Mashed potatoes!

I realized just the other day, as I was making a batch of mashed potatoes that I hadn’t shared my recipe! They are extremely easy, and I always get a lot of compliments on them. They actually reheat well, which my husband says is rare with mashed taters. These have a nice, fluffy texture that is also thick and satisfying. These taters would also be excellent with some mix-ins like shredded cheese, garlic, or some bacon bits! I like mine on the plain side, simple and classic!


Serves about 4 people.

Ingredients:

3 medium sized russet potatoes (you can use other favorites, but I use russets because they are cheap! White potatoes are discouraged, as they are sooo starchy)

2 tbsp salted butter

¼ cup 2% milk

Sea salt to taste


Bring approximately 8 cups of water to a boil. While your water is boiling, wash your potatoes, removing any bad spots, if present. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch squares. When the water is boiling, carefully add the potatoes, and cook until nice and soft, about 12-15 minutes.

Drain the potatoes, and place them into a large bowl. Add the milk, butter, and salt, and using a hand mixer (important, use the double beater hand mixer, not the immersion mixer, it will make a soup-like consistency), smash down the potatoes. Turn on the mixer, and mix until the potatoes have softened into proper consistency. Add more salt to taste, and carefully add more milk, if consistency is still too thick.

Enjoy!

Boston Cream Pie cupcakes!

Please excuse my poor picture quality -- I don't know what happened. However, this delicious and cute cupcake begs to be made. It is a bit labor intensive with all of the steps of making the custard and chocolate sauce topping, but the cake is pure decadence. My husband requested these for his birthday cake, and I thought that I'd share my recipe.

Yields about 10 cupcakes

Ingredients for the cakes:
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup salted butter (if using unsalted, simply add 1/2 tsp salt)
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the custard:
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze:
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup hot water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease 2 cupcake pans.

Beat the cake ingredients together until well mixed, then pour into the cups to the halfway point. Bake the cakes for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are firm. Allow to cool.

For the cream filling, mix the sugar, cornstarch, milk, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, and ladle a bit of the mixture into the egg yolks, then add all to the saucepan slowly. Stir in the vanilla, and remove from heat. Allow to cool completely.

Assemble your cupcakes one of two ways: if you made shorter cupcakes, pile some glaze onto it, then stack on another small cupcake. If your cupcakes are tall, simply cut in half and spoon some glaze between the layers.

Now you're ready to glaze! Using the double broiler method, heat the chocolate until melted. Carefully remove from heat and add the sugar, then stir in the water slowly, until it reaches a thin consistency. While still slightly warm, pour the glaze over the cupcakes!

Serve with a good cup of coffee, tea, or milk, and plenty of napkins!

Cherry Vanilla Almond Scones

In honor of Kate and William's nuptials (and of course, I got up at 2:30 AM to watch!), I baked up some cherry vanilla almond scones. I'm not much of a scone person, but I have to say, these are amazing! So tart and soft!

Makes about 8-10 scones, depending on how big your cutter.

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 tbsp) salted butter (you can use unsalted and just add 1/2 tsp of salt)
2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Cut in the butter, and using your hands or a pastry cutter, knead in the butter until the dough resembles crumbs. A food processor might also be used for this step.

In a separate bowl, mix together the yogurt, egg, and flavor extracts, whisking well. Dump this mixture into the flour and butter mixture, and mix until the dough begins to pull together. Mix in the cherries.

Flour a cutting board to roll the dough. Roll out the dough, and using a biscuit cutter, cut out your scones! You can also simply cut them into triangles, but every scone that I had in England was biscuit shaped, so that's how I like them!

Grease a cookie sheet (or use a silicone liner, like me -- my favorite kitchen gadget!), and place the scones on it, spacing about an inch between each. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops start to brown slightly.

Serve with hot English Breakfast tea and clotted cream!

Don't like cherry scones? Want chocolate? My friend Catherine has a great recipe for chocolate chip scones!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies for Japan!

In my do-gooder ways, I recently participated in Katie's bake sale fundraiser for Japan. To benefit Japan, she generously hosted an online bake sale, in which various participants (like me!) baked up vegan treats for bidders, with all proceeds going to Japan! I was more than excited to help out, and we managed to raise over $2500!

Totally awesome (did I just say that? Yes, I did!)! I volunteered with vegan peanut butter cookies, made with the following recipe. I really hope that the winner of my treats enjoys them! They are so easy, I thought I'd share!

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
sprinkle of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Blend together the peanut butter, sugar, water, and salt until smooth. Add flour and baking soda. Once they are well mixed, roll into small balls (or larger, depending on how big you want your cookies), and place onto a greased cookie sheet. Press down with a fork. Bake until edges are slightly brown (about 15 minutes). Allow to cool, and enjoy!!

Butternut Squash Pasta - 10 minutes flat!

While I was shopping at Trader Joe's the other day, I noticed that they had some of their excellent butternut squash ravioli! Having no idea what to do with it, but deciding that it would be very yummy, I bought it, and created this little recipe. Not counting the time for the water to boil, it came together in 10 minutes!

You will need:

9 ounces (1 package) butternut squash ravioli

2 cups fresh spinach

2 tbsp butter

freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp ground sage

1/4 cup walnuts

1 tsp olive oil

Boil some water and cook the pasta as directed on the package. While it's cooking, heat the olive oil in a frying pan, then throw in the spinach, cooking until well wilted. 

In a separate frying pan, melt the butter, cooking until well browned. Add the sage.

Plate the pasta, dividing the spinach and pasta evenly. Pour on the butter sauce, adding pepper to taste. Sprinkle on the walnuts and enjoy!

Green Chocolate Cake Batter Smoothie!!!

So in light of all of the unhealthy (but so delicious!) things that I described eating in my last post, I thought that I'd post about something that I made that is both healthy and delicious!

A Green Chocolate Cake Batter Smoothie!!!!

It seems that the internet has been overtaken by the green smoothie movement, made very popular by Angela and her fabulous vegan blog and green monster movement. Katie had posted a yummy recipe about a chocolate cake batter shake, which gave me the idea for this yummy treat -- how about make that a green smoothie?

Ingredients:
1 very ripe banana
1/2 cup almond milk (or cow's milk, whatever your preference)
2 tsp chocolate butter OR 2 T cocoa powder
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
3 ice cubes

Dump all of this into your blender, and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass, pop in a straw, and drink up! Who says healthy isn't yummy?

Pasta Carbonara!

Pasta Carbonara is my husband's favorite meal that I make. It's really something that we only make and eat at home, since I find most restaurant versions too heavy and creamy. It's simple ingredients; in fact, you probably have almost every ingredient in your kitchen right now. It comes together lightning fast -- probably the longest step is waiting for the water to boil to cook the pasta! It's simple, and could easily be made vegetarian by the omission of the pancetta (replaced with mushrooms, perhaps?).

Makes 4 generous helpings.

Ingredients:

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti pasta (cuz whole wheat makes it healthy ;))

1/4 pound chopped pancetta (I got mine at Trader Joe's)

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 t crushed red pepper

1/4 cup white wine

6 cloves peeled and crushed garlic (about 4 tsp)

salt and pepper

3 large eggs

1/2 cup shaved parmesean cheese, or more to taste

Boil the water and add the pasta. Next, crush up the garlic if it is not already crushed. Place a deep frying pan on the stove, and pour in the olive oil, allowing it to heat for a minute or two. Next, throw in the chopped pancetta, cooking for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic to the mixture, stirring to keep the garlic from scorching. Pour in the wine, stirring any drippings fromt the bottom of the pan. Add the red pepper.

Crack the eggs into a bowl, beating with a fork. Add a small ladle of water from the pasta -- this will keep the eggs from overcooking.

Drain the pasta, and transfer to the frying pan, mixing up the oil-pancetta sauce. Throw on the egg mixture, making sure to coat the pasta well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on big plates with bread, sprinkle on parmesean to taste. Enjoy!