Peanut Butter Cup Brownies...Mmmmm

I picked up a bag of Reese's Premier Baking Pieces at the grocery store the other day because they were on closeout. I probably never would've realized they existed if they weren't marked down. That said, I just had to have them. They are cute! Little itty bitty Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The kind you find in Moose Tracks Ice Cream. Yum!

Anyway, I decided I wanted to put them in brownies. Oh, they are good. Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

4 oz unsweetened chocolate (4 squares)
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 bag Reese's Premier Baking Pieces
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

Melt 3/4 cup butter and unsweetened chocolate in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Combine with sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, and Reese's Premier Baking Pieces in a large bowl. Mix well. Pour into a 9" x 13" baking pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. Cool completely.

Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Spread over brownies.

You can either eat them now or wait for the chocolate/peanut butter topping to cool. I couldn't wait. Cut and enjoy.

Lemon Crunch Pie

This pie was quite tasty. I love lemon pies, but only if they are tangy. I certainly made this one tangy. E took a slice before I was able to get a pic of it whole. The man just couldn't wait any longer. Enjoy.

Lemon Crunch Pie
adapted from Calico Cooks! cookbook

1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 cup boiling water
2 egg whites
1 baked (9-inch) pie shell
3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter, softened

1. Combine 1 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt in a micro-wave safe bowl. Stir in the lemon peel, lemon juice, and egg yolk. Add the boiling water and mix well with a wooden spoon.

2. Microwave on High for 2 minutes; stir. Microwave on Medium for 1 minute; stir. Microwave on Medium for up to 5 minutes or until thickened and clear, stirring at 1-minute intervals.

3. Beat the egg whites in a mixer bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold the hot lemon mixture very gradually into the egg whites. Spoon into the pie shell.

4. Mix the flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over pie. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Black and White Brownies

I didn't particularly care for these brownies only because I can't stand white chocolate. E asked me why I made them if I didn't like white chocolate. Well, I figured other people like it so maybe I'll try this recipe out to see if it would be good enough to sell. E liked it, so I'll probably tinker with it some and make it again to sell. I followed this recipe almost exactly, but next time I'll make my own brownie base. This recipe uses box brownie mix.

Black and White Brownies

1 19- to 21-oz pkg fudge brownie mix, including ingredients needed to make brownies according to box directions
1 10-to 12-oz pkg white baking pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 Tbsp hot water
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups pecans, chopped

1. Grease the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Stir in half of the white baking pieces, all of the semisweet chocolate chips, and the 1/2 cup pecans. Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan.

2. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven about 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with the remaining white baking pieces; bake for 1 minute more. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

3. For frosting, in a small bowl combine melted butter and hot water; stir in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Beat by hand until smooth. I found that there wasn't enough liquid so I added a splash of milk until I was able to mix it smooth. Spoon over top of brownies. Sprinkle with the 3/4 cup pecans (I didn't). Cool about 1 1/2 hours or until frosting is set. Cut into bars. Makes about 36 brownies.

These were way too sweet for me. The white chocolate just made it that much worse. Again, E liked them. I left a couple at home for him to eat and gave the rest away. I think I'll try a recipe with out the white chocolate and with my brownie recipe. I have some ideas of what to do.

It's going to be hot this weekend (90 degrees!!!) so I'll be doing a lot of garden stuff. I worked some in the greenhouse yesterday evening and planted a lot of things. I'll start planting green beans tomorrow in the garden and maybe potatoes and corn. I think it'll be warm enough now to put some tomato plants in the ground, but I won't be putting too many in. The ones I started from seed are still too small (I was late getting them started) so E went and bought a few plants. I have some milk jugs that I'll use if the temps drop too low at night, but I don't think we'll have many more of those days.

I made a killer lemon pie last night which, hopefully, I'll post Monday. I usually like to follow a recipe exactly before I make any changes, but I didn't like the amount of lemon called for (I love tangy lemon things) so I added more and omitted one item. It turned out fabulous. E was chomping at the bit this morning to dig into it, so I didn't get a pic of it whole; there is one piece taken out.

Sweet Potato Muffins

I'm trying to find healthier sweets for E and I to eat at home. My mother-in-law made these Sweet Potato Muffins and gave me the recipe. They were really good.

Sweet Potato Muffins
1 sweet potato
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup honey
1 (6 oz) container vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease or line with paper liners 16 muffin cups; set aside. Prick sweet potato several times with a fork and place onto a baking sheet.

2. Bake the sweet potato until easily pierced with a fork, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let potato cool enough to handle then peel and mash.

3. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees F.

4. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Stir in the oil, eggs, vanilla, yogurt, applesauce, and mashed sweet potato just until all ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.

5. Bake muffins until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Optional toppings:

I just place a pecan on each muffin and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar before baking. You can also try the following:

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp cinnamon

Blend ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Sprinkle topping over unbaked muffins before baking.

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Potatoes

Okay. Who doesn't know how to grill chicken? I love grilling. E decided he wanted to try a different seasoning on the chicken. It turned out great. Basically, it's just 2 Tbsp seasoned salt, 1 Tbsp Rosemary and 1 Tbsp Thyme. Mix all three together and rub on the chicken before grilling.
I wanted to have some roasted potatoes with the meal. I just cut up a few small potatoes, sprinkled them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and popped them in the oven until they started to brown. Very simple, but quite good.

This meal was very quick and very simple. The only part of it that took any decent amount of time was the broccoli salad. Still, it was worth it. I like to have just simple meals every now and then.

Broccoli Salad

I absolutely love this broccoli salad. It's better than anyone's I've tasted and way better than what you can get at the store. I have had some good broccoli salad, don't get me wrong, but this one has the flavors I love. I made it Sunday to go with dinner.


Broccoli Salad

1 large bunch fresh broccoli florets, cut or broken up small
1 cup raisins
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 crisp fried bacon - broken up

Dressing:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar

I like to shred my own carrots and cheese. There can be some yucky stuff in the packaged ones.

I cheated with the bacon because I was in a hurry.

Place all of the ingredients from the broccoli to the bacon together in a large bowl.

Stir together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour dressing over veggies, etc. in bowl.

Mix everything together well. Enjoy!

This already makes a large amount. I've been eating this for lunch and dinner the past couple of days and we still have a couple of days worth left. If you're having a big BBQ or party, you can easily double this recipe.

If you're daring, you can make changes to this. You can add nuts, substitute dried cranberries for the raisins, use a different type of cheese, use turkey bacon, add apples, or use different vinegars. I used white vinegar this time but have used cider vinegar and red wine vinegar. Either vinegar makes a delicious dressing, but I think cider vinegar is my favorite.

YUM!

Carrot Cake

I have been terrible about keeping up with this blog this month. I just completely forget about it! I'll try to be better. I promise. For Easter, I made this yummy carrot cake. I got the recipe from http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. It is good, trust me. I made a regular one and E took it to work where everyone gobbled it up. I then decided to make a lower-fat version for us. It tasted fabulous, but I made one mistake. I substituted all of the oil with applesauce. I should've used SOME oil, maybe 1/4 cup. If you make this low-fat, please, please, please use some oil. The texture was a little rubbery-ish. Very edible, but just didn't like the texture.


Cake:

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots

Icing:

1 stick butter, softened
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 pound (16 oz) powdered sugar
1 cups pecans, finely chopped
2 tsp vanilla

Cake:
Mix together the sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in carrots. Pour into a greased and floured pan (I used two rounds). Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 - 50 minutes, depending on which pan you use, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pans, then remove to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Icing:
In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend; mix in nuts. Frost cooled carrot cake.

Enjoy.


I have several recipes to post, hopefully, in the next few coming days.

A world of color

I found that color comes out better in lower light. Here are a few pics around the house that show some of the new Spring color.

This pic is a little blury (sorry, I'm not too steady) but it's of our plum tree. The Cleveland pear tree is in the background, as well as the greenhouse. Oh, and yes. Those are Easter egg decorations on the plum tree. Don't laugh at me. This is a pic looking down the hill towards the highway and work. It's amazing how fast everything turns green. You can start to see the green "fuzz" on the trees.

This was my very first flower bed. It needs a lot of TLC. I'll get to it eventually.

Here is another flower bed that has been invaded by wire grass. I'm going to dig up what I can save and then start over. My poor lavender probably won't make it.

I've been so busy lately with baking and trying to get things done outside. I'm supposed to make a delivery to the coffee shop this evening, go to the grocery store, bake two batches of coffee cake, and cover up what I have planted in the garden because it's supposed to get down to freezing tonight. Somewhere I have to find time to eat dinner, work out, and clean; maybe even study a little if I can. Oh, and I can't forget sleep. It'll come around eventually.

I've tried making a lemon cornmeal cake twice now. The first time I decided to do cupcakes. It tasted great, but it wasn't pretty. I used my stupid stoneware and the cupcakes didn't come out smoothly. They were also very flat on top. I made it again yesterday using my stoneware bundt pan and it sunk (terribly) in the middle. I'm not sure if it's the stoneware, the oven, the recipe, or me. I'm going to try it one more time before I either a) give up or b) tinker with the recipe. It tastes great the way it is, but I can't sell it. I'm also hoping to find time to try some new recipes I have floating around in my head. Lot's of sampling ahead for us and our co-workers. :) That's why we joined the gym!