strawberry and brown sugar pudding tart

I had plans to make a no bake tart, but the crust I made turned out to need a few minutes in the oven. I'm sorry. This isn't the perfect for a hot summer day dessert to make that I had been hoping for, although it sure tastes like it! First, there is a simple crust of cookie crumbs and butter, topped with a homemade brown sugar vanilla pudding, topped with strawberries in a little honeyed syrup. It's delicious, and perfect to eat on a hot day. You just do have to use the oven for a few minutes. The pudding isn't too sweet, so the sweetness of the strawberry syrup balances it out, without making the whole dessert too sweet.

This is best made all from scratch, but if you're really feeling lazy? Just use a prepared pie crust (baked) and pudding from a mix. I won't tell.

Cookie crumb tart crust

1 1/2 c cookie crumbs

a pinch of salt

1-2 T sugar, if your cookies aren't too sweet

5 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the cookie crumbs, salt, and sugar. Pour melted butter over, mix in, and press into the bottom of your tart pan. Bake 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

If you're really against using the oven on such a hot day, you can freeze the crust for half an hour, and then proceed with the recipe. The crust will still be good, but not as crunchy as if you bake it.

Vanilla brown sugar pudding

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

1/3 c packed brown sugar

3 T cornstarch

a pinch of salt

2 c milk

1 egg, beaten

1 t vanilla

1 T butter

Whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in 1/4 c milk, making sure everything is dissolved. Stir in the rest of the milk, then heat the pan over medium heat until the mixture just begins to simmer, stirring the whole time. Remove the pan from the heat, and beat 1/2 c of the hot milk into the beaten egg, verrrrrry slowly, so the egg doesn't cook. Slowly stir the eggy milk back into the pan, and while stirring, bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cook for one minute more, then remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and butter. Once the butter is melted and incorporated, pour the pudding over the cookie crumb crust. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing right onto the pudding so there is no air. Let cool in the fridge for an hour or two, then top with strawberries and syrup.

Strawberries and honey syrup

1 1/2 c sliced strawberries

3 T honey

1 T orange liquor (or water)

Combine the strawberries, honey, and liquor in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and then strain, saving both the berries and the juice. When the berries have cooled, arrange them on top of the pudding, and then drizzle the syrup over.

Serve cold.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Remember the chocolate angel food cake yesterday? The problem with making that cake is that you're left with at least 9 egg yolks. What to do with them? I was going to make pudding, or custard, or something along those lines, but we didn't have a lot of milk. We also had no cream. I looked up things to do with egg yolks, and pasta carbonara kept coming up. I'm not sure if I've ever had it before, but in theory it sounded good.

All you do is cook some pasta, save a little bit of the pasta water, mix it together with some cooked bacon, egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, and pepper, and voila! Pasta carbonara. The hot pasta cooks the egg yolks a bit, if you're worried about raw eggs. You can add things like peas for color, or mushrooms, or cream instead of pasta water, but that's more alfredo-y to me. This was delicious as it was, the only crazy thing I did was add a few cloves of garlic. This is a super simple meal, that takes only the amount of time it takes to cook pasta. Maybe not the healthiest, but we balanced it out with a big bowl of sauteed vegetables.

Pasta carbonara

gluten-free pasta of your choice

6 slices bacon, chopped into bits

4 cloves garlic, chopped

4-10 egg yolks

1/2 c Parmesan cheese

1/2 c pasta water

pepper, to taste

Start the pasta cooking according to the directions for whichever kind of pasta you're using. Cook the bacon until crispy, then drain, saving a few tablespoons of the fat. Cook the garlic in the fat until fragrant, and let cool a little. Mix together in a large bowl with the cooked bacon, garlic, egg yolks, and cheese. Once the pasta is cooked to your liking, add to the bowl with everything else, along with the pasta water. stir everything together, and serve immediately, sprinkling with as much pepper as you'd like.

Chocolate angel food cake, chocolate ganache, strawberries are the most excellent combo

I'm out of tapioca starch, and the laziest girl ever. I don't want to ride my bike all the way to the store! However, I wanted to make something to bring to a 4th of July party. I'm always the girl that shows up with dessert, because I try not to bake desserts to eat all by myself. Parties are great places to pawn off your baking experiments. Plus, it's good form to bring something to a party. I came across a recipe for a dessert trifle, with torn up, store bought angel food cake, plain yogurt, and strawberries cooked to a syrup. Hm, sounds good, angel food cake barely needs any flour, but I can do better. Like with chocolate. and homemadeangel food cake. And plain yogurt? Boring. And how about some fresh strawberries? I can't really eat them, but I have a husband who's happy to pick the fruit off my dessert. Fruit syrup is sofall/winter season, when there are only frozen fruits to be had, besides apples.

I pulled out my trusty Joy of Cooking (I have four, different editions) and oh good, easy. And the recipe doesn't need anything I don't have, except eggs, but the store next door carries those. I'm sold.

Caution: this recipe calls for a lot of eggs.

Chocolate angel food cake

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking 2006 edition.

1/2 c rice flour

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 t xanthan gum

1 1/2 c sugar, divided

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 c egg whites (about 10), room temperature

1 T water

1 t lemon juice

1 t cream of tartar

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. If your eggs aren't room temperature, sit them (before separating) in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes until no longer cold to the touch. Sift together the rice flour, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, 3/4 c sugar, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Combine egg whites, water, lemon juice, cream of tartar, and vanilla in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low speed for about a minute. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture increases 4-5 times in volume. Mixture will be foamy and will hold very soft peaks. Bring mixer back to medium-high, and add the last 3/4 c sugar a tablespoon at a time. Beat until the egg whites hold soft, glossy peaks, not stiff ones! Sprinkle a little of the flour mixture over the top, then carefully fold in. Repeat about seven times, sprinkling and folding. When everything is incorporated, scrape the batter into a clean, ungreased tube pan. Bake 40 minutes, until no longer jiggley and starting to pull away from the sides. A toothpick will come out clean.

Immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, flip it over and cool it upside down, to keep the cake from falling. Cool completely before removing from the pan.

Chocolate ganache

one 3oz chocolate bar, as dark as you can find. I used 77% cocoa

4 T half and half, cream, or milk

3-4 T sugar, depending on how dark/bitter your chocolate it

1 T butter

Chop up the chocolate bar, and put in a small pan with the half and half and sugar. Chop up the butter. Heat the chocolate over very low heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted into the milk and the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat, add the butter, and stir until butter is melted.

Invert your completely cooled cake onto a plate. Spread the warm chocolate mixture over the top evenly, and then arrange sliced, fresh strawberries in circles around the top, starting on the inside.

Oven baked Parmesan fries

I'm home alone tonight. I cooked a good lunch for Alex and I, and am just feeling soo lazy. Plus I'm not starving. It's ok to just have french fries for dinner, right? Nobody's around, let's just keep it a secret. Tomorrow I'll have vegetables for lunch to balance things out.

Oven baked Parmesan fries

I made these with one potato, but feel free to use two or three or more if you're making them for more than just yourself, secretly, while your husband isn't around.

1 potato

1 t salt

pepper

1 T olive oil

1/3 c Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425, and line a cookie sheet with some foil (clean up is so easy!). Cut potato lengthwise into strips about 1/3" wide, and then cut into thin strips. Toss with salt and pepper and olive oil. Bake about 45 minutes, tossing every 10. In the last 5 minutes, add the cheese, toss to coat, and cook until crispy.

You know what's a good idea? Eating these with homemade ranch dressing. But you know, that's totally up to you.

Homemade ranch dressing

Who knew making ranch dressing was so easy, quick, and delicious? I whipped this up in about 5 minutes. It's even better the next day, but is definately awesome right away. Serve with vegetables to dip into it, over burgers, or dip your bacon-cheese grilled jalapenos in it. Oh yeah, you could pour it over your salad too.

Homemade ranch dressing

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

3/4 c half and half

2 T lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

a few big pinches of salt

1/4 t pepper

1/2 c sour cream

1 T minced parsley

1 T minced chives (or more!)

1/2 t hot paprika

a few dashed of hot sauce

1 T very finely minced onion

Combine half and half with lemon juice in a small jar. Let sit a minute or two, until thickened. Whisk in remaining ingredients, taste for salt, and then chill. Keeps covered in the fridge about a week, but make sure you shake the jar before using.

Bacon wrapped, cheese stuffed, grilled jalapenos

Oh. My. God. I've made stuffed jalapenos before (fried ones) which were great, but nothing like these. These are not much healthier, because they're wrapped in bacon, but I can't handle how delicious they are. If you scrape the jalapenos clean, they won't really be spicy, just a little heat afterwards but definitely not 'burn your mouth run screaming for a glass or five of water'. The trick with these is to grill them slowly. If you try to cook them over the hottest part of the grill, you'll end up with crispy bacon and raw peppers.

I started these out straight on the grill, but then the cheese was oozing a lot so I finished them up on top of foil. I thought making five of these (with large peppers) would be enough for Alex and I (in addition to the gigantic meal we were eating) but when we were done I wished I'd made more. More more more! These are all I can think about today. A friend of mine suggested smoking them next time we use the smoker, and that is something we will absolutely be doing. Bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed, mind-blowing, grilled jalapenos

Recipe from Sandra Lee, kicked up a bit. If you're not into grilling, you can bake these in the oven, I'd say about 15-20 minutes at 350, then you can finish them under the broiler if you want. You could also cook them in the smoker. If you really don't like any heat, you can use small bell peppers instead of jalapenos.

5 large jalapenos (or more if they're smaller)

1/2 c cream cheese

1 c shredded cheddar

1 t salt

pinch of pepper

3/4 t smoked paprika

1 clove garlic, crushed

5 slices bacon

Slice your jalapenos from stem to tip of the pepper. Carefully open the peppers, and scrape out the seeds and white membranes. You might want to wear gloves to do this, spicy pepper hands are not fun. Set the cleaned peppers aside. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic. Stuff each pepper with as much cheese mixture as you can. Wrap each pepper tightly in a slice of bacon, and secure with toothpicks or on a skewer.

Grill on the side of the grill, where it's not too hot, for anywhere from ten to twenty five minutes, depending on how hot the grill is. You can grill them on foil, so you don't ruin your grill grate with cheese. These peppers need slow heat and a little time. Let them cook so that the peppers are cooked.

Serve with homemade ranch recipe, coming soon. Or just eat as is, they're perfect.

Margaritas!

My mom makes margaritas all the time, and all summer that's what I've been craving. My friend Kait is coming over, and so I made margaritas. A pitcher. A small pitcher, since I only had a few limes. This is a super thing for your 4th of July party!

Small pitcher margaritas

Can be doubled, tripled, etc.

1 c lime juice, fresh squeezed

1 c tequila

1/2 c triple sec

1/2 c simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water)

lots and lots of ice cubes

salt and/or sugar for rimming glasses

an extra lime, halved, for rimming glasses

Mix lime juice, tequila, triple sec and simple syrup in a small pitcher. Rub the cut side of the lime on each glass and then dip in a small plate with salt or sugar. Fill the glass with ice cubes, then with margaritas.