Grand Marnier Olive Oil Cake

 This weekend we're celebrating my dad's 60th birthday! He's not big on sweets, but I mean how could I not bake the guy a cake? I weirdly dreamed about olive oil cake the other night and woke up remembering I needed to make one (I think it was because I had just had olive oil gelato the night before). I woke up thanking my dream self for reminding me to bake a cake, and thought that this olive oil cake would be the perfect one. Since it's oh so moist, has alcohol and is not too sweet, it seems like the perfect adult birthday cake. With no icing, it's the perfect no frills cake for a man that just wants a quiet 60th birthday celebration with his family. Find the full recipe of food52 here!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/3 cups extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4cup Grand Marnier

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9-inch cake round with parchment paper and crisco (or butter/spray)

2. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl - flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Whisk together.

3. Whisk together wet ingredients - eggs, olive oil, milk, orange juice, orange zest and Grand Marnier. 

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until well incorporated.

5. Pour into prepared pan and cook for one hour, or until the outside is golden and toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool for 30 minutes before taking it out of the cake pan. Run a knife around the edges and invert.

6. Serve after it has cooled for 2 hours - with fresh fruit, whipped cream, just a little garnish or nothing!

Pineapple Guacamole

Pineapple Guacamole recipe from Gimme Some Oven. This recipe combines the perfect mix of sweet, salty and my favorite thing - avocado. Though we're nearing the end of pineapple season, I strongly recommend making this recipe before it's too late!

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
• 1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed, minced*
• 1 1/2 cups diced fresh pineapple, plus extra for topping
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• Optional: 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

*I substituted sriracha for spice (to taste)

Half, de-pit and scoop out the avocados. (I actually have this handy little device my brother gave me as a joke. I really don't like kitchen products that only have one use, I find that they just add clutter to my apartment. This one I happen to really like though, it's great for getting that last bit of avocado out of the shell). Mash them with a fork. Make sure they're nice and ripe otherwise you'll end up bending a fork like my boyfriend and I did!

Add the onion, pineapple, jalapeno (or sriracha) and salt. Optional to add garlic, cilantro, or whatever you want. 

Serve with chips and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Brown Butter Nutella-Stuffed Cookies with Sea Salt

Recipe for these cookies is from Ambitious Kitchen, with a few minor changes.

Ok, so let's talk about these cookies. They have all the right buzzwords. Chocolate chip? Check. Brown butter? Check. Nutella? Check check check. Sea salt? Too late I've eaten 1,000 of them and am now in a food coma. 

Full disclosure, these cookies require more work than I previously thought, but are SO WORTH IT. Just like you probably shouldn't eat more than one, but you do and again...worth it! So what are you waiting for? Let's get started!

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips*

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

*the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips. To cut a little bit of the sweetness and cost I eliminated the milk chocolate chips and upped the semi-sweet and the dark.

First thing's first - put that nutella in the fridge to chill. I forgot this step and ended up having to wait to make these. 

Next get your dry ingredients together - in a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.

Place the butter in a sauce pan on medium heat, whisking constantly. (This is the part that I was kind of nervous about. I wasn't sure if I would know when 'brown butter' happened and I would just end up burning it.) If you keep your eye on it, you'll know when it turns brown and smells like caramel. It's a very clear transformation that takes place. Take it off the heat and immediately transfer to your mixing bowl. Wait for it to cool, about 10-15 minutes for me. Do yourself a favor, if you transfer the butter into a metal mixing bowl, maybe don't touch the bottom to see if it's hot? The answer is, it is still scalding hot and now you no longer have fingerprints. 

Once the butter cools, add the sugars and mix until combined. It will look like a bit like wet sand. Scrape down the sides and add the egg yolk, vanilla, and greek yogurt. Mixture will come out looking smooth and silky.

The next step is to slowly at the dry ingredients. With your mixer on low, add the flour, baking soda and salt a little at a time. You may want to switch to your dough hook for the step, I didn't because I'm lazy. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated, you'll be left with a thick dough. Fold in the chocolate chips (i used my hands for this - my favorite cooking tools). Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take the dough out and nutella of the refrigerator. Spoiler: this is the tricky part. It took me a while to get the hang of it. Roll about 1.5 tablespoons of dough into a ball. Flatten it down in your hands. Add a teaspoon of the chilled nutella to the center and fold the dough over. You want to make sure none of the nutella is peaking out. You can grab more dough to fill up any gaps. Then roll the dough back into a ball and place it on your baking sheet. 

Gently tamp down the dough with your fingers. I made my cookies a little bigger, so I fit 9 to a sheet pan. Place in the oven for 9-11 minutes (or 15-18 if you made gigantic ones like me), until the cookies turn golden.

Take the cookies out and sprinkle them with a touch of sea salt. Move them to a cooling rack to completely cool down.

Lastly, eat and enjoy!

Vegan grilled cheese with beer caramelized onions

So in this post I mentioned that I needed to get rid of vegan cheese that was about to expire. The perfect solution - grilled cheese, please! I like vegan cheese enough on it's own, but I thought I'd add some other elements to it, caramelized onions, fake deli meat, sriracha (which I put on everything...I mean it).

While I was caramelizing the onions I was drinking a beer. I was planning on deglazing the pan with balsamic vinegar, but in a stroke of self-proclaimed genius I poured some of my beer in the pan instead. It turned out better than I could have imagined! The beer flavor isn't that strong, but the result is pretty delicious. When I bake I'm all about precision, but when I cook it's a whole different ballgame...a little of this, a little of that! So this recipe is very approximate. Feel free to add more of, subtract anything! It's all goooood

Vegan Grilled Cheese with beer caramelized onions:

Serving size: 2 sandwiches

4 slices of whole wheat bread

4 slices of vegan cheese (I use Go Veggie Pepperjack)

Margarine

2 slices of fake deli meat 

Sriracha

Beer caramelized onions (recipe to follow)

1. Spread a thin layer of margarine on the outsides of the bread.

2. Place bread butter-side down and put two slices of cheese on each sandwich.

3. Top with onions, deli meat, and a couple drops of sriracha. This is where you get creative! Look through your pantry and get fancy. Top it off with your second piece of bread.

4. On a low heat cook on each side until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Keep covered in between flipping.

5. So this is a tip that got passed along to me from my roommate. Once your grilled cheese is all nice and toasty, lift the lid, add a couple drops of water and quickly close it. The steam from the water helps melt the cheese. This is needed for the vegan cheese, but is definitely a good tip for anyone who likes their sandwiches dripping with ooey gooey goodness!

6. Optional - serve with a side salad. My go to salad is so simple - arugula, lemon juice, olive oil and a little salt.

Beer Caramelized onions:

2 tablespoons margarine

1 small red onion, sliced

About 1/3 cup of good beer (whatever is on hand. I happened to be drinking Harpoon)

1/4 tsp Salt 

1/4 tsp Pepper

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Melt margarine in a skillet.

2. Add onions, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes until onions become soft.

3. Add the sugar and stir. Onions will start to brown.

4. Now comes the deglazing part! When the onions look like they need a little liquid and/or start sticking to the pan, add a little of the beer. I did a small pour, about 2 tablespoons at a time. Stir until the liquid evaporates and repeat these steps for about 20 minutes or until onions are the amount of doneness you desire.

 

Recipe: Buffalo Cheese Dip

I hope you all enjoyed watching the Superbowl yesterday! I was rooting for Seattle, so I don't have too much to complain about, but it's always more entertaining when it's a close game. I have to be honest, I was pretty disappointed in the commercials. Though I'm not even going to pretend I didn't cry during the puppy/horse budweiser commercial, I know I'm not the only one. Other than the commercials, I'm all about the food. Chloe made the most delicious vegetarian buffalo cheese dip and I'm very excited to share the recipe with you! Since it was just the two of us, we decided to have a fully vegetarian spread. The rice in the dip is to replace any meat and it adds substance. I always like having veggie dips in my arsenal, because when they're this good no one is going to care that there's no meat! 

Buffalo Cheese Dip

Serves 4-6 people

What you need:

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (about a cup of uncooked rice)

1/2 cup ranch dressing

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup buffalo sauce (more in my opinion)

1 cup shredded cheese 

What to do:

1. Melt cream cheese and ranch dressing together in a sauce pan
2. Add and stir in about a third of the cheese
3. Add buffalo sauce and stir until thoroughly mixed together
4. Stir in the cooked rice and the rest of the cheese
5. Serve hot with tortilla chips!

Something I learned while documenting this, it's pretty hard to take a picture of dip and have it look appetizing. Though dip is probably one of the best party foods, it's not great to look at. Rest assured that though this dip isn't winning any beauty contests, it's oh so addicting. I recommend making a big bowl for guests, then strategically planting yourself next to it so you can subtly eat it all. Or if you're not as food-sneaky as I am, maybe just eat a bunch while you're making it before guests come over to judge you.

Healthy Granola Bars

When I was searching for a recipe for granola bars, they all had so many ingredients that I would have to go out and buy. I didn't want to make them if it was significantly cheaper to go out and get a box of granola bars. I stumbled upon this recipe for five ingredient granola bars from Minimalist Baker. It's great because I only had to buy a couple ingredients, and it gives you the freedom to add anything in your pantry! I had some stale raspberry yogurt covered pretzels that were a great addition! I changed the recipe a little to account for the extra ingredient. 

Note: when you're buying peanut butter, make sure it's natural! The brands we all love, like skippy and jiff, can have hidden trans fats. When reading the ingredients on peanut butter look out for "partially-hydrogenated oil." This is when they take unsaturated oils (healthy oils) and make them unhealthy my adding high temperatures and a metal catalyst. This makes it so the oil doesn't separate from the peanuts. To make your bars as healthy as possible, use all-natural peanut butter (free of saturated fats and trans fats)! 

Here is my take on the five ingredient granola bars:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup packed dates, pitted 
• 1/2 cup honey 
• 1/2 cup creamy salted natural peanut butter 
• 1 cup roasted unsalted almonds, loosely chopped
• 1 cup yogurt covered pretzels, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Process dates in a food processor until small bits remain (about 1 minute)
2. Toast your oats in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
3. Place oats, almonds and dates in a bowl – set aside.
4. Warm honey and peanut butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir and pour over oat mixture and then mix, breaking up the dates to disperse throughout.
5. Once thoroughly mixed, transfer to an baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper (I wanted to produce a large quantity of thinner bars, for thicker bars use a smaller pan)
6. Press down until uniformly flattened (I used a spatula)
7. Place in the fridge to harden for a couple hours 
8. Remove bars from pan and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container for up to a few days. 

Tater tot casserole recipe

Chloe's tater tot casserole recipe:

1 Bag frozen tater tots

1 Bag shredded cheddar cheese

1 Can cream of mushroom soup

1 small onion, diced

3 Tbsp milk

Dash of garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking dish. Sautee the onion in a sauce pan with oil until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the mushroom soup, milk and garlic powder and combine. Place half of the frozen tots on the bottom of the dish. Next add 3/4 of the gravy mixture and half the cheese. Then layer the rest of the tots, gravy and cheese. Bake it for 45-60 minutes until the tots are golden brown. 

**my tip: add some chipotle chilis in adobo sauce for spice and flavor

Cold Remedies

Yesterday when I told Jeff I wasn't feeling well he said that his mother always makes him green tea with lemon, honey and ginger. I gave it a try and it's great! Other cold remedies include dayquil, tissues infused with lotion and warm meals like this one - couscous with spinach, chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes and sriracha.

What you need:

1 Packet of green tea (or loose tea in an infuser)

1 teaspoon of peeled and chopped ginger

1 teaspoon honey

1 lemon wedge 

*Jeff reminded me that the ginger gets strong if it steeps too long. I like leaving it in because it helps clear my sinuses, but if this does not appeal to you always take it out!

Hope this helps anyone who is also feeling under the weather!

Providence//Gnocchi recipe

I got back yesterday from a visit to Providence for the long weekend. It was really nice to get out of the city and see Jeff. I didn't take many pictures, but I did document our eats. When Jeff and I get together we eat, seriously eat. On Friday night we made gnocchi based off the baked gnocchi from Osteria Santo Spirito, which you might remember from this post. I bought the actual gnocchi pre-made from Faicco's on Bleeker, but we made the four cheese truffle oil sauce. Other foods include turkey clubs and breakfast foods, Jeff and my favorite. Here is the gnocchi recipe adapted from this recipe for four-cheese, truffle oil and mushroom mac & cheese.

Ingredients:

1 package of premade gnocchi (or make your own)

8 tbsp. (1 stick) salted butter

7 tbsp. flour

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups half & half

1/2 cup havarti

1 cup Jarlsberg

1 cup Gruyère

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/2 cup white wine

2 tsp. white truffle oil

3 tsp. salt, plus more or less to taste

1 1/2 tsp. white pepper, plus more or less to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add gnocchi until slightly aldente, about 2-3 minutes. Strain gnocchi then return to large pot.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and flour over medium heat until bubbly and thick, but not browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add whipping cream and half & half. Stirring constantly, let mixture thicken, about 8-10 minutes.

Add four cheeses, salt and pepper, and continue stirring. Pour cheese sauce into pot of gnocchi and stir together. Add truffle oil. Season with salt and pepper as needed. 

Place gnocchi in a casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes.