Murder of the Brownies

It was quite in the house... too quite. My suspicions were raised when i heard the sound of metal on metal. I decided to investigate when I found this.



It was Harvey. He had climbed up on the dining room table to lick the cake pan we had left out. I started to chastise him because he knows he isn't allowed on the table when he did this.



Goodness! Where did he learn to do that? It's not like Captain walks around licking knives. :P (for those of you who don't know us, Captain licks his knives every time I turn my back. It's a habit of his I have been unsuccessful in breaking) It just goes to show how much kids are watching... and how yummy frosting is.

Daring Bakers: PIECE MONTÉE

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.




Find the recipe here.

These were by far the tastiest thing we have made so far. A few notes:

• This desert was surprisingly easy to make, and very forgiving when mistakes were made.
  
• If you forget to add ALL the eggs to the cream filling, take it off the heat and pour the hot batter into eggs and whisk like crazy then return to a boil. It works just fine.
• I found that scooping the pastry batter with a Mellon-baller actually resulted in taller puffs compared to piping the batter.
• This recipe makes about 30, my hubby and I ate them ALL in 24 hours. Make a double batch if you want extras after a party.
• the vanilla cream is more yummy than the chocolate version.
  

Enjoy!

How does your garden grow?

Captain and I (with the help of some friends) are currently fixing up the gardens around our house. I just wanted to share a pic of some of the flowers that have been growing.



What been growing in your gardens?

Ground Beef Tacos

Some of you may know this already, but I love too cook. I'll make dinner 4 or 5 nights a week, and the other evenings are usually leftovers. So while Harvey is currently having a hiatus in growing and a long term engagement with a runny nose I'm going to be having more cooking posts and less of Harvey's cute but snotty face. So without further adieu I give you a family favorite, Ground Beef Tacos.

First, chop up an onion and 3 cloves of garlic. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat till shimmering but not smoking. Fry onions and garlic stirring occasionally till translucent, about 2 minutes.
Add ground beef, and chop repeatedly till beef has desired consistency.
Half way though frying the meat, about 5 minutes, drain the excess grease. If you don't have extra grease, skip this step.
I like to drain it half way rather than at the end because it helps the beef brown up rather than just boil in its own juices.
When ground beef is finished , about 10 minutes total frying, add in remainder of ingredients.
Stir till combined and simmer till liquid has reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mixture will not be completely dry, but will not be runny.
Enjoy! Feel free to add in whatever you want. Sometimes I will add beans or peppers.

Ground Beef Tacos

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 whole onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 lb ground beef
2 tbl chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cayenne pepper
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar.

First, chop up an onion and 3 cloves of garlic. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat till shimmering but not smoking. Fry onions and garlic stirring occasionally till translucent, about 2 minutes. Add ground beef, and chop repeatedly till beef has desired consistency. Half way though frying the meat, about 5 minutes, drain the excess grease. If you don't have extra grease, skip this step. When ground beef is finished , about 10 minutes total frying, add in remainder of ingredients. Stir till combined and simmer till liquid has reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mixture will not be completely dry, but will not be runny.

Enjoy!
Printable Recipe

Palak Chicken

On Saturday I cooked up some Palak Chicken-- spinach chicken curry-- and it was so yummy I wanted to share the recipe with you all.

First you saute onions and garlic in oil until they are translucent.

Next you some chopped chicken, salt, chili pepper, cloves and cinnamon and turmeric. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink.

Add 1 cup water and simmer until chicken is finished cooking.

After the chicken is thoroughly cooked add the peppers, frozen spinach, and fenugreek.

Once the spinach and peppers are cooked add the butter, stir and then you are done.

Serve with rice.

Palak Chicken

1/3 c. oil
1 med. onion chopped
8 cloves garlic minced
1-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili pepper
1 tsp turmeric
6 cloves ground or 1/8 tsp
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water
1 package frozen spinach 10 - 16 oz
1/4-1/2 cup chopped peppers (I used bell pepper because that is what I had but any would work)
1 tsp fenugreek
1/4 cup butter

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil over medium high heat till translucent
   
2. Add chicken, cloves, cinnamon, salt, chili pepper, and turmeric and continue to cook till chicken is no longer pink.
3. Add water and reduce heat to a simmer till chicken is fully cooked
4. Add frozen spinach and peppers and cook till the spinach is done (about 10 min).
5. Stir in some butter and serve.
   

Printable Recipe

Swim Lessons

Harvey and I began taking swim lessons this spring. Harvey took to the water right away, but he doesn't care much for actually trying to swim or float.

Each week is the same. We mingle and then play ring-around-the-rosie, doing things like putting ears in the water to touching toes in the middle. Then we float on our front and backs, practicing kicking and paddling with our arms. Next the boys Jump from the edge of the pool. Last they have free time with some toys.

Owen and Harvey have a nice time every Saturday though switching back and forth between Jennie and I.

Harvey's all time favorite thing at swimming lessons though is the stairs and the stair rail. He would play there the whole time if I let him.

Playing

Just the boys having fun.

Cheese Cake

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake Filling:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Notes:

*I swirled in a strawberry puree , 2 cups strawberries , 1/2 cup sugar, tablespoon of lemon juice. boiled down and then put through the food processor.

*For the crust i used Vanilla wafer cookies. This was DELICIOUSNESS much better than gram crackers.

*For my cake the bake time was too short, I should have cooked it about 10 minutes longer , but if you under-cook your cheesecake just put it in the freezer. Frozen cheesecake is delish.

All in all this is the BEST and EASIEST cheese cake recipe I've ever done. and I had a big help from my good friend Jennie who whipped the cream cheese till there were NO lumps. Which is something I have trouble with. Oh and I made this for Easter in case you were curious. Yes, I am THAT behind in posting.

Fire Pit

We have a burn pit in our back yard for yard waste and things like that. we are continually adding to it and every now and again Captain lights the thing up. He LOVES this, and so does Harvey. This and growling are their 2 favorite things.