happy birthday, meg!

Because she's such a wonderful friend and a super fab coworker, I opted to save my dear Meg from the doldrums of store bought office birthday cakes and gift her with a homemade confection.  In an attempt to make her birthday as wonderful as possible when she's stuck working 9-5, I baked her favorite, red velvet cake.  This was a new recipe for me but we all know I love a challenge.  And a challenge this certainly was since I had to work quickly and exactly when prepping the batter.  It looks lovely and the batter tasted pretty darn yummy.  I hope Meg enjoys her cake and her special day... Happy Birthday!

red velvet cake

ingredients

2 1/2 c cake flour

2 tbsp dutch processed cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp bourbon vanilla

1 c buttermilk

1 tbsp red food coloring

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease and set aside two 8" cake pans.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt so that it's sifted and well combined.  

2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, blend butter until smooth.  Add sugar and vanilla, blending until the mix becomes light and fluffy.

3. Whisk together the buttermilk and red food coloring.  With the mixer speed turned to low, blend in flour mix and buttermilk, alternating between the two and allowing to mix completely about 2-3 minutes.  

4. In a small cup, combine vinegar and baking soda, letting it fizz up and fold it into the cake batter.  Quickly and evenly pour the batter into the two greased pans and put in the mile rack of the oven.  Bake about 30-35 minutes.  Let the cakes cool completely before attempting to ice them.  

buttercreamcheese icing

ingredients

1/2 c unsalted butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese

1 lb confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

directions

1. Blend all ingredients together until the mix is light and smooth.  Simple.

Happy Birthday, Meg!

take a sip (or a slice) of summer

I had a visit from two very special guests today, my mom and my kid sister.  Like the good hostess I am, I couldn't let these ladies come by without welcoming them with something delicious.  As a part of my sweet sips of summer series, I've been coming up with cakes based on my favorite warm weather drinks.  Today, I served a favorite of the Matos ladies - the Arnold Palmer.  But not in a glass, as a cake!

I started off with a box of white cake mix (yeah yeah, I know I cheated a little bit,) but instead of using plain old water, I used highly concentrated black tea.  With a lemonade buttercream icing, the cake was the perfect half and half of iced tea and lemonade.

lemonade icing
ingredients
1 c butter (1 stick salted, 1 stick unsalted) at room temp
1 lb confectioner's sugar
3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
directions
1. In the bowl of your mixer, blend all ingredients at a low speed until light and fluffy.  Yup, it's that easy.

zesty!

sip & slice

savory summer supper

To start off a lazy and quiet Friday evening, I popped open a bottle of what just might be my new favorite bottle of booze.  I discovered what is known as "stick wine" about six years ago while living in Baltimore.  On a recommendation from the dude at the liquor store, I picked up a bottle of the dry red table wine.  Well, while I was as Trader Joe's the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my table wine of choice was now bottled up as a lovely rosé.  I usually find traditional reds too heavy for the heat of summer (or at least my non-ac'd apartment,) and tend to lead towards whites in the warmer months.  But every once in awhile I'll pick up a pinkish blend, just to be festive.  This one, is awesome.  Just dry enough with an appropriate amount of sweetness and you can't tell me that it doesn't look so pretty in a complimentary purplish hued wine glass.  Add in the fact that you can find it for under twelve bucks and it's the perfect end to a very, very long work day.

A couple of sips in and I decided that it was time to start prepping supper.  Remember a few posts back when I mentioned a salmon recipe that my bff Martha sent my way?  Well, tonight was the night to try it out.  With two salmon steaks and nearly all the ingredients required, I tweaked the recipe to make it work without having to pick anything up at the grocery store.  The Martha inspired result?  Super tasty and what I believe to be relatively healthy.  

i always feel guilty prepping fish in front of sir shitballs

brown sugar and mustard glazed salmon fillets 
ingredients
2 large salmon fillets
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1/4 c packed dark brown sugar
1/4 c whole grain mustard (I used a recent Smorgasburg find, Tin Mustard)
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 crushed garlic clove
fresh ground salt & pepper
directions
1. Turn on the broiler on your oven so it starts warming up.  In a small saucepan over a medium heat, cook onion and garlic for about 3 minutes to soften.  Add vinegar and let cook for another minute until it starts to cook off, stirring continuously.  Stir in mustard and brown sugar and cook for about 1-2 more minutes until it becomes a syrupy glaze.  
2. Pat dry the fillets of salmon.  Place them on an aluminum foil lined broiler tin.  With a pastry brush, evenly spread about half of the glaze onto the fillets reserving the other half for later.  Broil for about 10 minutes or until the glaze starts to bubble.  Put a second coat of glaze on each fillet (optional) and serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

This turned out to be so easy and so delicious!  I served it alongside salt and pepper green beans and brown rice.  Make sure not to overcook the salmon because it can dry out really quickly.  I bet this would also be fantastic on the grill!  It's simple and inexpensive so experiment with it a bit.  You won't be sorry, and neither will your dinner dates.

leftovers

In attempt to clean out my fridge and pantry of so much stuff, especially all those summery perishables, I've been getting really creative.  After my squash salad, I had the interiors of a few squashes leftover.  A quick rummage through the fridge unveiled some quickly spoiling chives and a container of sun dried tomatoes.  Onto the cupboards to dig up a box of rarely used Bisquick (my pancakes are almost almost made from scratch.)  With my amazing brain power and a rarely used blender, I was able to concoct an amazing medley of these few ingredients into summer squash, sun dried tomato, and Parmesan scones.  Well, they were more like biscuits than scones but it did the trick.  Plus, I'm now covered for breakfast for at least a week!

summer squash and sun dried tomato biscuits with parmesan
ingredients
(i had a couple of glasses of wine before the mixing stage and i thought i'd just wing it, so these are guesstimates)
4 1/2 c Bisquick
1 c chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 1/2 c pureed summer squash
2 eggs
2 tbsp freshly chopped chives
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/4 c milk
fresh chopped parseley
salt and pepper to taste
directions
1. Mix dry ingredients (this includes the chopped tomatoes & cheese) together in a bowl.  In a blender or food processor, puree your summer squash.  Whisk puree with eggs and milk just to mix.  Combine with dry mix until well mixed.
2.  Using a large spoon or scoop, put mix on a greased cookie sheet 2" apart; the mix should make about 15 biscuit/scones.  Top each with an extra sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy toasted with butter or as a side biscuit with supper.  Yum and easy!

Have you heard this news?  You've got to be kidding me, right?  These people can be on TV while I'm lucky to find a few part-time jobs and blog about my love of food in the itty bitty bit of spare time that I have.  I'm sorry, but this preview for the new reality show Famous Food just got to me on the wrong day.  I'm not a huge fan of the celebrity foodie craze.  Celebrity chefs are one thing since they work their butts off to get recognized (yeah, I'm talking to my crushes Anthony Bourdain and Jaime Oliver... plus the foxy ladies like Julia Child, Nigella, and Giada.)  But random celebrities that cook supper every once in a blue moon and think they know enough to be a chef or open a restaurant?  C'mon!  I know chefs and chefs these celebrities are not.  Sorry for the venting, maybe it's all my at home karaoke stardom getting to me, but there are way more deserving people of restaurants... and television for that matter.  Sometimes I am very thankful that I don't have cable.

And how about this wacky news?  Though I haven't yet had a chance to discuss this awesome neighborhood establishment (although to be honest, it's been sitting as a draft in my blog queue for about two months now,) I am a frequent patron and am a bit shocked to hear this crazy news.  Well, not really but still!  Just blocks away from the Sweet Spot!  No worries though, the godfather sandwich is still being served up... trust me, I had one earlier today and it was as delicious as always.  Maybe even more so since I felt kind of rebellious chowing down on it!

Happy Thursday lovelies!  What are your epicurean plans for the weekend, and can I get in?

three thank yous

In case you haven't noticed, I've been venturing further into the delirious than I have the kitchen in this little blog world.  I'm trying to keep it balanced, but it's also really, really hot here at the sweet spot and turning on the oven or the stove is becoming more painful as the summer goes on.  Cold, summer recipes are a challenge, a challenge I've accepted, but the recipes are going to be a bit further apart since green salads fill the voids rather than the soups and casseroles of our chillier months.  With that in mind, I'd like to thank a trio of superfab folks tonight...

Thank you to Monika of Iggy's Keltic Lounge who's always ready with the perfect pour.  The first bar I ever visited in NYC is still one of my favorites - fantastic bartenders, awesome jukebox, and just dirty enough to capture a genuine Lower East Side feel without being too gnarly.

Muchas gracias to Emmanuel for the delicious dinner/dessert .  Seriously, who doesn't love a Magnolia Bakery cupcake after an evening of bikes and brews?  So many choices though, pistachio or German chocolate?  My vote was both, plus a special surprise in the form of a chocolate peanut butter bar.  Sounds like my next three meals are covered... but not without a little sneaky bite first!

a safe ride home deserves German chocolate!

And an extra special thanks to my gal pal, Paula.  Our super fab and dressy ladies night was so much fun!  Floral dresses and wedges on bikes were just what this Tuesday evening ordered.  You're awesome and I'm pumped to party down with you again during our summer of being broke and loving it!  Our Friday night dinner party is sure to be among my future ramblings... I can't wait.