teacher by day - chef by night
BUT – on a good note, these are at least ‘healthier’ fries (served with ‘healthier’ buffalo chicken). “Healthier than what?” you may ask – well healthier than what you would get at a restaurant of course! Now, I am not saying by any stretch of the imagination that this is good for you, but its not really that bad for you. A meal like this once in a while partnered with a regularly scheduled healthy diet and some activity equals a well balanced and happy life
This is SO simple and easy – roast up some fresh tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, & salt and you have your sauce. The only “work” to this is planning an hour ahead to roast up your tomatoes. So what are you waiting for – enjoy the flavors of summer and enjoy!!
Rich LOVES Whoopie Pies. His mom picks them up for him every time we have a trip to the lake & she gets them from a small Amish Bakery stand. The stakes were high so I have avoided making him Whoopie Pies for quite a while now…
Thanks to Sweet Pea for coming through though, on a recipe I knew would work….
Rich’s analysis is as follows the cake “kicks the Amish Cake’s butt” but the filling was “awesome, but a little lighter in texture”. I think that next time I might try to make a variation of my S’mores Cupcake Frosting with the addition of some meringue powder to fluff it more?
There are so many different variations of Whoopie Pies, and they are quickly becoming more and more popular! They are super easy to make & travel well (especially since I wrap them each individually and they can even be frozen to last longer). These travel much more easily than cupcakes (but not as easily as bar cookies). They may not be quite as fancy as this awesome cake or this cake or even this cake – but I think most everyone (besides dad) will love them just as much. I’m willing to continue experimenting, any ideas?
makes 24 2″ pies – or about 15 3″ ones (like I did)
Preheat to 375°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar on low speed until just combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the batter and beat on low until incorporated. Add the remaining flour mixture and milk and beat until combined. Drop by tablespoons of batter onto the prepared baking sheets at least 2 inches apart
To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the marshmallow fluff and the vegetable shortening, on medium speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla and beat on low until incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes more.
Using a knife or spoon, spread the filling onto the flat side of a cooled cake. Top with another cake, flat side down. Repeat with the remaining cakes and serve.
And I leave you with Today’s Questions… what is your favorite dessert to bring with you to feed your loved ones?
These cupcakes go out to all the Harry Potter Fans out there! More than a decade is coming to a close. In June of 1997 the first Harry Potter book [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone] was released and a Nation (world) was hooked.. we read …
I decided to round out “breakfast sweets” week with just one more recipe of another tasty breakfast goody that traveled to the shore with us last weekend! This one is in the HEALTHY breakfast goodies category and will be making a repeat in our kitchen …
I went strawberry picking (twice) last week. I knew it was late in the season so I wanted to get as much out of it as possible.
On Saturday we picked about 8 pounds: about 3 pounds went into refrigerator jam, I froze about a pound for smoothies (gone already) and I’m not really sure where the rest went – I guess we ate a lot! So just four days later on Wednesday I dragged Mom out to the fields and brought home about 5 more pounds. I had found this Buttermilk Strawberry Cake and knew that I wanted to make it so made sure to put some berries aside. Besides this cake, we ate (and drank in smoothies) a lot more berries again the rest of the week.
I’m telling you – you just can’t beat the taste of fresh-picked berries. Strawberries from the store have a super strong yummy taste but the fresh berries are super sweet and have a more subtle and natural flavor! This year the strawberries in our area were very tiny because of the super wet spring. The smallness of the berries made it a little harder to pick and prepare: but did nothing, in my opinion, to the tastiness of the berries!
I decided to make this cake for my parents who were babysitting the pups while we were away with friends/family for the weekend. While I had all the ingredients out and the oven heated up, I decided to whip up another cake to bring to the beach with us to go along with the other breakfast goodies.
My dad said this cake was awesome warmed back up with some of the strawberry jam I had given them over top (and just for good measure – he put some vanilla ice cream between the layer of strawberry cake and strawberry jam).
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Dad was not the only one who enjoyed this cake.
I had the cake (and Snickerdoodle Muffins AND Banana Carrot Whole Wheat Muffins) all cooling on the table. Upon walking toward the kitchen I heard some “slurping” and walked in to see Donner (our Flat Coat Retriever) with his head tilted in a perfect angle to get his tongue to the side of the cake….
He immediately stopped when I screamed at him (and I guess we should be happy that at least all 4 legs were on the ground and he wasn’t hopping up on the table)! The cake which we brought south with us ended up arriving with a slab cut off the side in order to protect everyone from dog slobber (except for Rich who decided it is his dog and the cake was too good to let some slobber ruin it).
SO, this cake is: dog, father, boyfriend, & friend approved – enjoy!
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And I leave you with this classic Beatles Quote: “Let me take you down, ‘cos I’m going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung-about. Strawberry Fields forever.”