A Girl's Gotta Eat!

Happy Shrove Tuesday (otherwise known as Fat Tuesday)! As I left for work this morning, I asked Mike to think about what he might want for dinner tonight, and suggested perhaps making pancakes. Growing up, my church often offered a pancake dinner to honor Shrove Tuesday in light of Ash Wednesday and the upcoming season of Lent beginning the next day. As I was looking for possible pancake solutions during my break today, I remembered the 2 bro wning bananas sitting on our counter at home. I was in luck...I found a recipe for none other than Banana Pancakes in the very same book ( Salt to Honey ) that offered the Lemon Raspberry Sherbet I previously blogged about. I had all the ingredients on hand, and it used the bananas that would have otherwise been thrown into a smoothie or made into bread and muffins. Mike also thought banana pancakes sounded good (which was pretty fortunate since I was ravenous for them by the time I arrived home.) The recipe was easy to put together,...

Now that I know how well my ice cream maker works (having made Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Lemon Raspberry Sherbet), I have a long list of ice cream, sherbet, and sorbet that I can't wait to try. Next on the list was Coconut Ice Cream from the Ben & Jerry's Cookbook the MIL gave me with my new gadget. I used eggs in the sweet cream abse this time, although I cooked the base even though they didn't to avoid any potential issues using raw eggs. To do this, I heated the milk and cream to a low simmer in a saucepan. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a heatproof bowl. Gradually whisk some of the hot milk into the eggs, then whisk the eggs into the remaining hot milk. Continue to heat over low to medium-low heat until slightly thickened. Proceed as directed. You can skip this and make the recipe as they directed if you're not worried. Be sure to get coconut cream (not coconut milk), which we found with the drink mixers at Walmart/Kroger. Coconut Ice Cream 2 larg...

Many of you know that for the month of January, Mike was in Antarctica for work. What you may not know is that I wanted to surprise him when he got home with the aforementioned Lemon Raspberry Sherbet, found in Salt to Honey , the newest cookbook from the Junior League of Salt Lake City . I’ve been waiting to try this recipe for a while. Like the vanilla ice cream I previously posted, the lack of an exorbitant number of egg yolks appealed to me, as did also the combination of lemon and raspberry—two of Mike’s favorite flavors. The recipe is simple and easy to follow, and oh so tasty. The only thing I would do different next time is either A) spread my raspberries out on a larger pan (not in a baggie) before freezing them to prevent the large chunks I ended up with, or B) cheat and use already frozen raspberries, which I’m sure would work but would not have the same fresh flavor. Lemon Raspberry Sherbet 1⅓ cups sugar 2⅔ cups milk ⅓ cup cream Zest and juice of 2 large lemons 1 tab...

Yum indeed...Weight Watchers friendly cupcakes. I make a friend/co-worker a birthday treat every year, and this year we went with Hungry Girl's Boston Cream Cupcakes . The recipe was easy to follow and doubled well (I didn't want to use only half a box of cake mix), and quite tasty to boot. I do think I could have stuffed more filling into each delicious treat, but I didn't realize that until they were already being enjoyed at the office. For my first attempt at a filled cupcake, though, I was pretty pleased. Everyone else seemed pretty pleased as well, especially the birthday girl (she was really the only one who mattered anyway!) (As a side note, Hungry Girl also has several recipes utilizing won ton wrappers that I want to try.) Boston Cream Cupcakes Ingredients: Half of an 18.25-oz. box (about 1 3/4 cups) moist-style yellow cake mix 1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original ) 3 tbsp. chocolate frosting, room temperature 2 tbsp. l...

For Christmas, I received a kitchen gadget that I’ve wanted for a long time, but only recently had a place to store it when not in use—an ice cream maker. I have looked at several over the years, and read many reviews, but decided a while ago that the one for me is the Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker that attaches to my standing mixer. It requires no ice or rock salt, has the same (or greater) capacity as most other makers, and best of all, can be stored in our freezer chest, ready to make ice cream and sherbet at a moment’s notice. There are a ton a recipes I want to try (my MIL also got me a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cookbook ), but I decided the bets place to start was with vanilla ice cream. Easy enough, right? Maybe not so much…I found tons of recipes! How would I ever choose? I decided to keep it simple, so went with a recipe I found online that used no eggs, only milk and cream. I got both of these items from the dairy at the NFM , wanting the best quality available to me. (...

I usually think it’s ridiculous when I read a recipe for a sandwich. I mean, come on…it’s a sandwich. How difficult can it be to layer some stuff on bread or in a wrap and eat it? Then I saw the following recipe in our Food Network Magazine , and I became a believer that while sandwiches are still certainly an easy fix for lunch or dinner, sometimes it’s nice to have some inspiration for what to combine between those bread slices. Its preparation may seem more complicated than what you wish to mess with, but trust me that you will be pleased with the result. The most time-consuming part is roasting the sliced butternut squash, but you could do this a day in advance. Or, you can do what I did: choose a squash with a much skinnier neck. You’ll need more slices, but they won’t take as long to bake. I even went a step further and used my toaster oven instead of having to preheat the real oven. One more tip…there are two types of manchego cheese: firm and semi-firm. Firm is more like Par...

It’s the time of year again for Christmas parties and company potlucks. Our company Christmas luncheon was today. After seeing plenty of people signed up for vegetables and desserts, I decided to bring macaroni and cheese. After all, you can’t have ham without it! The glitch to bringing this dish, however was two-fold. 1) Mike and I have had a lot going on with finals, visiting with friends, and our new German Shepherd pup, Leopold, so I needed to make something quick and easy; and 2) warming up large portions of food in our work microwaves is tedious and frustrating. Cooking something in a slow-cooker solved both these problems in one fell swoop. I was pleasantly surprised. It was very easy to whip up, and I thought it was very tasty. The sauce would have been a bit creamier if I had served it 30 minutes earlier, but it was still very good. And had I been at home cooking it, I could have simply stirred in some extra milk or margarine.  Before Cooking  The original recipe cooks ...