Cheesy South of the Border Skillet

I love cheese. I love “South of the border” aka Mexican food. Put the two together, and I’m ready to devour.

I actually found this recipe on one of the may foodie blogs I subscribe to in my Google Reader, Make Life Delicious. The ingredients themselves were enough to make me immediately forward the post to my fiancé for confirmation of a dinner option. Cheese (both Mexican blend AND cream cheese), pasta, salsa, cumin? What more could a girl want?! Despite having more than enough carbohydrates in the past three days, I was definitely game for more pasta tonight. I mean heck, I burned over 3,000 calories yesterday running my half marathon!

I had actually planned to make a Potato Tortilla from this month’s Food Network Magazine. But I quickly realized I had forgotten white onion at the store on Saturday, and didn’t have enough eggs either. So, I’ll have to make that either tomorrow or Thursday. I somehow managed to not have all of the ingredients for this recipe either, but I was able to improvise successfully.

The recipe itself is straight forward – if you want to use chicken, cook the chicken. Also cook some pasta (any medium size will do – I went with rigatoni). Throw in the other ingredients to the skillet, once the pasta is done throw that in too, cook for a few more minutes, and tada! Ooey gooey Mexican cheesy goodness! The consistency was similar to the Everyday Food Pasta w. bacon and peas recipe I’ve made a few times.

As I mentioned, I LOVE CHEESE. And a lot of it. This recipe definitely has that. So, if you aren’t as serious a cheese fan as myself, I’d stick to maybe half of the cream cheese the recipe calls for. And, of course, if you’re going the veggie route, you can definitely substitute the chicken for tofu or maybe just more south of the border friendly vegetables (onions, peppers, black beans, corn, etc.)

You can also really dictate the spice level based on the salsa you choose, and if you add any other seasoning. I went with a medium-hot chunky style (so corn, black beans, onions) salsa, and added some chili powder when I was cooking the chicken. Also, the recipe called for corn. Whoops. I didn’t have any. I had some left over red onion, though, so I diced that up and added it in. Not an exact trade-off, but good enough.

Both my fiancé and I devoured our bowls, and were really impressed with the cheese and “south of the border” taste levels. I would absolutely make this recipe again. It was super quick and easy, and really filling! In my quest to be a little more vegetarian instead of halfaterian, maybe I’ll try this recipe in the future with a meat substitute.

For now, though, I’m going to go devour some more of the giant cupcake we have sitting on top of our refrigerator. So many goodies in this house! And this weekend’s dessert themed birthday party is only going to make it worse!

So here’s the recipe, and happy nomzing!

South of the Border Chicken & Pasta Skillet

Ingredients:
2 cup medium sized pasta (uncooked)
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb.) cut into bite-size pieces
6 oz. salsa
2 cups frozen (thawed) corn
4 oz. (half of a package) of Philadelphia cream cheese
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup Mexican style cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta as directed on package.
2. Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 6 min, or until done.
3. Add salsa, corn, cream cheese and cumin; simmer on medium-low heat 6 min. or until corn is heated through and cream cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.
4. Drain pasta; add to skillet with half the shredded cheese. Simmer 3 min. or until heated through.
5. Top with remaining shredded cheese; cover.
6. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes!

Since our half marathon training is coming to an end, we only had to run once this weekend, and it thankfully fell on Saturday. So, this left me with lots of options for my Sunday. I haven’t made cupcakes in awhile, so I figured I’d give them a whirl.

I got the 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly for Christmas, but hadn’t actually made any recipes from the book until today. The book itself is really cute and displays nicely in my kitchen, but I found myself shying away from it and going to the internet to find recipes instead. Well, last night I buckled down and decided on a recipe from the book; Peanut Butter Cupcakes!

The recipe is pretty straight forward – eggs, peanut butter, sugar, butter and flour. I didn’t have any self rising flour, so I added a teaspoon of baking soda. I also snuck a taste of the batter before putting it in the cups, and it seemed to be missing something. So, I also threw in a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Look at me, getting all inventive with my recipes! I decided to use my hand mixer this time, and it was much easier. I still want a stand mixer, though!

The batter itself was really thick. I had trouble getting out of the bowl and into the cupcake wrappers. I wound up using two spoons – one to grab the batter from the bowl, and another to then scrape it off of the first spoon. They looked like messy blobs when they went in the oven, and I was sure they were going to come out looking equally messy. After 20 minutes, I was surprised at how cupcake-like they looked!

The recipe came with a peanut butter inspired icing, but I decided to go chocolate. I mean, what goes better with peanut butter than chocolate? Just ask the people at Reese’s. There was a chocolate buttercream recipe in the book, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I was low on butter, didn’t have any milk, and I didn’t think it was worth a trek to the store, when I have to go later for my weekly grocery shopping anyway. I had some left-over frosting, so I iced one with chocolate, and one with vanilla. Then I remembered I had some semi-sweet chocolate chips. So, I decided to melt them! The cupcakes have a really glossy sheen on them, and they look as delicious as they taste! Though, as you can tell, I need to work on my icing skills.

Here’s the recipe for the Peanut Butter Cupcakes. If you’re in the market for a cupcake cookbook, I definitely suggest this one. There are TONS of variations for each of the recipes, and clearly if you stray a bit, they still work out well!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
4 eggs
1 cup crunchy peanut butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 18 paper baking cups in muffin pans.
2. Combine butter, sugar, flour, and eggs in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in the peanut butter until well combined.
4. Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake 20 minutes. remove pans from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. Frost & enjoy!

Happy nomzing!

More Mexican – Ole!

Sometimes I think I’m living in the wrong part of the country. Or, maybe just the wrong country in general. In case you haven’t picked up yet from this blog, I am in love with Mexican food. Clearly to the point where I’ll eat it all day, every day. Yes, today I had my left-over Eggplant Enchiladas, and then made more Mexican inspired food for dinner. What were those two things, you may ask? Southwest Chicken Soup and Tijuana Tortas!

I actually found the soup recipe on Kitchen Monki, and the torta recipe on Fitness Magazine’s website. I figured I’d put the two together, since neither really seemed to be a meal in itself. Since my fiancé and I thought ahead and had a rotisserie chicken for dinner on Sunday night, we were able to use the left-over chicken from that in the soup. We also always have black beans, salsa, Mexican spices, and jalapeños on hand, so getting the rest of the ingredients was simple.

One might think that making a soup could potentially be difficult and or labor intensive. Not this guy! I literally threw the ingredients in to the pot, put it on medium heat, and went about my business. Now that’s the kind of week night cooking I’m looking for!

The sandwich was actually a little more difficult, only because it involved mashing the black beans and avocado. After struggling by just using a spoon, I realized a few quick pulses in the blender would have made much more sense. At least there’s always next time.

As always, I was nervous how the two dishes would come out, and then even more nervous for how they’d work together. Thankfully, they both came out really well. I would absolutely make either of these dishes again in a heart beat. They’re quick, easy, and really flavorful.

Check out both of the recipes below, and get cookin’!

Tijuana Torta

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can black beans, or pinto beans, rinsed
3 tablespoons prepared salsa
1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeño
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 ripe avocado, pitted
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 16- to 20-inch-long baguette, preferably whole-grain
1 1/3 cups shredded green cabbage

Directions:
1. Mash beans, salsa, jalapeño and cumin in a small bowl. Mash avocado, onion and lime juice in another small bowl.
2. Cut baguette into 4 equal lengths. Split each piece in half horizontally. Pull out most of the soft bread from the center so you’re left with mostly crust. Divide the bean paste, avocado mixture and cabbage evenly among the sandwiches. Cut each in half and serve.

Southwestern Style Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
1 Rotisserie Chicken or 3 cups, shredded or cubed
3 cups Chicken Stock
1 can Canned White Cannellini Beans, rinsed and drained
12 ounces Salsa Verde
1 Ground Cumin, to taste
1⁄2 cup Sour Cream, optional
2 Green Onions, optional
2 cups Cheese, shredded
1 bag Corn Tortilla Chips

Directions:
1. Simmer chicken, chicken stock, beans, salsa verde and cumin till hot and combined
2. Add tortilla chips to bowl, spoon soup
3. Top with sour cream, and cheese

Happy south of the border nomzing!

Happy Pi Day!

I wanted to name this post “The easiest pie you’ll ever make,” but since it’s Pi Day, I had to go with that, since without the day I probably wouldn’t have made pie. I don’t remember exactly where I got the recipe, but I’m sure it was one of my regular site visits.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the easiest pie you’ll ever make. Not only does it not require any baking, you use a pre-made crust, and two ingredients. I know this might sound blasphemous to the avid baker, but if you’re ever in a time crunch or feeling lazy, this is really a great recipe to have on hand.

I have never been a fan of math. So, it might seem odd that I am super excited that it’s Pi Day. You know, 3/14, which is 3.14, pi. But let’s be honest here; the mere thought of piE made it all worth the while to endure some “yay math!” moments.

So to the recipe. This is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Pie. Sounds delicious? It is! And if you’re a fan of easy and delicious, this is definitely for you. It took me about 10 minutes to combine the ingredients, and then it just needed to set for 2 hours. Sure, mixing was a little labor intensive, but that was the extent of my manual labor.

With the combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and Cool Whip, how could you resist? I’ve recently had serious cravings for chocolate and peanut butter combinations, so this was right up my alley.

Of course, I varied a bit. Instead of using regular Cool Whip, I went for their light version, in hopes it would lighten the calorie and fat content of the pie just a smidgen. I also didn’t get a chocolate pie crust. Instead, I went with a graham cracker crust.

I brought the pie to my parent’s to have after dinner, and everyone loved it. My only complaint was that there seemed to be a little more crust than filling. But, the crust I got was a bit larger than normal (it was advertised as so, at least), so I’m thinking that might be why. I also might not have mixed the peanut butter and Cool Whip together as well since my hands were getting tired. Oh, to have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. But it was still delicious!

So, next time you are in need of some pie, consider this recipe.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Pie

Ingredients:
1 16 oz. jar of Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams *
1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip
1 Keebler Chocolate Pie Crust
1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts

Directions:
1. Empty contents of peanut butter into large mixing bowl, stir to soften.
2. Fold in Cool Whip until well-combined
3. Spoon mixture into pie shell, cover with plastic wrap, and place in freezer to set for 2 hours.
4. Top with peanuts, serve.

Notes:
* if you don’t have this, just gently melt a few tbsp of semi-sweet chocolate chips into peanut butter.

Happy math nomz!

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili w. Dark Ale

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Vegan post, I decided to go veggie two days in a row. Tonight’s selection is from one of Vegetarian Times‘ e-mails I get a few times a week.

As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make it. I love chili; so much so that my fiancé and I often buy Hormel’s canned chili just to have on hand in case we run out of dinner ideas. Seeing that this recipe didn’t have too many ingredients and was pretty straight forward, I thought I’d give it a shot.

My thought to make Tuesday night’s dinner on Monday really paid off. For whatever reason, my body has been fighting some sort of cold that comes and goes as it pleases, and yesterday and today was one of those days it decided to come out and play. So, after suffering through Monday, I decided to stay home Tuesday and relax. No point in pushing myself through work when I’ve got a marathon to run in a month!

Most of the ingredients were canned, but you could of course go for the more natural route if you’re willing to spend the time slicing and dicing. Plus, since there weren’t too many ingredients, it was cost effective. I often times hear people complain that eating vegetarian is too expensive. Well, here it is folks! An affordable and filling vegetarian meal! Another draw was the use of beer in the recipe. I knew it’d be a quick sell for my fiancé, and I was all about it too.

Since buying chipotles in adobo for the Chocolate Cinnamon Chipotle Cupcakes and then also using them in my Chilaquiles Fritatta, I had one left, which was exactly what I needed for this recipe! Throw in some corn, garlic, onion, pepper, and black beans which are always on-hand, and you’ve got yourself some vegetarian chili!

The recipe called for a gluten free dark ale, but I went with just a regular dark ale; Flying Fish ESB Amber Ale, to be specific. I enjoy Flying Fish beer on it’s own, so I figured it would definitely work in the chili.

I was a little worried while it was simmering, since all of the beer was soaked up by the vegetables, not leaving any type of broth/sauce. I’m used to at least a little bit of liquid in my chili. But once I tasted the final product, all my worries dissipated! I’m not a huge meat fan, but I definitely don’t think it’s missed in this dish. It was hearty and flavorful, and everything you would expect from chili. Each of the ingredients can be tasted individually, but the combination is really what makes the meal. Everything from the chipotles to the black beans to the beer work perfectly together.

I decided to serve the chili just with two small Pillsbury crescent rolls, and as always, a simple green salad with balsamic vinegar. No, not vinaigrette, just vinegar. Weird? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely.

If you have an hour to devote to a meal, and are in the mood for something hearty without the calories, I definitely suggest this. If you’re a total meat junkie, I’m sure you could add in some ground beef, but if you’re willing to try it meatless, go for it – you’ll be glad you did!

Black Bean Chili w. Dark Ale
(Serves 8)

Ingredients:
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, drained and minced
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. ground cumin
1 large onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 medium red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
5 cloves garlic, minced (5 tsp.)
2 14-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
24 oz. gluten-free dark beer
1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 cup fresh or frozen corn

Directions:
1. Heat oil in 3-qt. pot over medium heat. Add chipotles and cumin; season with salt, if desired. Cook 1 minute, or until fragrant.
2. Stir in onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté 5 to 7 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Stir in beans, beer, tomatoes, and corn.
3. Bring chili to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes, or until thick.

Each serving is under 200 calories with only 5g of fat, 8g of protein, and 10g of fiber!

Happy healthy nomzing!

My first vegan dish!

My co-worker and good friend is a vegetarian, and often brings in vegetarian or vegan cook books and magazines to share with me, knowing I’m a halfetarian. So, I compiled a few recipes that I wanted to try and set out to fit them in my weekly routine.

This week, I decided on not one, but two recipes! One vegan, and one vegetarian. So, here’s the vegan dish first!

This comes from the book, Vegan Yum Yum, which has A LOT of seriously delicious looking and sounding recipes from breakfast, lunch and dinner, to dessert and drinks! So I of course grabbed a few recipes from this book, that I’ll be sure to make in the future. This time, I went with the Seven Spice Udon Noodle recipe.

I have to admit, since I’m becoming more comfortable with cooking, I no longer feel the need to follow recipes exactly. A prime example would be this recipe. This is partially because of limited resources, and also sheer laziness. I’m not too sure where any Chinese/Japanese markets are near my apartment, so I relied solely on ShopRite. They didn’t have dried Udon noodles, so I went for the packaged ones. Also, they didn’t have Japanese 7 Spice, but they did have Chinese 5 Spice. You might be thinking to yourself, this completely changes the dish! The spice count is in the name! My retort? Meh. I also went for a package of shredded veggies (red cabbage, broccoli, carrot, etc.) I also of course added in a ton of red pepper flakes, being the spice lover that I am.

So really, I used this recipe merely as a suggestion. But hey, it was a good suggestion! I really liked this recipe because it was simple. Just a few ingredients and in no time at all dinner was ready. I also loved how customizable it was. Sure, I didn’t stray too far from the recipe, but you could easily throw in some tofu, or completely negate the vegan aspect with some chicken.

I would definitely make this recipe again, however, I’d go for a little more flavor. The five spice just didn’t cut it. Maybe it was those two extra spices from the Japanese seven spice that would have made a difference. At any rate, it was good, and it’ll go in my recipe drawer. Who said eating vegetarian or vegan had to be boring?!

Speaking of delicious vegetarian meals, my stove is currently working away at tomorrow night’s dinner that I had to prepare early due to a busy Tuesday night (gym and meetings). This one is a Vegetarian Black Bean Chili w. Dark Ale. My fiancé just walked in the apartment and said he could smell it from outside. It smells fabulous. So stay tuned for that post!

If you feel so inclined to vegan-out, here’s the recipe (give or take some spices, in my case):

Seven Spice Udon

Ingredients:
3 small bunches of udon noodles (dried)
2-3 tbsp oil
5 brussel sprouts, shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
1 3/4 tsp Japanese 7 spice (1/4 & 1 1/2 tsp amounts)
3 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package. Rinse & cool, coat with oil to prevent sticking
2. Heat 2 tsp oil, sauté brussel sprouts & carrot with 1/4 of spice till tender (about 2 minutes)
3. In same pan, add 1-2 tsp oil, mix in noodles over high heat for several minutes, without stirring. It should form a “noodle pancake.”
4. Turn noodles, add veggies and soy sauce, rice vinegar & spice

Happy animal friendly nomzing!

Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese!

I don’t remember exactly how I found this recipe, but on the last snow day, I wound up perusing Yum Sugar‘s site, and focused on one of their posts about macaroni and cheese. They had quite a few different types, but one really stuck out. As a spicy anything lover, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make the Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese.

Since my fiancé and I had a busy weekend, we decided to be daring and tackle the recipe during the week. Monday night was filled with a trip to the gym, dropping off our rent, stopping at the grocery store for some forgotten spices, coupled with me dying from my typical intestinal issues. That’s neither here nor there. The important fact is that I got to make it Tuesday.

I usually try to stay away from recipes that require more than minimal work during the week. So that means less than a 20 minute cook time with minimal prep. We’re big fans of the Bertolli spinach & ricotta tortellini because it’s ready in 10 minutes and absolutely delicious. But knowing we need to expand our week night horizons, I thought this would be an excellent choice. Plus, Tuesdays are always so bland. We both work for a software development company in the time & attendance / payroll industry, and everyone likes to process payroll Tuesdays. So we’re always busy, plus there isn’t any good TV (though MTV’s 16 & Pregnant is becoming increasingly interesting).

Back to the task at hand – the making and devouring of the Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese.

There were A LOT of little steps to get this guy going. First, I needed bread and cook the chicken and put it aside. I also needed to make the macaroni, pretty much at the same time, to ensure there wasn’t a lot of lag time between. Then I needed to make the onion, garlic and milk mixture. My stove top could barely handle the pressure!

Those were really the only tedious parts; mixing all of the cheese and then the final ingredients together was easy. Like always, waiting was torture because I am one of the most impatient, anxious, and ADHD people around. Thankfully my fiancé is the same way, so we manage to entertain each other. Usually ridiculously.

Now this is NOT the type of recipe to make if you’re on a diet, if you’ve already eaten a lot of calories for the day, etc. Of course no mac ‘n cheese is “good for you.” But I’m yet to meet someone that doesn’t love it, so it’s worth it! This particular recipe has a ton of butter, milk, and cheese, and all things wonderfully fatty. But after running a solid 4.5 miles, a nice mile and a half over the training that was required for the day and in a decent time, the indulgence was only appropriate.

Because the recipe has so many heavy ingredients, you really don’t need to have much. Pair it with a simple green salad, and you’ll be good to go!

You’ll find the recipe below. It makes 12 servings. I actually cut it down so it was only a third of the 12 servings, and there was definitely enough for 3-4 people.

Thanks again to my wonderful fiancé for the great pictures! You can check out more of his other pictures over at his blog; I Hate Fun.

Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese

Ingredients:
2 cups unseasoned breadcrumbs
1-1/2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
1-1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 large eggs
1 pound chicken cutlets
6 tablespoons canola oil, plus more as needed
1 pound elbow macaroni
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, divided
3 cups chopped onions
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1 cup grated jack cheese
1 cup grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup creamy and crumbly blue cheese (recommended: Maytag Blue), crumbled, plus more for garnish, if desired
2 teaspoons paprika
1 cup Frank’s RedHot Original or other hot pepper sauce
1 stalk celery, finely diced

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, salt, cumin, cayenne, and pepper. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl. Coat chicken pieces with the breadcrumbs, dip in the eggs, then coat again with the breadcrumbs; place on a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
2. In a large, heavy skillet, heat 1/4 cup canola oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add two of the chicken tenders and cook, turning once, until golden, about 3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining chicken, adding more oil if necessary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cooked chicken to paper towels to drain. Cut into 1-inch pieces; set aside.
3. Cook macaroni in a large pot of boiling salted water until pasta is tender but not quite cooked through, about 6 minutes. Drain; transfer to very large bowl.
4. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in same large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onions and garlic. Cover; sauté until onions are soft but not brown, stirring often, about 6 minutes. Add flour; stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to boil, whisking frequently. Reduce heat and simmer sauce 2 minutes. Add all cheeses, paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Whisk until cheeses melt and sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Season to taste with more salt and pepper, if needed. Mix cheese sauce into macaroni. Mix in half the chicken pieces. Mound mixture in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake macaroni uncovered until heated through, about 25 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, stir hot pepper sauce and remaining 2 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over medium heat until butter melts.
7. Remove macaroni from oven and top with remaining chicken pieces, then spoon 4 tablespoons of hot pepper and butter sauce over macaroni. Bake for 5-7 more minutes.
8. Sprinkle top of macaroni with finely diced celery and more blue cheese crumbles; serve immediately, passing around extra hot pepper sauce.

Another Snow Day Means Baking!

Today we got MORE snow, so I was off from work. Unlike my past few snow days, though, I got stuck doing some work which was no fun. Aside from getting my TV and internet surfing fix, I made some Hot Chocolate Brownies!

As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make them immediately. I got the recipe from the blog New York City Dish, which I follow on Google Reader. Thankfully, I had every ingredient readily available, except for the marshmallows. I’m not a huge marshmallow fan, so I wasn’t too upset about having to leave them out.

I’ve never made brownies from scratch; I’m a big supporter of the Ghiradelli chocolate brownie mix; it’s super decadent and really chocolate-y, which I love. So, I was a little nervous about making my own brownies, but it turns out it’s super easy! And I got to add in chocolate chips for some extra gooey deliciousness.

If you’re someone that bakes relatively frequently, you probably have all of these ingredients already. So next time you’re bored, and in the mood for some chocolate, I definitely suggest these!

Hot Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 bag mini marshmallows

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan.
2.Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add dry ingredient mix to the egg mixture and beat until blended. Add chocolate chips if desired. Spread batter evenly in pan.
3.Bake the brownies for roughly 20 minutes, until almost baked through. Distribute marshmallows evenly across top and bake for another 2-5 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely and sprinkle with decorative sugar, if desired.

Should make roughly 16 brownies.

Easily Satisfy Your Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cravings

Almost daily, I get specific cravings for things. One minute I’ll want a burrito, the next I’ll want cereal. Or a buffalo chicken wrap. Or chocolate mousse cake. Or… you get the idea. Sometimes you just really want to eat something specific, and unfortunately in most cases you don’t get it.

The past few days I’ve had a consistent craving for chocolate and peanut butter. Specifically, in the form of a chocolate peanut butter bar. Knowing I had a recipe tucked in my kitchen drawer at home from a friend (she brought them to our Halloween party and I fell in love ) made it impossible to stay away. So today after the gym, I ran to check how much confectioner’s sugar I had.

After pouring what I had left (only one cup), I realized I was going to have to make some adjustments since I was already committed to making them, as the recipe called for three times the amount of sugar that I actually had.

This is seriously the easiest recipe I’ve ever made. There is no cooking, baking, etc. Unless you want to count making sure the butter is melted and melting chocolate. But I put both of those things in the microwave for a total of 30 seconds, so I’d hardly call that cooking.

So next time you’ve got a peanut butter and chocolate craving, find yourself some peanut butter, vanilla extract, chocolate, butter, graham crackers, and confectioner’s sugar, and make the bad boy below. I promise you’ll be glad you did!

Super Quick & Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:
3 cups confectioners sugar
3 sticks of melted butter
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cup crushed graham crackers
3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except chocolate in 9 x 11′ Pyrex dish (Smush it with the back of your spoon)
Melt chocolate (about 30-45 seconds in the microwave, in 15 minute increments to stir)
Spread chocolate over top of peanut butter concoction
Cool in the fridge until hard
Slice & Enjoy!

Happy nomzing!!

Valentine’s Spice

For Valentine’s day, my fiance and I decided to go low key; maybe just a card, and then we’d get some Thai food for dinner. So, I thought it’d be nice to at least make something to go along with my card. I scoured the internet for some spicy cupcake recipes, and surprisingly didn’t find much. I did, however, happen upon a recipe from Vanilla Garlic.

I was overly excited to make this recipe for two reasons; 1. it started off with boxed cake mix (cheating, I know. But so easy!) and 2. it had chipotles in adobo sauce in it – one of my favorites!

So, after going to the gym and running 6-7 miles each for our half marathon training, we somehow mustered up enough energy to go out for Thai food. When it comes to spice, neither of us skimp. The particular place we went to, Thai Kitchen, offers spice in their dishes on a level of elephants from one through five. When I first started going there I went small; only a level two. By now, though, I’m up to five and loving it. We like to joke that if you aren’t sweating when eating Thai food, you’re doing it wrong. I also find that you eat less when it’s spicy, and I’ll never complain about that!

Enough rambling about my favorite Thai restaurant, back to the cupcakes! These were super easy; I only needed one actual chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce. I now need to search for some chipotle friendly (and quick and easy) recipes so I can make one for dinner this week. Other than that, they were just plain chocolate cupcakes. They didn’t use any frosting, though. Instead, I combined cinnamon and powdered sugar, and coated the tops with that. For my man, I used some decoration frosting and wrote I ❤ You on 5 of the cupcakes.

They were surprisingly good! I was actually a bit nervous, since I’d never combined spice and chocolate. I know it’s a big thing, and those Aztecs knew what was up, but I just wasn’t sure if my palate would appreciate it. Well, it did! The spice was a nice note in the background; the adobo sauce gave it a little bit of a smoky flavor, and then there was just a little bit of a kick at points as well. I also added chocolate chips into the batter, which was a nice melty gooey surprise as well.

While my family was skeptical about the spice and chocolate combination, I’m glad I went through with it and made them. Both my fiance and I loved them, and I’m looking forward to devouring the rest!

You can find the recipe below… happy spicy nomzing!

Chipotle Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 Box of Dark Chocolate cake mix
Whatever the box tells you you’ll need. Probably eggs, water, and oil
1-2 tablespoon pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (base on your heat tolerance)
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, plus some extra
powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Mix the cake mix as the box says.
2. Place the chipotle peppers in a food processor and puree. Add two tablespoons to the mix. Add the cinnamon.
3. Scoop into cupcake papers. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
4. Let cool. Combine the powdered sugar and some cinnamon to taste in a bowl, and scoop out, or sift on top of cupcakes.