Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

This was so good. So, so good. I found this recipe over on Good Life Eats and knew I had to try it. Key Lime Pie is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and I'd been wanting to try making homemade ice cream for a while. I followed her recommendation to use David Lebovitz's method for making ice cream without a machine, and it worked great! It produced creamy, dreamy ice cream with not a whole lot of effort. Just look at that glossy gloriousness!


The only change I made was to add some crushed graham crackers to the actual ice cream when it was nearly set, instead of just putting them on top at the end. I thought this made for some nice texture and sweetness, which it needed. I guess I also added sweetened whipped cream, because that was my one complaint with this recipe: it had a bitter aftertaste. I'm not sure if this is because I got too much of the rind flavor in with the juice (I microwaved my key limes to get more juice out of them, and I think this might have done that) or if it was because some of my limes weren't the proper ripeness or whatever. Next time, I think I will use bottled key lime juice as the recipe suggests, both for saving time and effort and to hopefully cut back on the bitterness.

Even with that complaint, this ice cream was truly heavenly and I plan on replicating it again soon! Here's Katie's (of Good Life Eats) ingredients incorporated with David's steps, which is how I made it.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

1 1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. bottled Key lime juice (such as Nellie and Joe's)
1/2 c. heavy cream
dash of salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 graham crackers (1 1/2 cookie sheets), coarsely crushed, divided


Prepare your ice cream mixture, then chill it over an ice bath (I skipped the chilling, since this was not a custard-based recipe). Put a deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer, and pour your mixture into it.

After forty-five minutes, open the door and check it. As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. Really beat it up and break up any frozen sections. Return to freezer.

Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing. If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer for best results (I did this), or use a stick-blender. Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 2-3 hours to be ready. (I added the crushed graham crackers when the mixture was starting to solidify but wasn't quite there yet---probably when there was about an hour left to go).

CPK's BBQ Chicken Salad

CPK = California Pizza Kitchen. California Pizza Kitchen = Heaven.

As I was scarfing down this incredible salad, my husband said something like "Weren't you going to put this one on your food blog?" And then I said something like "Crap! Do you think anyone will notice that it's partially eaten?" By then he was too busy chewing, so I just figured it's like when you're selling a house. If it looks "lived in" it's more cozy, right? Here's my cozy salad. :)


I love getting this dish from the restaurant, but it's actually not my most favorite of the salads they serve. That would be the Thai Crunch salad, which I have also replicated at home. It was yummy, but too work intensive and full of obscure ingredients that I wouldn't buy for anything else. I probably ended up spending more to make it at home than I would to get it at the restaurant. The BBQ salad, however, is easy peasy, and the only ingredient I don't buy often is the jicama. We will definitely have this salad again.

CPK's BBQ Chicken Salad

For the chicken:
1 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
2 t soy sauce
2 t salt (kosher is best, but table salt is fine too)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. barbecue sauce

Stir together the first four ingredients. Turn the chicken in this marinade and allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes. Grill or broil the chicken until cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Chill thoroughly, then shred. Toss with the barbecue sauce until coated.

For the salad:
lettuce (iceberg/romaine mix is good)
jicama, peeled and chopped
Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
canned corn, drained
canned black beans, rinsed and drained
tomatoes, diced
Ranch dressing
fried corn tortilla strips (or crushed corn chips)
*the recipe I used also called for basil and cilantro, but I left them out because I was too lazy to go buy fresh herbs. I'm sure the salad would be superb with them, but it was still wonderful without!

Toss lettuce, jicama, cheese, corn, beans, and dressing together. Transfer the salad to chilled serving plates, and top individual servings with tomatoes, tortilla strips, and chicken.

Never-Fail Chocolate Cake

I know, I know, two chocolate dessert posts in a row. Yes, this does reflect my current eating habits. Moving = stress = sweets. It's a formula that's always worked out for me. :)


Hey look, I moved to a house that has decent lighting in the kitchen! And I finally figured out how to use the macro setting on my camera! Now if I could just figure out how to get my food to actually look as good as it tastes!

This picture was actually my husband's birthday cake, so I put in the layer of raspberry cream that you can see oozing out there. The recipe I'm giving you today, however, is just for the cake---no frosting, no filling, no nothing. Because believe you me, this cake is pretty darn fabulous all on its own. Embellishments are nice, but, as the name states, this cake never fails. As in, it never fails to entice me to eat it all by myself. Ahem.

Never-Fail Chocolate Cake

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c. oil
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
1 c. boiling hot water

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients except the water. Pour the wet into the dry and mix thoroughly. Add the water and stir until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Grease and flour two loaf pans. Pour in the batter and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 2 loaves. If you want to use a 9" round like I did above, halve the recipe.

Black Bean Brownies

All month, Deals to Meals has been singing the praises of beans. The recipes that have really caught my eye are the ones you wouldn't normally expect to see beans in: cupcakes, pancakes, and brownies. I decided it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, even if it seemed kind of strange. Subbing in pureed black beans for part of the butter to save a little bit of fat and calories and add a few vitamins? Sounds good to me!

Here's the link to the original recipe, and here is my edited version.

Black Bean Brownies

2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 cube butter, softened
1/2 c. pureed black beans (blend beans and some added water in food processor until smooth)
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/2 T. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. + 2 T flour

Cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and black beans until smooth. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla and flour and beat until smooth again. Spread batter into a greased 9x13 evenly and then bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Let brownies cool and then frost.

Frosting

1/2 cube butter, softened
1 1/2 to 2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 to 2 T. milk
2 t. cocoa powder
1/2 t. vanilla
dash of salt

Cream butter and sugar together. Add enough milk to make it a smooth, spreadable consistency. Add the cocoa, vanilla, and salt and mix well.


They smelled absolutely delicious cooking, and I couldn't wait until they cooled completely to spread on the frosting and enjoy a piece. Hence the melty gooeyness up there making you drool. :)

The verdict: really good! You really can't even tell there are beans in there, and the brownies were truly yummy. They were a little more cake-like than the fudgy-brownie-lover in me would have preferred, but still great. If you want to make them, I hope you have a very sweet tooth, though. When you eat the brownies, you can really tell that this recipe has more sugar than flour in it. Holy sweetness, Batman! But if you can take it, you may just have found your perfect match.

Simple Egg Drop Soup

While we were in my hometown for Christmas, we visited a favorite Chinese restaurant. Since salad was not an appetizer option, my husband reluctantly ordered soup. And what do you know? "Hey Mikey, he likes it!" I believe his words were "Wow, this is surprisingly good. Do you think you could make this at home?"

Now when I get a soup request from the usual-soup-hater hubs, I take it and run with it! Here is a very basic recipe for this Oriental favorite. Feel free to add other veggies and/or top with crispy chow mein noodles, but even pared down as much as this is, it's still delicious!

Egg Drop Soup

2 c. chicken broth (or water and bouillon cubes, my old standby)
1/2 t. soy sauce
1/2 t. sesame oil
2 t. cornstarch
4 t. cold water
2 eggs
2 t. green onion, chopped

Bring broth, soy sauce, and sesame oil to a rapid boil. Mix cornstarch and water in separate bowl, then quickly stir into the soup. Beat the eggs in a separate dish, and then slowly add them as well. I found the easiest method to do this was to pour just a little bit, then stop, pour just a little bit, and stop. Repeat until you've poured in all the egg. Toss in the green onions and serve.

Lately

I've really been enjoying cooking and baking in the last little bit, but blogging time seems to be so scarce. So here are a few pictures, links to recipes, and short reviews. Enjoy! I know I have been! :)


Pretzel Dogs (or "Mummy Dogs" for Halloween) from Food Mayhem.

The pretzel dogs (we actually used bratwursts because of my husband's hot dog aversion) were pretty good. The part of the pretzel closest to the dog was still a little bit doughy; maybe a little bit longer cooking time would have helped? So those were only okay. But I still had leftover dough after assembling them, and I used it to make a few regular pretzels. And those were amazing! Seriously one of my favorite things I've ever made. I highly recommend! The only thing I did different was I just popped the ingredients into my trusty bread machine, since I am sadly without a mixer. Hint hint, Santa!


Southwestern Pot Roast and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes from For the Love of Cooking.

Really, really delicious! I love pot roast, and this was just a nice change with all of the southwest spices. The potatoes were heavenly too, although I followed her directions for roasting the garlic and it didn't seem like enough time. Several of the cloves stayed intact, making for huge garlic chunks in the potatoes. They were still really good, but I just needed my garlic to blend in more.


Baked Pumpkin Donuts from Cheeky Kitchen.

These had such promise. A donut that isn't deep-fried but still tastes good? I had to give it a try. Too bad that they were only okay. The dough was way too sticky to work with, so I kept having to add more and more flour. The flavor of the donuts themselves was pretty nice. But they were just extremely dry on the inside, and the glaze didn't dry like a regular donut glaze at all. It just made the outside extremely wet and sticky and wasn't all that tasty. Too bad. Maybe I would try again if I was going to fry them, and if I could find a better glaze recipe.


Homemade Noodles for Chicken Noodle Soup, also from For the Love of Cooking.

Make your own noodles. Please! Please make your own noodles! They are so, so good, and really not that hard. I actually tried a homemade pasta recipe from Pastor Ryan of PW fame, and it was extremely tedious. You had to knead the dough for-ev-er! I expect homemade noodles to be more work than just opening a package, but that took way too long for me to ever want to do it again. However, this recipe from For the Love of Cooking was great! The hardest part was rolling the dough out as thin as you possibly can (since the noodles get much thicker during cooking), but even that didn't take a lot of time. Just some elbow grease. And I actually thought cutting them up with my pizza wheel was a lot of fun! :) Also, you can make a ton of noodles at once, let them dry out completely, and freeze them for quicker use later. I tried this and they were still wonderful. So come on! You owe it to yourself to try homemade noodles at least once. F'realz. :)

Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti Squash

Until recently I had never tried spaghetti squash. I'm not a huge fan of squash in general, and I always thought "Why would anyone want to eat a veggie instead of pasta?" I've been having great success losing my baby weight with Weight Watchers, however, and the point values were just too hard to ignore. One cup of spaghetti is 4 points. One cup of spaghetti squash is 0 points. As in, you can have as much as you want. No contest!

So I gave it a try. And the verdict? Pretty dang good! Definitely not the same as having a big serving of pasta, but I wasn't expecting that, so I could appreciate it for what it was. I actually tried some of it plain right after scraping it out and liked the subtle flavor of it. It would be awesome with some garlic and just a little bit of butter.

I served it with my marinara sauce, some chopped Romaine, and my mom's parmesan chicken recipe (which I have included below the squash recipe).


Why yes, I do suck at taking food photos. Why do you ask? And yes, I do have a horribly lit kitchen! How do you know these things about me? :) Despite the freaky picture, this food is scrumptious. Trust me.

Spaghetti Squash

Select a squash and try to cut it in half. Those suckers are hard! I had to use some muscle! Scoop out the yucky guts and seeds with a spoon. Spray a baking sheet with Pam and place the squash halves rind side up. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes or until the flesh is tender. Use a fork to scrape it longways, pulling out the strands as you go. Serve warm.

Chicken Parmesan

2 c. dry bread crumbs
3/4 c. parmesan cheese (I just use the stuff in the can)
1/4 c. parsley
2 t. salt
1/8 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. pepper
chicken tenderloins
butter

Combine all ingredients but chicken and butter in a bowl. Dip chicken pieces in butter*, then in crumb mixture. Place on greased baking sheet and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, then remove the tin foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

*Since I'm going for low-fat lately, I didn't dip the chicken in butter. I just sprayed a little Pam on each side before dipping it in the crumb mixture. My husband actually liked this better than the original because it wasn't quite as heavy. I don't think I liked it better. Butter = bliss. :) But it was still good.