Guilty Pleasures: Cappuccino-Chocolate Coffeecake

This recipe is really simple and the flavor in the end isn't overly sweet and the coffee-flavored chocolate swirls in the cake give it a great touch. I especially love the coconut mixture on the top! This is a great dish to bring to a brunch or coffee event!

CAPPUCCINO-CHOCOLATE COFFEECAKE

1/3 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 Tblsp butter, melted, divided
2 cups Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
2 tsp powdered instant coffee

• Heat over to 400 degrees F.
• Grease an 8x8-inch square pan.
• Mix coconut, nuts, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon butter. Set aside.
• Beat remaining ingredients (including remaining sugar and butter), except chocolate chips and coffee, in a large bowl on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed 4 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into prepared pan.
• Stir together melted chocolate and coffee; spoon over batter. Lightly swirl chocolate mixture through batter several times with knife for marbled effect. 
• Sprinkle coconut mixture evenly over top.
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
• Serves 6-8.

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My Meatloaf Peppers

Meatloaf is a staple in our house. Over the years I've perfected it, at least to our liking. There is that special seasoning, TexJoy, that is the key ingredient! I have a roast in the crock pot HERE using TexJoy too, which is fantastic as well. So to "spice" this meatloaf up, I'll put them in some green peppers--it adds an entire new level to my meatloaf.

MEATLOAF PEPPERS

1 pound extra lean ground beef
4 oz tomato paste
1 egg,  lightly beaten
20 crackers [Club multi-grain are the best!], crushed
1-1/2 teaspoon TexJoy
4 green bell peppers

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Mix the first 5 ingredients into a large bowl and mix until well combined. Divide mixture into 4 parts.
• Cut tops off of peppers and clean out the seeds. Place into a square baking dish (or 2 loaf pans). Fill each pepper with 1/4 of the meat mixture.
• Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, or until center reads at least 160 degrees F.

Artichoke w/ Hollandaise Sauce

You know you've made something amazing when your kids ask what it is AFTER its been devoured in less than 1 minute!

ARTICHOKES with

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

4 artichokes
2 sticks + 2 Tbls unsalted butter, divided
3 egg yolks
1 Tbls cold water
Salt & White pepper

For Artichokes:

• Remove stem by bending it at the base until it snaps off. Break off small leaves at the base of the artichoke. Trim the base with a knife so the artichoke will stand solidly upright. Lay the artichoke on its side and slice 1/2 inch to 1 inch off the top of the center cone of leaves. Trim off the points of the rest of the leaves with scissors [see bottom image to see detail of the leaves and where to cut]. Wash under cold water.
• Boil a large pan of salted water (1 tsp salt for every quart of water) so that all the artichokes can fit in it at the same time. When its brought to a boil, gently place artichokes in the water, stem side down. If the water doesn't cover them fully, place a cheese cloth over the top to prevent discoloration (optional, I don't see much of a difference). Bring the water back up to a rapid boil and then boil slowly for 35-45 minutes. [I boiled mine for 50 minutes (on accident) and the leaves were just falling off from the stem. This was amazing, and really easy for the kids to eat, but not as pretty for a presentation. Just keep that in mind!]
• Remove from water and place on serving platter. Gently pull leaves outwards so the center can be reached. [Optional: Remove the heart] The center creates a perfect well to hold the sauce!

For Sauce:

• Cut 2 sticks of the butter into bits and place in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove after all the butter is melted and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, beat the 3 egg yolks for about 1 minute with a wire whisk until they become thick and sticky.
• Add the water, lemon juice, and a big pinch of salt to the yolks and beat for half a minute more.
• Add 1 tablespoon of cold butter, but do not beat it in. Then place the saucepan over very low heat and stir the yolks with a wire whip until the slowly thicken into a smooth cream. This will take 1 to 2 minutes. The egg yolks have thickened enough when you can begin to see the bottom of the pan between strokes and the mixture forms a light cream on the wires of the whip.
• Immediately remove from heat and beat in the cold butter, which will stop the eggs from cooking any more.
• The beating the egg yolks with a wire whip, pour on the melted butter by droplets or quarter-teaspoonfuls until the sauce begins to thicken into a very heavy cream. Then pour the butter a little more rapidly. Omit the milky residue at the bottom of the butter pan.
• Season the sauce to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

This recipe is from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Cookbook

#11 White Chocolate Macaroons

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACAROONS

1 7-oz package flaked coconut
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
4-oz white chocolate (bark)

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, combine coconut, sugar, flour, and salt. Add egg whites and vanilla, stir until combined. Stir in mini chips. Drop small mounds of mix by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
• Bake in the oven for about 18 minutes or until cookies are light brown. Transfer to wire rack, cool completely.
• Melt white chocolate bark in a double boiler, or carefully in microwave. Drizzle over cooked cookies.
• Let the chocolate set, and serve!

I used "Chirstmas" sprinkles and drizzled with white chocolate. You can easily switch these up to your liking! Try semi-sweet morsels and drizzle melted semi-sweet chocolate over top.

Daring Kitchen Challenge: Cooking with Tea!

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

CHINESE TEA EGGS

6 eggs 
2 tablespoons black tea leaves, or 4 tea bags
2 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon coarse grain salt
toasted sesame seeds, to garnish [I didn't]

Directions:

1. In a large enough pot to avoid overcrowding, cover the eggs with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for twelve minutes.
2. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and keep the cooking water.
3. With a spoon, tap the eggs all over until they are covered with small cracks. This can also be done by tapping and rolling the eggs very gently on the counter.
4. Return the eggs to the pan and add the tea leaves or bags, Chinese five spice powder, and salt. Cover the pan.
5. Heat gently and simmer, covered, for one hour.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and let the eggs cool down in the liquid for 30 minutes.
7. Remove the eggs from the liquid. Peel one egg to check how dark it is; the others can be returned to the liquid if you wish to have the web-like pattern darker. Allow the eggs to cool fully.
8. To serve, peel and slice the eggs in halves or quarters. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

These we so freakin good. I mean, good. If they didn't take so long, I'd make them more often. But even then, totally worth it. My kids even chowed down on them! haha!

PMM #3 & Almond Sugar Cookie Bites

I just realized that I haven't posted this recipe! Eeeeek! Its the best, and the easiest to make on the spot. I like making a huge batch of the cookie part and freeze the ones I'll use later. This is a pampered chef recipe, but I can't find the recipe, so I'm guessing the amounts. Have no fear, this isn't an exact science. Just keep having faith. =)

  ALMOND SUGAR COOKIE BITES

1 cup almonds, chopped up really small
1 package sugar cookie dough [Pillsbury has great dough--in the biscuit section at your grocery store]
3 or 4 small strawberries
2 or 3 kiwi's
4 oz Marscapone cheese
1 cup homemade whipped cream
Lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a mini muffin pan.

Cut about a teaspoon off the sugar cookie dough and roll it in chopped almonds and place it in one of the mini muffin cups. Repeat until all the mini muffin cups are full. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until very lightly brown. Remove to wire rack and cool completely.

Whip together whipped cream and marscapone cheese until blended. Add in vanilla and a tablespoon of lemon zest. Place a dollop on each sugar cookie muffin.

Slice kiwi and strawberries in small slices. Place one of each on each bite and then sprinkle with a little more lemon zest.

Make sure you have enough--they go very quickly!
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Now for my Penny Meal Monday recipe....

CLASSIC MEATLOAF WITH MASHED POTATOES

These are more thing that I keep on hand for such an emergency. It does take an hour to cook, so keep that in mind.

ground beef: $1.49; potatoes: less than $1.00; other add-ins: about $0.75; TOTAL: less than $3.25!

For the meat loaf, mix until blended the ground beef, egg, 1/2 package of crackers [picture shown is full package] a heaping spoon of tomato sauce [shown is paste--grabbed wrong one for picture!] and sprinkle about 2 teaspoons seasoning [shown is what I always use--TexJoy]. After mixing, press into glass loaf pan and cook on 375 degrees F for 1 hour. Serve with mashed potatoes!

Spinach and Turkey Pie

So I had this fabulous dish planned to share. The day I made it, terrible storms were passing through, so I had no natural light, so the picture really sucks. I was hopping that this post would be soooooo awesome that everyone would bypass the picture...until I sat down to write it out and I can't find the recipe. And its one I found in a magazine ages ago so no "internet look up" possible. And I did try. Its from a magazine called "Anyone can cook."

So what now? Just post the picture and say "haha look what I made and you can't!"? Ya, your right, I should.

SPINACH & TURKEY PIE

What it has in it: 1 box of angel hair noodles, 2 cups of turkey (chopped) 2 boxes of frozen (thawed and drained) spinach, 3 eggs, so milk, salt, and mozzarella cheese....bake for 50 minutes....

So If you are determined to make this, I'm pretty sure that was all that I used in it. I tripled it and gave some to my neighbor who moving. But the ingredients I listed are for 1 pan. So its easy to multiply.

I'm sorry my friends, that was the best I could do. Hopefully it won't happen again.

Wordless Wednesday

I hope that everyone had a

HAPPY EASTER!