Trying To Heal In Boston

Posted by on April 18, 2013 Leave a Comment

boston

I have not been able to get myself to post this week after Monday’s terrible bombings at the Boston Marathon.  I hope to return to regular posting next week, but I’m still in process of shaking off the dark cloud over me as I have tried to process how something so tragic could happen on one of Boston’s finest days.

Each year as a college student in Boston, one of my favorite memories was watching the marathon race by my school on Patriot’s Day.  It was such a happy day for everyone involved and I have felt a twinge of sadness each year that I have not been able to leisurely watch the race from the sidelines.  Even when I worked in the Back Bay a block away from the finish line, but had to be in my office for most of the day, I still enjoyed soaking in the city’s atmosphere of a marathon day.  I muttered under my breath about the tourists impeding my commute on days leading up to the marathon, but I secretly loved crossing the empty finish line when I got out of work for the day.

I had been texting and laughing with my husband earlier on Monday about some funny memories of Marathon Monday during our senior year.  Suddenly, he sent me a text to turn on the news because there were reports of a bombing at the marathon.  Seconds after I turned on the tv, the news showed footage of massive explosions hitting Boylston Street and I burst into tears.  It was shocking to see these images of the street I knew so well.

I had walked this same patch of Boylston Street hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the years and I feel like I know it like the back of my hand.  I walked this street to catch my bus home every evening.  I walked this street to run errands on my lunch break and grab a bite to eat.  I walked this street to meet up with my husband or friends after work to grab drinks or dinner.  I walked this street to buy my wedding dress.  I walked this street to ring in New Year’s Eve. I walked this street to go catch a game at Fenway.   I walked this street with my newborn baby after taking him to his nearby pediatrician or baby class at the Prudential Center.

I’ve spent most of the week pouring over articles on the Internet and watching more the news on practically a non-stop basis.  My heart goes out to all the victims of these tragic bombings.  I’m filled with such sadness knowing that three of the victims will never be returning to their families.  I know it will be a long road to heal, but I hope we will be able to one day go on and enjoy our beautiful city and a joyous Marathon Monday once again.  In the meanwhile, I encourage you to contribute to The One Fund set up by the city of Boston to help the victims rebuild their lives.

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Candy Blondies

Posted by on April 14, 2013 Leave a Comment

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Caramel Snicker, Chocolate Covered Pretzel Blondies

As you can see, we love chocolate chip cookies of all variations around here.  These super chocolate chip blondies I made several weeks ago got the wheels in my brain turning.  I loved the recipe because the middles were practically filled with chocolate and were so soft and delicious.

Candy Blondies

My boyfriend and I decided to invent a blondie that captured the concept of a Take 5 Candy bar,  which my boyfriend can’t get enough of.  The mixture of chocolate, peanut butter, peanuts, caramel and pretzels all together is awesome.  We bought truffles from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago that were salted dark chocolate filled with peanut butter and caramel.  Amazing.  To start with, we used the base recipe for the blondies since we love those so much.  We added Reese’s Peanut Butter chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips into the dough and then on top we added mini chocolate covered pretzels and cut-up pieces of Snickers caramel (this is one of their new products that is a chocolate candy bar filled with caramel.)

The result…delicious!  I would even go as far as to take chopped-up Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to add-on top next time.  The caramels sort of sink in and disappear while baking so feel free to load on more toppings than I did.  I am calling them Candy Blondies because Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Snickers Simply Caramel, and Chocolate Covered Pretzel Blondies is just far too long.  Don’t you agree?

Candy Ingredients

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Candy Blondies
 

Ingredients
  • 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup peanut butter chips
  • 2-3 bars of Snicker’s Simply Caramel Bars, chopped
  • 1 cup of mini chocolate covered pretzels (or regular sized roughly chopped)

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Using the paper from the sticks of butter, grease a 8½x12x2 inch baking pan and then dust with flour.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy.
  4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, turn mixer to low and then add in vanilla extract. Next add in egg one at a time mix until all combined.
  5. In a medium sized bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt.
  6. Gradually add in dry ingredients with the mixer on low speed until all combined.
  7. Fold in the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
  8. Spread the dough onto baking pan until smooth and then press the Snickers Simple Caramel Pieces and Chocolate Covered Pretzels into the top of the dough,
  9. Bake for 30 minutes. Stick a toothpick into the middle of blondies and if there is no batter on the toothpick they are done.
  10. Let cool and then slice into squares.

Source- Adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Foolproof

Candy Covered Blondies

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Weekly Meal Plan for April

Posted by on April 11, 2013 Leave a Comment

april weekly menu plan

I just wanted to squeeze in a quick post since we haven’t had any this week!  My husband accidentally left our DSLR in the trunk of his car earlier this week and today our laptop is getting a little TLC at the Apple store.  My mom also was visiting us earlier this week.  Is that enough excuses for you because I’m sure I could come up with a few more?

I made this meal plan for this week starting on Monday.  We have started to get some warmer days in so I have included a lot more fish and grilling recipes than I did for the winter.  I’ve already made the salmon burgers and fish tacos this week and they were both really, really good!  I will definitely be making them both again hopefully many times this upcoming summer.  I’m also looking forward to trying some new recipes in the second half of the week.

Day 1:  Salmon Burgers with Lemon Dill Mayo from The Picky Palate Cookbook
Day 2:  Blackened Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa and Chipotle Aioli, side of chips and guacamole from Tide and Thyme (I have linked to this recipe before- you must try it soon if you have not already!)
Day 3: Take-out (late afternoon doctor’s appointment)
Day 4: Chicken with Tomato Herb Pan Sauce and Garlic Rice Pilaf, from Annie’s Eats
Day 5: Spice-Rubbed NY Strip Steaks with Avocado Lime Salsa and Corn Muffins from Cooking Light, April 2013
Day 6:  Panko-Crusted Cod with Tomato Basil Relish from Cooking Light, April 2013
Day 7: Chili Lime Shrimp Skewers over Garlic Butter Quinoa from The Picky Palate Cookbook

What’s on your menu for the week?  Are you passing over the soup recipes yet and trading them in for some grilling time?
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Orange Julius… Go Orange!

Posted by on April 6, 2013 3 Comments

Orange Julius
As M and I have mentioned before, we grew up in Syracuse, NY.   Our father has played basketball his whole life and started to follow Syracuse Basketball when he moved to Syracuse 37 years ago for his first job.   He has held season tickets for Syracuse Basketball that whole time, and is one of the biggest SU fans I know.  My dad would take us to a couple games every year when we were young and it was always fun for the Dome Dogs, nachos, and the quality time with our dad of course!
Delicious Orange Julius
In case you haven’t heard,  Syracuse Men’s Basketball is in the Final Four tonight!  They are also winning my brackets for work so Go Cuse!!!   If you happen to be looking for a good Syracuse Orange spirit, you have come to the right place.   My sisters and I use to make this recipe for Orange Julius or Orange Frost all the time when were little.   It is a delicious cold, frothy, fruity drink that’s perfect for kids or adults.   Adults can add vodka or gin to it to make it an even better basketball watching drink!   You can also use this drink to make popsicles!   Go Syracuse!! Cusee is in the house oh my god oh my god!

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Orange Julius
Author: 
Serves: 6-8
 

Ingredients
  • 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup water
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 12-16 ice cubes

Instructions
  1. Add everything but the ice to a blender. Blend until combined. Add in ice cubes in 3 to 4 parts making sure all the ice is crushed before adding next part. Serve immediately.

Syracuse Orange Julius
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Dill Dip with Pumpernickel Pretzels

Posted by on April 5, 2013 Leave a Comment

Easy Dill Dip

Have you ever had a rye boat dip? You take a round loaf of pumpernickel bread and create a bowl in the center and and fill it with dill dip with or without chipped beef.  Then, you would use the cut-up bread to eat the dip.  Well, I love those and I still make them occasionally for parties or on a football Sunday because the boyfriend loves it too.

Every time I make it, I need to look up recipes because I lost the recipe that my mom originally gave me.  I have to recreate the recipe every time by looking at different recipes online.  That’s one of the great things about having a blog- not only do I get to share my recipes with you, but I have a centralized place to look up all my family’s/favorite recipes.

When I was in World Market the other day (umm, my favorite store right after Target and Marshall’s,) I found pumpernickel pretzels by Utz.  I had the genius idea of making dill dip to go with these pretzels to taste like a rye boat dip.  The results were awesome and we can’t get enough of the pumpernickel pretzels.  We actually pack a serving in our lunches everyday (without the dill dip.)  Can’t find these pretzels?  Make a pumpernickel boat and fill it with dill dip or just dip slices of cut-up veggies in it.

Dill Dip

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Dill Dip
Author: 
 

Ingredients
  • 1 cup light mayonnaise
  • 1 cup light sour cream
  • 1 tbsp. dill
  • 2 tbsp. chopped fresh onion (or 1 tbsp. dried onion)
  • 1 tsp. beau monde seasoning
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Serve with pumpernickel pretzels or pumpernickel bread.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Posted by on April 4, 2013 Leave a Comment

chocolate peanut butter banana muffins

Ready for some non-Easter recipes yet?  We’ve taken a brief hiatus this week after Easter to recuperate and to start getting into spring-mode!  We have been brainstorming a lot of new recipes ideas and can’t wait to share them.  In the meanwhile, I wanted to share the recipe for these chocolate peanut butter banana muffins that I made for the first time about six months ago and have made several times since.  T loves them and I really don’t mind eating them myself ;)

chocolate peanut butter muffins

The original recipe is from Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook Deceptively Delicious.  In her cookbook, she incorporates a lot of pureed fruits and vegetables into recipes so that kids (especially picky eaters) get more nutrients into their diet.  The original recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of pureed carrots or cauliflower, but I haven’t yet tried making them with this.  The recipe I have tried does incorporate a bananas, peanut butter, and applesauce- they are amazingly moist considering they only have one egg white and no oil or butter in them.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

 

Ingredients
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, divided
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 banana, mashed
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 cup all purpose flour (alternatively, you could use ½ cup whole wheat flour and ½ cup all purpose flour)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup chocolate chips

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, line a muffin tin with paper baking cups.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, mix ½ cup of the brown sugar with the peanut butter, applesauce, mashed banana and egg white. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour(s), baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Add the mixed dry ingredients with the peanut butter mixture and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips until fully mixed. Add the remaining ½ of brown sugar and stir once or twice.
  3. Use a spoon to pour the batter in 12 muffin cups (the batter may be a bit thicker than a regular muffin recipe.) Bake for 18-20 minutes or until tops of the muffins are set and a toothpick comes out clean.
  4. Remove from oven and allow the muffins to cool in the muffin tin for a few minutes. Remove muffins from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Source: Adapted from Deceptively Delicious and Once a Month Mom

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Happy Easter with Last Minute Easter Ideas!

Posted by on March 31, 2013 Leave a Comment

Happy Easter Readers!   We have been busy this Easter season getting recipes and holiday ideas ready for you.   Feel free to browse around for more ideas, but here are some great ways to celebrate this holiday with your family and friends.
Deviled-Eggs.jpg
These classic deviled eggs have been a huge Pinterest hit this season.  They are so easy to make and delicious.  Make these for an appetizer tonight with your dinner!
Cheesy-Potatoes.jpg
Our second favorite this season is the easy-peasy Cheesy Potatoes.   This recipe comes together in minutes with using the short-cut of frozen hash browns.
Delicious-Biscuits.jpg
Who doesn’t love a homemade biscuit fresh out of the oven?   This recipe here is so easy you can whip it up right now and have biscuits in under 30 minutes!
easter bunny place cards
How will you guest know where to sit?  Make these super cute and easy place cards.  Do I see a project for the kid’s to do while you are prepping dinner?
Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons {from 2 Sisters 2 Cities}
Don’t forget our favorite course (especially pregnant M!)… Dessert!  Chocolate dipped coconut macaroons!
Easter-Funfetti-Cupcakes.jpg
Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes with buttercream frosting topped with marshmallow peeps
Rice-Krispie-Treat-Eggs.jpg
Rice Krispie Treat Eggs dipped in Peanut Butter Chocolate!
Peanut-Butter-Filled-Chocolate-Bunnies.jpg

Or Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Bunnies!

Wishing you all a memory-filled and happy holiday!

Love always,
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Buttermilk Biscuits

Posted by on March 31, 2013 Leave a Comment

Buttermilk Biscuits

Happy Easter everyone!   You are probably looking for some last minute recipes here so I thought I would share with you an easy recipe for buttermilk biscuits.  Today for dinner I am serving baked ham with homemade biscuits, sweet potato casserole and steamed green beans.  When I was younger I use to call days like this “Ham Day!”

There is nothing like a homemade warm biscuit fresh out of the oven sliced with butter spread on it.  Like muffin and scones,  I am always surprised at how easy it is to make biscuits.  I guess with dinners every night and three-part cupcake recipes, a biscuit seems easy to make.  My favorite part in making biscuits is that you want there to be small chunks of butter in the dough so you really don’t have to mix it up much.  Other bonuses are that you really just need one bowl to make these and you don’t need a mixer!
Delicious Biscuits

Worried that you don’t have time to make homemade biscuits?  Make them ahead by placing the cut-out biscuits (before baking) on a wax paper-covered tray.  Place the tray in the freezer until biscuits are frozen.  Once frozen, place biscuits in freezer bags between layers of wax paper.  When you are ready to bake them, just pop them out, place them on a parchment paper-lined baking tray and bake for the specified time, plus an additional minute or two. Tada!  Fresh biscuist!

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Buttermilk Biscuits
Author: 
Prep time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12 two-inch biscuits or 6 three-inch biscuits
 

Ingredients
  • 2¼ cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. of sugar
  • 1 tbsp. baking powder
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • ¾ tsp. baking soda
  • 9 tbsp. cold unsalted butter ( 1 + ⅛ sticks of butter)
  • ¾ cups of buttermilk

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  2. In a large bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and whisk together. Cut cold butter into small pieces and add to dry mixture. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, blend the butter into dry ingredients until the mixture has pea-sized crumbles.
  3. Add buttermilk and mix the ingredients until it just comes together. The mixture should be lumpy. Knead 2-3 times with hands to form dough together.
  4. On a lightly floured surface, place dough and pat flat until about ½-3/4 inch thick. With a floured round round cutter (I used a fluted 2-inch, but feel free to use a regular round cutter 2-3 inches big) cut out biscuits and line them up on baking sheet leaving about 2 inches of space in-between them. If you don’t have a round cutter, make drop biscuits by scooping out ¼ cup of dough and dropping on baking sheet, also leaving 2 inches between.
  5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.
  6. *If make ahead method- Freeze biscuit dough on a wax paper lined baking sheet after cutting out rounds, or dropping dough. Once frozen add to a freezer bag. Bake frozen biscuits the same as above but adding a couple more minutes to the bake time.
  7. *If using buttermilk powder- Add 3 tablespoons of buttermilk powder to dry ingredients and then mix in ¾ cup water when above recipe says to add in the buttermilk.

Homemade Biscuits

Source- Slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen
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Easy Easter Place Cards

Posted by on March 29, 2013 3 Comments

Easy Easter Place Cards {from 2 Sisters 2 Cities}

Since we have been on such an Easter recipe kick this week, I also wanted to share a quick little Easter-related DIY project.  I got the idea for these Easter place cards from a book my mom gave to me for my birthday.  I read about Craft-A-Day: 365 Simple Homemade Projects on another blog and added it to my Amazon wish list.  It has so many cute and easy projects in it and I love flipping through it for ideas.

The Craft-A-Day book did not have a specific project for Easter place cards, but I modified a couple of their egg and bunny-themed projects.  This place cards would be a lot of fun to make with kids!  Also, the first person to name the television show that I got all these names from is our official 2 Sisters 2 Cities’ reader of the month :)

The only supplies you need to make these Easter place cards are white and pastel-colored card stock, scissors, double-sided tape or glue, and colorful gel pens.  A circle and oval stencil could come in handy, but it’s not necessarily needed.

To make the egg place cards, you just need to cut out egg shapes from various shades of paper.  It helps to have a template version on the egg so that you can use it to trace all the other eggs so they are a uniform shape and size.  Then, cut one of the eggs in half and cut a strip from the middle of another egg.  Tape or glue these two pieces onto a full egg to create three colorful parts.  Then, tape the egg onto a folded place card and write in the guest name.

paper eggs place cards

Alternatively, you could just wrap one full egg in various colors of washi tape:

washi tape egg place cards

I also couldn’t resist making a couple fun-loving bunnies for my Easter table.  To make these, I just cut small  circles out of white card stock.  I then cut out a pair of ears using the white and the “inner ears” using a shade of pink.  I snipped off a corner of the pink paper for the bunny’s nose.  I used double-sided tape to attach the bunny face, ears, and nose to a pink-colored place card.  Then, use a black gel pen to draw in the bunny’s eyes, mouth, and whiskers.  Finally, use a fun colored pen add the guest name to the place card.

easter bunny place cards

Happy Easter everyone!  I’m off to go stock up on liquor for my guests…

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Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

Posted by on March 29, 2013 Leave a Comment

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

Since Easter is usually timed with the start of spring, it is often associated with bright and pastel colors.  Oh, and of course bunnies and chicks!  I was trying to think of a cupcake that could be Easter-themed.  I know I could have gone with a carrot cake cupcake, but truthfully my all time favorite cupcake is vanilla with buttercream frosting.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Homemade funfetti cupcakes have been on my list of recipes I have been wanting to try for awhile.  After finding the cutest Easter egg cupcake liners at Target- okay, I may be a little obsessed with Target- I decided to give this recipe a try.  A fun way to top these colorful cupcakes is with a bright-colored marshmallow peep.  My favorite peeps are the yellow ones of course!   Make these cupcakes for your Easter weekend!

Easter Funfetti Cupcakes

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Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
Author: 
Serves: 12
 

Ingredients
Funfetti Cupcakes
  • 1 + ⅔ cup AP flour
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp.baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 Stick)
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ½ cup sprinkles
Buttercream Frosting:
  • ½ cup butter (1 stick)
  • 3-4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • Sprinkles, for topping
  • Peeps, for topping

Instructions
Funfetti Cupcakes
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with liners.
  2. In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together until combined.
  3. In the bowl of your mixer add butter and sugar. Mix until fluffy.
  4. Add in eggs and mix together.
  5. In a measuring cup mix together sour cream, milk and vanilla.
  6. Add dry ingredients into mixer bowl in 3 parts alternating with sour cream/milk mixture.
  7. Mix until smooth. Gently fold in sprinkles into batter with a rubber spatula.
  8. Divide the batter into the 12 cupcake pans. Place in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes
Buttercream Frosting:
  1. Cream butter in bowl of mixer, add in 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla on medium speed. Beat until smooth and creamy, making sure to scrape down the sides to incorporate all of the ingredients. Gradually add in remaining confectioners’ sugar until the frosting is a good spreading consistency. Beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy, making sure not to over beat.
Assembly:
  1. Once cupcakes are cooled, prepare a pastry bag with a large star tip. Fill with frosting and swirl onto cupcakes. If you don’t have pastry bags or tips, glob a spoonful of frosting in the middle of cupcake and take a knife and smooth around. Top with sprinkles and peeps.

Source:  Cupcakes adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction, Frosting is a 2 Sisters 2 Cities original

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