Pumpkin Cream Cheese
The other day I was perusing the refrigerated section of Trader Joe's and I saw a little tub of pumpkin cream cheese. The tub looked up at me with its beady little eyes and said, "I dare you to make your own pumpkin cream cheese, Tracy."
Clearly I showed that tub who's boss!
If you've got extra pumpkin puree hanging out in your fridge, you can put it to good use with this recipe. Pumpkin cream cheese tastes just like a subtly sweet pumpkin cheesecake. Sounds good, right? It pairs perfectly with: crackers, gingerbread, graham crackers, cookies, bagels, you name it. Now if only I could convince Cooper to try some. His stubbornness just means more for me, right? I totally win this battle.
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Vanilla & Ginger Crumble Rice Pudding
I took the plunge and bought a pound of vanilla bean the other day off the internet. The vanilla arrived in a small box and was vacuum sealed in a plastic bag; it made me feel like our UPS man was a drug dealer. The second I opened the box, my kitchen was instantly perfumed with the heady scent of Tahitian Vanilla. My excitement grew knowing how many recipes I could knock out with this vanilla hoard at my disposal. I quickly flipped through the latest issue of Donna Hay Magazine, knowing that there was a beautiful spread about rice pudding. I located the recipe Vanilla Ginger Crumble Rice Pudding and dove right in.
Creamy arborio rice mixed with vanilla beans, drizzled with maple syrup and topped with crumbled gingersnaps. It's simple and comforting and it was exactly what I needed after spending the morning at a damp & foggy pumpkin patch surrounded by 3 year olds. Think dessert risotto with a slight ginger spike! I promise you won't need a store bought air-freshener when you have the intoxicating scent of vanilla rice pudding cooking your stove.
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Peppery Chicken Wings
For as long as I can remember I've always been into books. My childhood allowance usually went towards books from the Scholastic book sale at school or food (go figure!). One of the best purchases I made from one of those Scholastic catalogs was a simple cookbook for kids. It was the first cookbook that made me excited about cooking. I'd wake up on the weekend, turn on the toons and make a batch of french toast that my brothers would bribe me for. I worked my way through that little cookbook with recipes for eggs, pasta, and English muffin pizzas but the one thing that impressed me and my whole family most was the roasted chicken thighs.
Every time I roast chicken, I get a vivid flashback. I remember mixing chicken thighs with chopped onion in a metal brownie pan. I drizzled the thighs with olive oil, coated them with rosemary, thyme, salt & pepper and placed them into the oven to roast. What came out of the oven was more than decent; it was exceptional! The sheer alchemy of it all fascinated me and I felt a great sense of accomplishment making a grownup dish on my own. Fast forward twenty something years later and I'm still blown away at how spice coated chicken can be easily transformed by a little oven time. These wings & drumsticks were a hit in my household. Casey's always begging me to make more meat and with the ease of this recipe there's really no excuse not to!
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Coconut Maple Granola
If you've been listening to me on the Joy the Baker Podcast, you already know that I have an inner hippy and I like to make my own granola. You also know that I'm absolutely smitten with coconut oil and find any excuse to use it. What you may not know is that this granola is the first time I've used coconut oil as a replacement for my favorite granola lubricant, olive oil.
This Coconut Maple Granola is the perfect snacking granola. Sure you could add some to a bowl of Greek yogurt or replace your regular breakfast cereal with it, but when you pour a little in your hand and take your first bite, you might bypass a bowl completely. This is the kind of granola that begs to be eaten directly out of the jar. Perhaps it's the crunchy roasted almonds mixed with golden oats and coconut or maybe it's the salty/savory vibe that fuels the addiction. All I know is that this granola is dangerous and I think it's the coconut oil's fault! Go ahead, embrace your inner hippy and make some.
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Banana Donuts w/ Peanut Butter Frosting
Are you sitting down? Good. So, I baked these banana doughnuts to share with you. That's right, baked. I spared a few calories by baking the doughnuts but don't worry I made up for it on the back end. Peanut butter frosting sounds pretty amazing right? What could possibly make it better?
Cue the flashing lights, throw confetti in the air, hug the person next to you because Browned Butter has made its way into this peanut butter frosting. Check out those browned butter bits! That's totally not vanilla bean, it's butter!
A banana bread like doughnut gets glazed with a sweet/savory peanut butter & browned butter frosting. Watch out, you're getting drool on your keyboard!
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Coconut Butter
If you've been around here for awhile, you might already know how obsessed I am with coconut oil. I love it on toast and in my waffles. I also make granola with it, drizzle it on popcorn, use it as a moisturizer, a hair mask and even as a hand exfoliator. I love the subtle coconut flavor of coconut oil but sometimes it's just not enough. Sometimes I just want the coconut taste to be BOLD. I want texture. I want more!
Cue the coconut butter! It's 100% coconut. That's all it is. Mix it in a food processor and it liquefies after a good 8-10 minutes. You're left with a thick, creamy coconut butter that's both savory & sweet. It's great on just about anything. If you're like me you might find that it tastes best eaten directly from a spoon!
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Zucchini Banana Flaxseed Muffins
Hey! Guess what? As of last week, I have a preschooler. That's right! A PRESCHOOLER! Dang! Where does the time go? In preparation for this monumental event, I let Cooper pick out his very own lunchbox and backpack. He went with a nice robot theme and I'm glad for that because the construction themed set was not my favorite color. I know it's not MY lunchbox, but I'm the one who has to keep tabs on it, clean it out & fill it up every other day. I'm also left with the task of having to figure out what to put in said lunchbox and I need to get him excited about lunch time at school! It's a tall order.
At the beginning of the week, I made these Zucchini Banana Flaxseed Muffins with the idea of putting one in his lunch box as a treat for all three days of preschool. Little did I know they would disappear in less than two days. Cooper loved them so much that I actually caught him standing on a chair at the kitchen counter reaching into the container of muffins I put aside for the week! And just when I thought my new hiding place was legit, I walked downstairs to see him eating another muffin behind the couch. SNEAKY kid! If these muffins were loaded with sugar, butter or oil, I'd be upset. But the fact that there's both zucchini and banana mixed in with a little flaxseed makes his sneaky behavior totally OK. I can't really blame him; they taste great! They're moist, tender, full of flavor and the flaxseed gives the muffins a nutty flavor without nuts. You would never really know that there's no oil in this recipe. I have now welcomed these healthy muffins into his lunchbox rotation. Victory!
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Honey Lavender Crème Brûlée
I've never been super-girly. I tend to avoid pink at all costs. I'd prefer not to smell like flowers and I JUST recently got into nail polish. But when it comes to eating things that are typically feminine, I definitely own my femininity. I will totally drink a bright pink cocktail out of a martini glass. I'll eat a cupcake covered in frosted flowers like a champ! This honey lavender crème brûlée might be the most girly thing I've made, and I had absolutely no problem eating it. It's subtly floral and perfectly sweet. It has a thick custard bottom that's both light & creamy and a hard caramel shell that's fun to crack into. It's the crème brûlée that made me like crème brûlée!
That's right, I'm not a huge fan of crème brûlée. So why would I put it on my list of things to do before my birthday? Somehow I felt that if I made it from scratch I could grow to appreciate the dessert. It totally worked! I love it and I think you will too. If you happen to make this for your husband or boyfriend, don't mention anything about it being feminine. Trust me.
# 23. Make crème brûlée = DONE!
