Martha's Marshmallow Peeps

Today is Easter! And with Easter comes candy..lots of candy! I try my best to keep candy away from Riley..no artificial flavors, no High fructose corn syrup..and whatever else they put in most candy. So as a special treat I promised her we would make marshmallow peeps this year. And who better to go to for fun Easter candy then Martha Stewart! I found many recipes online for marshmallow peeps and ended up picking this one because it did not call for corn syrup. It does however call for gelatin, which I am on the fence about, but for the sake of the peep, I went for it. These are really easy and fun to make! Hope everyone is having a great day! Happy baking-

Jess

Riley trying to tell me something with a mouth full of marshmallow

showing daddy 

Happy Easter from my little helper! :)

Home Served Gorilla Munch

Guest Writer:  R.G. Sitter

today, i woke up feeling very motivated.  Riley was saying 'Im Hungry, Im Hungry, Im Hungry...', and i wanted to do something special for her.  So i got my apron, my supplies, and got to work.  First i took the bowl from the cupboard and set it down on the counter, careful not to set it down too hard, because i don't like loud noises.  i then took her cereal, gorilla munch (don't worry, it sounds like a complicated cereal, but if you follow these directions you'll be a hero), and carefully poured a moderate amount into the bowl.  Careful though, you don't want to spill these little suckers because they're round and they'll roll everywhere.  anyway, i then took the milk and poured about 8 ounces into the bowl containing aforementioned gorilla munch.  i removed a spoon from what we call the 'silverware drawer' and placed it submerged within the milk/cereal mixture.  i placed it carefully onto the table, again avoiding a 'slamming' sound.  Riley then ate it and screamed 'holy moly daddy you're my hero!'.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

When I first moved out at the tender age of 18 I would often stuff my pantry (and my face) with junk food. Nine times out of ten you could count on finding a smashed Little Debbies Oatmeal cream pie buried at the bottom of my purse. Oh how I loved those things! Now, fast forward a few years and my food obsession/craziness begins...NO more processed foods! No more HFCS. I became a mom and realized what I was ACTUALLY eating and feeding my family. Most of which I didnt want anywhere near my Riley. I told myself if we wanted something we would make it from scratch and I have been pretty good with doing so. I hadn't  realize I missed oatmeal cream pies until I saw this pinned on pinterest. I logged it in my memory for a rainy day project and soon mother nature came calling for rain and I was ready to go! I will say this, they did take sometime and by the time I was done, I really didnt feel like eating them, but when i did...so worth it! I have now had my fix for the year. Happy Baking! -Jess  p.s. you can find the original recipe here

Riley enjoying her homemade oatmeal cream pie

Rainy day soup: Lemony spinach orzo soup with mushrooms

I love this soup! It is one of my favorite things to make on a rainy afternoon! Riley doesnt care for it much, as it does have a little kick to it, but Ryan and I can eat it for days! I first discovered this recipe here, and have slightly changed it up. And you can change it up too! Feel free to use fresh or frozen spinach, mushrooms or no mushrooms. I have made this using both fresh and frozen spinach and both have turned out great, but when you can do fresh it is always just a tad better! When I made it this afternoon, I used frozen organic spinach and I also realized I was all out of fresh parmesan cheese so I used this:

Its Irish cheese I picked up at Costco a few weeks ago...they were giving out samples and after one bite I just had to have a whole block of it! I know, I am nuts, but in place of parmesan, this did just fine! Which is awesome, since I have a whole bunch of it and I use Parmesan almost daily.
:)
 Happy cooking! -Jess

Lemony Spinach & Orzo soup with Mushrooms

Ingredients:
2 TBSP. olive oil
half of a medium sized red onion, or one small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 whole lemon, zest and juiced
1 tsp. Red pepper flakes (if you dont like things too spice, start with just 1/2 tsp.)
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 cups fresh or frozen Organic Spinach
1 1/2 cup uncooked orzo pasta
6-7 cups Organic veggie broth
1/2-1 cup Organic baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 TBSP. water
1 TBSP. corn starch
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese 

Heat olive oil in a large pot over low heat. Add onion and garlic, cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add lemon zest, red pepper flakes, and thyme. Cook for about 5 minutes until onions are tender. turn heat up a tad and add spinach and orzo. When using frozen spinach you can just toss it right in with out thawing it out and all that, you will just add less water/veggie broth. Cook spinach and orzo for about 1 minute, add broth and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 7 minutes then add mushrooms and continue cooking for another 5-8 minutes, until orzo is barely tender. Whisk water and corn starch in small bowl. With soup on a light boil, whisk in cornstarch mixture and stir rapidly for about 3 minutes, allowing soup to thicken slightly. Stir in Parmesan and serve immediately. Garnish with extra cheese if desired. Enjoy! 

Breakfast for dinner

Tonight I asked Ryan and Riley what they wanted for dinner, I was ready to make anything! They replied "pancakes and eggs! pancakes and eggs!" okay! So, in addition to my world famous pancakes and farm fresh eggs, I also made the pioneer woman's 'breakfast potatoes'...

man they are awesome! She makes them using lard, but since Riley and I are vegetarians and I am the primary cook, lard doesn't fly in my kitchen. :P Instead I used some extra veggie oil. Also, the recipe she provides on her website is slightly different from the one in her cook book, I followed the one in the book and baked the potatoes at 375F for 40minutes before I cut them up and all that. Anyway, check them out, they are awesome! Now I leave you with my fancy pancakes! Happy cooking!! -Jess

*baker's note: the batter for these pancakes can be prepared and refrigerated for a day or two, or if you have left over batter you can also store it in the fridge for a few days. 


Fancy Pancakes


ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Milk
4 TBSP Apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour(I use one cup whole wheat and one cup unbleached all-purpose flour)
4 TBSP. raw sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 TBSP. melted butter
Combine milk, cider and vanilla in medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes until milk starts to curdle. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. whisk to combine. Add egg and butter to milk mixture and whisk until combined. Combine dry ingredients with wet and whisk until large lumps are gone. Preheat skillet or griddle lightly oil. When griddle is hot pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake and cook until bubbles appear. Recipe makes about 20 pancakes. -Enjoy! 

Happy Spring!: Dark chocolate & mousse Birthday cake!

Today is the first day of spring! And it is also Uncle Dale's Birthday! We celebrated last night and had this yummy pizza made by Auntie Cathy and Riley  

I contributed to the birthday festivities by making my awesome chocolate cake...its rich and moist and really the best effin' chocolate cake you will ever eat..EVER! You will love this cake, unless you hate chocolate..in which case I dont know why you are reading this blog and we just cant be friends... so make it for yourself or some chocolate lover! happy baking-Jess

Riley loves Chocolate cake and homemade ice cream!

Dark Chocolate Cake recipe


Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's special dark cocoa)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup vanilla soy milk (or regular milk)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract (if you use regular milk, increase vanilla to 2 tsp.)
1 cup boiling water

Chocolate mousse filling:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ganache:
Ingredients
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 TBSP. butter

For cake prepare two 9 inch cake pans and preheat oven to 350F (we are at a high altitude so I like to bake my cakes at 355F.) In a large mixing bowl, sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes until combined. Slowly stir in boiling water and stir until smooth. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then carefully remove from pans and let cool completely on cake racks. 
While cake is cooling prepare Ganache by heating 1/2cup whipping cream in small sauce pan, let come to a boil without burning, remove from heat and slowly pour over cup of chips and stir in center slowly until all chocolate is melted, add butter and stir. let set at room temp stirring occasionally until cooled and thick(about 2 hours). you could also cover and place in fridge to cool faster. When ganache is ready (should be spreadable frosting consistency) and cakes are cooled, prepare mousse filling by combining all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. beat on low speed until combined, increase speed and beat until medium/stiff peaks.(will be like whipped cream). Assemble cake by topping one cake with mousse spread evenly, top with other cake and spread Ganache over entire cake, decorate with left over mousse. Enjoy!   

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Homemade Thin Mint Ice Cream & Fancy chocolate chip cookies

Last night we made some pretty awesome Thin-Mint ice cream using left over homemade-thin-mints that we made last week. In honor of St. Patrick's day I added some green food coloring, I only added a little so you cant really tell it is green in the pictures. oh well. I also had a craving for some fancy chocolate chip cookies...this is one of my favorite recipes that I developed last Christmas. They are pretty "healthy" and very yummy.

Naturally I used two cookies to make myself a "Thin-mint cookie sandwich"  I mean, I had cookies AND ice cream, how could you not expect me to do such a thing. :)  Now please enjoy the following recipes and the cute picture above of my Riley :) Happy Baking! -Jess

Thin-Mint Ice cream recipe:
*Bakers note: if you don't have fancy thin-mints you can just use chocolate chips and turn this into Mint Chip ice cream! :) 
Ingredients
2 cups Organic whole milk
1 cup sugar
2 cups Heavy cream
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp pure peppermint extract
6 thin-mint cookies, chopped

Combine milk and sugar in medium bowl and beat on low speed with hand mixer until sugar is dissolved. Stir in heavy cream, vanilla and peppermint. Turn on ice cream mixer and carefully pour mixture into freezer bowl. Mix for 20-25 minutes, about 5 minutes before ice cream is done mixing, pour in chopped cookies. Transfer to containers and let set in freezer for 2 hours before eating. 

Fancy Chocolate-Chip Cookie recipe:
Ingredients
1/2 cup Butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Honey
1 Egg
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. Flax seed meal
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup Dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips

In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar until smooth, add honey, egg and vanilla, mix well scraping sides of bowl if necessary. In a medium bowl sift together both flours, flax seed, baking powder, salt and baking soda. With mixer on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chips. Place bowl in freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F and line two baking sheets with Silicone pads or parchment paper. Remove dough from freezer and using small ice cream scoop (or cookie scooper) scoop dough onto cookie sheets. Bake for about 13 minutes.  Enjoy!