package instructions
Instructions:
- Combine ingredients from soy sauce through (and including) sriracha in a small bowl and whisk to combine well. Set aside.
- Place chicken breasts on the bottom of the slow cooker, season with pepper and then pour the soy sauce mixture over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on low for 3.5 hours.
- After 3.5 hours remove the chicken and set it aside on a plate. Remove any bits of fat from the sauce in the cooker.
- Mix the cornstarch and water well and then add to the sauce in the slow cooker and and then cook on high for 20 minutes to thicken. While the sauce is thickening shred the chicken with 2 forks.
- After the 20 minutes add the chicken back into the cooker, stir to combine.
- Serve over quinoa and garnish with the scallions.
Adapted from skinnytaste.com
12 Mar 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Main Dish
Tags: cod, fish
I love fresh fish and am fortunate enough to live on Long Island where it abounds. I don’t cook it enough and really should cook it more often. Fresh cod was on sale at my supermarket this week and I remembered that I had bookmarked a recipe from Gina over at skinnytaste that would work perfectly with cod or tilaipa or any white flaky fish or shrimp too.
What a delicious easy recipe! I think next time I will add some white wine and then throw the fish under the broiler when it’s almost done cooking but this recipe is a keeper. So go get yourself some delicious fish and make it tonight!!
I served the celery root and mandarin orange salad along with the fish.
Baked Garlic Lemon Cod
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. fresh cod or other white flaky fish
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp light butter
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 tsp fresh parsley
- salt and pepper
- cooking spray
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Melt butter on a low flame in a small sauce pan. Add garlic and saute on low for about 1 minute. Add the lemon juice and shut off flame.
- Spray the bottom of a baking dish lightly with cooking spray. Place the fish on top and season with salt and pepper. Pour the lemon butter mixture on the fish and top with fresh parsley. Bake at 400° until cooked, about 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.
Adapted from skinnytaste.com
11 Mar 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish
Tags: arugala, celery root, orange
Recently I was looking through my Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Cooking Light Magazine and came across a salad named ‘Celery Root & Arugala Salad’ with the heading ‘Love This Ugly Root Vegetable’. How can you resist a title like that?! It’s almost a challenge!! So I took the challenge. I knew that my store had celery root (also named celeriac) as I had seen it the week before and, since I hadn’t ever eaten it, I was curious. I’m so glad that I tried it! It takes a bit like celery, but a bit of a lighter taste, and has the consistancy of jicama. It’s crunchy, it’s tasty, it’s inexpensive. It would be great on tacos or salads or burgers etc…
The salad turned out great. I changed the name because I felt the oranges played a far more important role than the arugala. It’s so easy to make-just a few minutes of prep, a few minutes resting the ingredients in the dressing and voila! delicious!! This salad also keeps extremely well. I had left overs the next evening and everything was still good and crunchy and delicious so it’s a great salad to make to bring to work the next day for lunch. Isn’t that just gorgeous?
Celery Root and Mandarin Orange Salad
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups matchstick-cut peeled celery root
- 2 cups thinly diagonally sliced celery
- 1/4 cup very thinly vertically sliced red onion
- 3 cups satsuma or other mandarin orange sections cut into 3s (fresh not canned if possible)
- 1 cup baby arugula
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
-
Combine extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add celery root, celery, and onion; toss to coat. Let celery root mixture stand 30 minutes. Add orange sections, arugula, and parsley; toss gently to combine.
If you’re not sure of what to look for at the store or what’s inside here you g.
Adapted from Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2013 Issue.
07 Mar 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish
Tags: chick peas, sandwich
I like Falafel. I rarely have it but I do like it. When I came across this recipe I was pretty excited to make it at home. Since I also had these pickled red onions in my fridge at home I knew it was going to be delicious. The falafel were so easy to make. I used my small food processor and it just fit-but it worked.
These had great texture and you can go either way with the herbs and spices-more or less. They cook fast too. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. I should’ve put them on a pita bread but I didn’t have pitas and didn’t want to buy a whole pack for 2 falafel patties. So I used burritos. They worked great! I also made up the yogurt sauce to go on top. Recipe below.
Falafel
Ingredients
- 1 15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- garlic clove, chopped
- handful of flat-leaf parsley or curly parsley
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1⁄2 tsp harissa paste or chilli powder
- 2 tbsp plain flour
To serve
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- pita, tortilla, burrito or sliced bread
- tomatoes
- lettuce
- pickled red onion (recipe here)
- greek yogurt sauce (recipe below)
Instructions:
- Place chick peas in the food processor along with the onion, garlic, parsley, spices, flour and a little salt. Blend until fairly smooth, then shape into two to four (your preference) patties with your hands.
- Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the burgers, then quickly fry for 3 mins on each side until lightly golden.
From BBCGoodFood
Yogurt Sauce
This is to my taste. If you don’t like dill or raw garlic change it up.
- 1 small container plain greek yogurt (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/4-1/2 tsp chopped fresh dill
- 1/4 garlic clove
- salt
- fresh lemon juice
Mash the garlic and salt together to form a paste. Add it along with everything else to the yogurt and stir. Schmear it on the falafel.
01 Mar 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Condiment/Topping
Tags: onion
Onions. Yum! Pickled Red Onions. Double Yum!
I saw these on three square chef’s blog and knew immediately what I’d make for this month’s recipe swap. I love these onions on burgers, sandwiches-you name it-but I had never looked into making them before. It couldn’t be easier and they’re so delicious. Tart and tingily and oniony and slightly sweet. A great addition to really anything! I put these on falafel burgers that I made last night and will post that recipe next week.
Pickled Red Onion
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp sweetener (sugar, honey, etc..)
- 1&1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 red onion, sliced
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients except onion in a small bowl until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Place sliced onion in a jar and pour the vinegar mixture over it.
- Let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour or store it in the fridge.
Yield: about 1/2 cup
Original Source: Bon Appetit
Thank you Sarah (http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com) for hosting the swap~~
27 Feb 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Dessert, Holiday
Tags: meyer lemon, rhubarb
Who knew that roasting rhubarb would result in such a fantastic flavor? I certainly didn’t. It was tart. It was sweet. It was perfect. It was a low fat dessert that is ready in 30 minutes that you can feel good about. And it couldn’t be easier.
When I saw a package of rhubarb in my store last week this recipe immediately came to mind. I knew it had ice cream with it but I wanted something more waist line friendly so I bought some of those new little 100 calorie frozen greek yogurt containers to go with it.
Roasted Rhubarb with Vanilla Frozen Yogurt and Meyer Lemon Sugar
Ingredients:
- 20 ozs fresh rhubarb
- 2 ozs super-fine sugar
For topping:
- Frozen yogurt, gelato or ice cream
- Meyer lemon sugar (recipe here )
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400. Wash rhubarb, dry and cut off ends. Cut stalks into halves the long way.
- Put the rhubarb in a shallow baking dish large enough to hold it all in one layer. Add the sugar, toss together, then shuffle the rhubarb so it’s in a single layer.
- Cover with foil and roast for 15 mins. Remove the foil. The sugar should have dissolved, so give everything a little shake and roast for another 5 minutes until soft. Test softness with the back of a fork.
- Carefully move the stalks to a plate with a long spatula so that they keep their shape. Top with a dollop of frozen yogurt, a bit of the liquid from the pan and, if you have it, some of this meyer lemon sugar.
Here it is finished cooking. Notice the yummy sugary tarty liquid in the bottom of the pan. YUM!
Note: super-fine sugar is NOT confectioners sugar. To make your own put the required amount of sugar into a food processor and process until very fine, but not powder.
Adapted from recipe at bbcgoodfood.com
25 Feb 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Freezer, Holiday, Lunch, Main Dish, Prep-Ahead, Freeze then Cook, Slow Cooker, Thaw/Reheat & Serve
Tags: burritos, chicken, slow cooker, tacos, tortillas
It’s official. I love my slow cooker. I was looking around online for a new recipe and came across a chicken recipe for the slow cooker. I adapted it a bit and the recipe below was born. Really easy and super tasty. The chicken in this recipe was really nice and moist, easy to shred and the veggies, herbs and spices are just right for a great balance of taste.
I like that this can be made in either 6 hours or 10 hours (great for weeknights after work). I would assume it freezes well but we didn’t have enough left to try.
I made a burrito/taco bar including sliced avocado, sliced tomato, lettuce, sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa and large tortillas. Husband at his like tacos and I made burritos out of mine and put them on the panini press to heat and make the tortilla crunchy. YUM! I had 2. I was a pig. But they’re GOOD! And since it’s pretty low cal and low fat and since I used fat free sour cream and low fat cheddar cheese I didn’t feel so bad.
Santa Fe Chicken for the Slow Cooker
Chicken Ingredients
- 1&1/2 lbs boneless and skinless chicken breast
- 14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies
- 4 oz can green chilies
- 10 oz frozen corn
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 14.4 oz can fat free chicken broth
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
- salt to taste
Toppings:
- Fat free Sour Cream
- Low Fat Cheddar Cheese, freshly grated
- Ripe tomatoes, sliced thin
- Avocado, sliced thin
- Salsa
- Cilantro
Instructions:
- Place everything except the chicken listed in the ‘chicken ingredients’ in the slow cooker. Stir to combine.
- Place the chicken on top of the combined ingredients.
- Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours. 30 minutes before serving shred the chicken with 2 forks (you don’t need to remove the chicken from the cooker-just stick your forks in and shred). Stir it all back together and let it all come together for the remaining 30 minutes.
- While the chicken is finishing cooking prepare the taco/burrito bar and lay out toppings.
- Serve on tortillas with toppings.
Adapted from skinnytaste.com.
22 Feb 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Holiday, Lunch, Side Dish
Tags: beets, carrots, veggies
I like doing my grocery shopping on Friday evening, on the way home from work. My local Fairway Market is only about a mile away and is empty at that time so I have time to browse and pick up some fun stuff. Last time I was there I noticed they had some really pretty maroon carrots. Next to those were golden beets. Aren’t they gorgeous? I’d never had maroon carrots or golden beets either at home or out. I was curious how they tasted and really-they’re gorgeous!! They are delicious and pretty and just a nice change all around. I started wondering what a carrot soup made with the maroons would look like-or carrot cake. Might be fun.
I couldn’t name this post just ‘roasted veggies’. They’re too colorful for that.
So I brought them home and peeled them and cut them up and put them on a cookie sheet with foil to roast. Watch out-the maroon carrots’ juice stains. Wear an apron.
What came out of the oven was a veritable stained glass window of veggies. So pretty and DELICIOUS!!
Roasted Jewel Veggies
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch golden beets, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds then halved
- 1 bunch maroon carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds
- 1 bunch regular carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds
- extra virgin olive oil
- fleur de sel
- freshly ground white pepper
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400.
- Line a cookie sheet with foil.
- Lay the veggies on the foil, drizzle with olive, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and roast for about 15 minutes.
I had to include this photo because it’s just really pretty. Look at that carrot streaked with orange-just gorgeous.
20 Feb 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Appetizer, Freezer, Prep-Ahead, Freeze then Cook, Snack, Uncategorized
Husband and I have been eating and drinking at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ for years and years. First there was 1 in Manhattan, then 2, then 3, then one at Yankee Stadium (woot woot go Yankees!) and now there’s one in Puerto Rico (will visit that one in April) and on St. Maarten (will also visit that one in April). We spent countless hours at the bar watching football on chilly fall and winter afternoons, laughing with friends, enjoying each other’s company and Husband and I were introduced to each other at one by a very good friend. In other words-for nearly 13 years it’s held a special place in our hearts. They serve southern BBQ food. They have skee-ball. They have some drinks served in goldfish bowls. It’s a happy enough place that people bring their kids for lunch on the weekends and everyone enjoys themselves.
Imagine my surprise when I saw that they have a cookbook out!! I bought it for Husband for Christmas and made one of his favorites, Hush Puppies, for Super Bowl Sunday. They’re so good. They’re easy to make! They’re perfect for football or hockey or staying in and reading. And the butter-YUM!! If you don’t know they’re about the size of golf balls-enough for a few bites.
Hush Puppies
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup diced Spanish onion
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 2&3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1&1/2 tsp granulated onion
- about 5 cups canola oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Heat 6 inches of oil to 325F in a heavy-bottomed stock pot. While the oil is heating lightly heat the eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in the baking powder, add the buttermilk and mix well. Add the oil and onion.
- Im a separate bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, cayenne and granulated onion. Add the dry ingredinets itno the bowl with the wet ingredients, mix to incorporate but don’t over-mix. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Carefully drop round heaping tablespoons of the batter, one at time, into the hot oil being sure not to over-crowd them. Cook until golden brown, 3-5 minutes.
- Using a spider or metal slotted spoon remove them from th oil to a wire rack to cool.
- Serve warm with maple butter.
Note: this recipe makes about 24 hush puppies which is a lot as they’re heavy. I made the full amount of batter, cooked half and froze the other half for use later.
Maple Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- In a large bowl beat together the butter and maple syrup until incorporated. Set it aside at room temperature.
Note : the maple butter needs to be at room temperature to serve. You can also feeze it too and it’s great on other things like pancakes, cornbread etc…
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