recipe: dark chocolate bundt cake

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not exactly a fan of fruits and veggies. I want to eat healthier, and I've made large strides in the last few years, but I haven't been able to bring myself to eat the proper amounts of fruits and veggies. So when I heard about Green Giant's new Veggie Blend-Ins, I thought they sounded tailor made for me.

I received a multi-pack to review from Vine, and while I'm not required to do anything other than write a review on Amazon, I thought I'd take you on this Blend-Ins journey with me. The package gives three recipes—one for the carrot puree (tacos), one for the butternut squash puree (mac & cheese), and one for the spinach puree (brownies). I would have made the brownie recipe, but I didn't have any brownie mix, so I adapted this recipe that I found through a Google search.

Guess what? It was delicious!!! Granted, this cake is only mildly healthier for you than if you'd make a cake following the package directions, and there's a total of only two or three servings of veggies in the whole thing. (It's pretty hard to tell based on the package.) But ... without the Blend-Ins, I wouldn't have eaten any spinach today, and a little bit of spinach is better than none!

I decided to take the cake to work with me (because even with the added veggies, I probably shouldn't eat the whole thing!). My coworkers loved it! I didn't tell them about the "special" ingredient until they'd already raved over the cake. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 devil's food cake mix
1 (3.4 oz.) box instant chocolate pudding
1-1/4 c water
3 eggs
1 pouch spinach Green Giant Veggie Blend-Ins
1 (10 oz.) pkg dark chocolate chips (or other chips of your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan. (I use Baker's Joy instead of greasing and flouring by hand.) In a large bowl, beat cake mix, pudding, water, eggs, and spinach with electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Add chips and stir in with a rubber spatula. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes. Carefully invert onto a plate to cool completely. Frost or dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free for review from Amazon.com through its Vine reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

recipe: biscoff brownies

I have a thing for box brownies. Seriously. I have yet to find a from-scratch brownie that I enjoy as much as a brownie from a box. So when I was craving chocolate the other night, I turned to my old stand-by ... but I decided to amp it up with some cream cheese and Biscoff spread ('cause you can never have too much Biscoff spread!). And they turned out delightfully, if I do say so myself!

Biscoff Brownies

Brownies:
1 family size box brownie mix and the ingredients called for on the package

Biscoff topping:
1 (8 oz) brick cream cheese (or regular or reduced fat), softened
1 egg
1/2 cup Biscoff spread
3 T sugar
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix up brownies according to package directions. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. In medium bowl, beat together Biscoff topping ingredients until smooth. Drop by spoonfuls over the brownie batter. Using a table knife, cut through the brownies several times to swirl the topping. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until set. Remove from oven and cool 30 minutes before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.

recipe: easy chicken pizza

Last week, I promised you the recipe for my chicken pizza. It's pretty straightforward ... any of you could have "invented" this recipe, too. It's also incredibly quick to make—from the time you turn on the oven until you pull the pizza out, you're looking at 20-25 minutes. It's perfect for those nights when you're looking for a fast, easy supper.

Easy Chicken Pizza

1 thin pizza crust (I use Golden Home's Ultra Crispy & Ultra Thin crust. It comes in a 3-pack for $2.99 at Hy-Vee.)
1/3-1/2 cup pizza sauce
1 can (13 oz.) chicken
4 oz. mozzarella cheese
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Fresh ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Spread pizza sauce on crust, stopping about 1/4 inch from the edge. Drain chicken and crumble over crust. Top with cheese. Sprinkle on garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and pepper to taste. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Bake according to crust package directions. Enjoy!

Some helpful hints:

• Place a pan on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any pizza drips. Trust me—I learned this the hard way!
• You can use any combination of cheeses that you want, and you can certainly use more or less than I do! I like to put a handful of grated asiago on top of the mozzarella. Cheddar or parmesan would also be good.
• You can mince two cloves of garlic to use in place of the garlic powder ... I've done it both ways, and it's way easier to go for the powder!
• The crust I buy comes in a 3-pack. The package says you can freeze the crusts for up to a month—just be aware that frozen crusts don't crisp up as well as fresh ones.
• Don't make this when you're the only one eating unless you have a lot of willpower! I have a hard time not eating the whole pizza by myself ... it's just that good!  

recipe: biscoff pretzel bars

I have recently fallen head over heels in love with Biscoff spread. What's that, you ask? It's a spread that has the consistency of peanut butter, and it's made from Biscoff cookies. Apparently, Delta distributes Biscoff cookies on their flights; I found them at World Market. They are crispy, slightly cinnamony, and oh so addictive. I've been following the recipe blog Two Peas & Their Pod for the last several months, and that's where I first heard about Biscoff spread. After drooling over Maria's Biscoff recipes for months, I finally decided to bite the bullet and pay an insane amount of money to buy some Biscoff on Amazon. I tweeted about the spread when it arrived, and Meagan mentioned she'd seen some at her Walmart. So the next time I went, I checked it out ... and there it was, right next to the peanut butter! And several of the jars even had $1 off coupons on them! It's still expensive (regular price is almost $4 for 14 oz.), but so much better than nearly $14 for two jars!

While I could eat an entire jar by the spoonful (and I have), I also wanted to use some in a recipe. So I went to Pinterest. (Where else?) First, I tried this Biscoff Puppy Chow recipe. It was good, but the chocolate and sugar totally overpowered the taste of the Biscoff. For my next attempt, I took this peanut butter bar recipe and adapted it ... a lot. I wanted to be sure the powdered sugar didn't overpower the Biscoff, so using half brown sugar, as the original recipe did, seemed like the way to go. But because Biscoff already is sweet, I didn't use all of the sugar called for in the original recipe. I also cut back on the amount of pretzels and upped the amount of Biscoff (instead of substituting it one-to-one for the peanut butter). And I cut the entire recipe in half ... it would be too dangerous for me to have a 9x13 of this stuff hanging around the house! The end result was quite satisfactory, if I do say so myself!

Biscoff Pretzel Bars
adapted from Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars on Make Happy

Bars:
1 c Biscoff spread (I used half creamy/half crunchy, but you could do all of one or the other)
½ c light brown sugar
½ c powdered sugar
¼ c melted butter
1 c crushed pretzels

Topping:
½ c bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
1 T butter
1 T creamy Biscoff spread

Line 8x8 pan with parchment paper and set aside. Mix Biscoff spread, sugars, and butter until combined. Add pretzels and stir until incorporated. (The mixture won't form a ball, but it should stick together. If it doesn't, add another tablespoon of butter.) Press mixture into prepared pan and refrigerate while preparing the topping. Place chocolate chips, butter, and Biscoff in a microwavable bowl. Microwave until melted, stirring after each 30-second increment. Spread over bars. Refrigerate until chocolate is set. Lift out of pan and use a sharp knife to cut into bars. Store in refrigerator to keep chocolate from getting too soft. Enjoy!

The Biscoff and pretzels pair very well together. Pretzels are also great dipped
directly into your jar of Biscoff!

This is what you're looking for. It's so, so, so good!

recipe: chocolate mint pudding delight

As you know if you haven't been living under a rock, the season finale of The Bachelorette was Sunday night. I think Emily Maynard's season was my favorite yet—the guys seemed normal (mostly), Emily clearly had her head on straight, and we got to meet Sean Lowe (the man that, at least judging by Twitter, approximately 87,000 women want to marry. Including this woman).

Anyway, we had Bachelorette viewing parties at my parents' house throughout the season, and we decided to make snacks for the finale. My chocolate chip cookie dough dip got rave reviews from Al and my mom, and Janae loved Blendy's peanut butter bars, but my favorite was the chocolate/cheesecake/mint concoction I came up with. I adapted a recipe I found on Pinterest (where else?) to make this delightful dessert, which turned out remarkably similar to a dessert a woman at the church I grew up in brought to every potluck. Yummy! 

Chocolate Mint Pudding Delight
adapted from Mint Chocolate No Bake Cheesecake on mybakingaddiction.com.

1 (8 oz) brick Neufchatel (⅓ less fat cream cheese), softened
½ c powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) carton light whipped topping, divided
1½ c skim milk
1 (3.4 oz) pkg instant chocolate pudding
½ tsp vanilla extract
⅛ tsp peppermint extract*
¼ c Andes Crème De Menthe Baking Chips

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add extracts and mix until incorporated. **Beat in ⅔ of the whipped topping (this can be approximate). Set aside. In another bowl, combine milk and instant pudding and whisk until thick. ***Spread cream cheese mixture in a serving bowl or 8x8 glass baking dish. Spread pudding on top of cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping and Andes chips. Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.

*Even though it doesn't sound like much, ⅛ tsp will make this pretty minty. Not a problem if you like a lot of mint (like me!), but you may want to just use a couple drops or leave it out completely. You could also go with other flavor combinations, like almond extract and Heath toffee pieces. The sky's the limit here!

**The original recipe said to gently fold in the whipped topping. As mine was still mostly frozen and I lacked the patience to wait for it to thaw, I just dumped it in and beat the living daylights out of it. And it turned out fine!

***This would look great layered in parfait glasses or individual ramekins.

The finished product. Thanks, Beth, for the beautiful Spanish serving dish!

I was too busy eating to get a picture on the plate, so this is
the best view of the layers you're going to get!

The cookie dough dip—basically the only thing we dipped into it was a spoon!

Blendy totally dominates the graham crackers for the peanut butter bars!

recipe: frosted molasses creams

Last week, I found this Pyrex set on sale at Amazon for $34.99. I bought it thinking I'd give away some pieces for shower or wedding gifts, but when I opened the box, I realized I wanted to keep it all! I also had this uncontrollable urge to bake something in one of the pieces.

Earlier this week, I had the best molasses cookies I've ever tasted at Das Dutch Kitchen in Dalton, Ohio. After I got home yesterday, I started looking for Amish molasses cookie recipes. The arrival of the Pyrex put my cookie baking on hold, but I still wanted molasses. Then I remembered my mom's frosted molasses creams recipe, which is kind of like a molasses cookie in bar form. As she wasn't home tonight to give me the recipe, I turned instead to the trusty internets. I ended up finding a recipe for frosted molasses bars that looked similar to Mom's recipe and adapted it a bit.

Frosted Molasses Creams
adapted from this recipe on Cooks.com

Bars:
½ c shortening
½ c white sugar
1 egg
½ c molasses
½ c strong coffee (hot is okay)
1 ½ c all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves

Frosting:
½ c butter
2 ½ c powdered sugar
2 T strong coffee

To make:
Preheat oven to 350°. Cream shortening and sugar. Stir in egg. Add molasses and coffee, beating for about 30 seconds. (At this point, the liquid may not be completely incorporated into the shortening/sugar mixture. That's okay.) Add dry ingredients, blending well. Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.

For the frosting: 
Cream butter and sugar. Gradually add coffee and beat until smooth. (You may need to adjust the amount of coffee.) Spread on bars after they have cooled for 30 minutes.

These are seriously SO GOOD! I had to cover them up (with a nifty Pyrex lid, of course) so I would stop smelling them—and hopefully stop eating them!

The finished bars. Keep in mind that I never claimed to be a food photographer!

These go perfectly with a cup of coffee ... which you should have on hand
since you had to make coffee to go in the bars!

monkey see, monkey do

My uncle is the king of reading. My mom's side of the family is known for its readers, and he just may top all of them. Not only does he love to read, but he loves to share the things he's read with my family. My parents have received, well, probably hundreds of books from him throughout the years. And, of course, you can't forget the numerous magazines and newspapers he subscribes to. He'll often send clippings of things he thinks we'll be interested in. During my senior year of college, one of the articles he sent me inspired what I remember to be the worst paper I've ever written ...

Mass Communications was a class I'd looked forward to taking, but in the busyness of my final semester as a full-time student, I didn't give it the attention I should have. It was an easy class, and a large percentage of the grade came from two papers. The day before the first paper was due, I still didn't know what I was going to write about. Then I checked my mail. In my box was an envelope from Uncle Ken. And in that envelope, I found an article about Christian music. (Sidenote: Isn't the internet great? I just found and linked to that very article--an article published six years ago!) The article inspired my paper, unimaginatively titled "Christians in the Secular Music Industry." (At least I remembered to give it a title. So many times I turned in papers or articles without titles, and I eventually got to the point where I'd type TITLE in huge letters at the top of the page. I don't think I ever turned in a paper with the TITLE still there ...)  I pulled the only all-nighter of my college career while writing the paper--thank goodness for the internet; I found every single source, except for the article from Uncle Ken, online! I finally finished minutes before class started (I skipped my other morning class to work on it), rushed across campus, and arrived just in time to hear the prof say that she'd give us until 5 p.m. to turn the paper in!

Because I'm a nerd, I saved all of my college papers; I just reread this one, and it's not as horrible as I remembered, though it reads more like a magazine article than an academic paper. Still, I got an A!

Well, this trip down memory lane wasn't supposed to be the focus of this particular post! What I was getting at when I first mentioned my uncle was that he recently sent the food section of the Los Angeles Times, and it inspired me to bake. The front page article was about monkey bread; following the article, the author listed three variations. I'd never thought of monkey bread as being anything other than a gooey, cinnamon and sugar, pull-apart bread (which is, of course, fabulous); when I saw the recipe for an olive oil and herb version, I knew I needed to try it.

All ready to go into the oven

 

It. Was. Fantastic. I'm a huge fan of dipping bread into herb and garlic flavored olive oil, and this bread reminded me of that--except that every bite was infused with flavor, and the outside was all crusty and delicious. Mmmmmmm, good!

It was supposed to cool for 15 minutes after coming out of the oven. I waited ten!

Doesn't it look delectable?

No, I didn't eat 1/4 of it in one sitting--Steph had some, too!

If this has whet your appetite, you can read the article and get the recipes here.

recipe: delicious caramel cheesecake

I adapted a caramel cheesecake recipe I found in a magazine and took it to a family gathering. It got rave reviews, so I thought I'd post it here. (I've never really taken pictures of food before, so I didn't know how to make it look all "pretty"--trust me, it's amazing!)

Caramel Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Cake:
3 (8 oz.) bricks 1/3 less fat (Neufchatel) cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (12 oz.) jar hot caramel sauce (this is thicker than regular caramel sauce)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix crust ingredients in a small bowl. Press into bottom of 10" springform pan.
3. Using stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth.
4. Mix in sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Stir in caramel sauce. (This may take a while.)
6. Pour into pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until top is light brown and only the middle is jiggly.
7. Cool on countertop for four hours. Run knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cake. Refrigerate overnight.

While cheesecake is always full of calories and fat, this version does shave 12 fat grams off of the original 28 per serving.