Gingerbread Bundt Cake

Bundt cakes are such funny cakes. As I was making the bundt cake, I began to question who was the wise man that made such a fun shaped cake tin. Well, I still don’t know who that person was. What I do know, is that the bundt cake is based on a traditional European cake but was popularized in the US in the ’50s and ’60s.

This cake was made for both Alphabakes and Tea Time Treats, with Alphabakes’s giving me the letter G this month (so ginger!) and Tea Time Treats’s having a free for all.

This bundt actually seemed more breakfasty to me than anything, so it has provided me a week’s worth of breakfast. It’s pretty dense, but the flavor is great and gingery with a bit of citrus!

Gingerbread Bundt Cake
(original source)

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
4 large eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
ORANGE GLAZE:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp orange zest
3 tbsp milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a bundt tin.
2. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In another bowl, beat together the vegetable oil, sugar, syrup, eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Pour into the bundt tin.
5. Bake for 60 minutes.
6. Remove the bundt from the oven and let cool. Then remove from the tin and cool longer.]\
7. In another bowl, mix together the ingredients for the glaze. I prefer the glaze to be thinner. If you want it thicker, add less milk.
8. Pour the glaze over the cake.

  

Ham and Arugula Shortcrust Rolls

I’m always coming across new food challenges to participate in. It helps me be keep my recipes varied, because I get new ideas of things to make! In my internet sleuthing, I found The Pastry Challenge. The idea of the Pastry Challenge is to make a pastry item that meets the monthly theme. This month’s theme was anything, which really is a nice way to start this since I haven’t been doing much baking lately.

I decided to use the first time back into pastry baking to be a dinner item – this is a shortcrust wrapped up with ham, arugula, mustard, and parmesan cheese. It was a great choice. I added just a bit too much water to the dough, but all-in-all, delicious!

Ham and Arugula Shortcrust Rolls

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp red chili powder
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/ 8 tsp ground black pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp ice water
2 tbsp honey mustard
5 slices honey ham
1/3 cup arugula

Directions

1. Sift the flour, chili powder, salt, and pepper together. Put into a food processor and pulse several times.
2. Add the butter and pulse into a course meal is formed.
3. Add the 1 1/2 tsp cheese and pulse several times.
4. Add the egg and pulse several times.
5. Add the water 1 tbsp at a time and pulse until the dough comes together.
6. Shape into a ball and wrap in seran wrap. Refrigerate for half hour.
7. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Smear with mustard. Top with ham, arugula, and 1 tbsp parmesan.
8. Roll into a wrap, starting on the long side.
9. Put in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
10. Preheat oven to 375. Cut the dough into slices. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

* makes about 9 rolls

Candy Sushi

Erm…. Yes. This is absolutely a strange recipe for me to share. It’s an absolutely strange thing for me to have on here. But without further ado, welcome candy sushi! It is incredibly sweet and if you eat too much of it, you will get a stomachache, I promise.

Regardless, these were fun. I’d never made rice krispies treats before (yes, really!) so I got to do that. And then I got to stuff candy in them.

I guess the question is, what on earth would inspire me to make this? It isn’t like I have kids or something to entertain.

Would you believe me if I told you it was due to this scene in Failure to Catch? Hosted this month by Amy’s Cooking Adventures, this month at Food ‘n Flix we watched this chick flick. I’d seen this movie before and never considered it a foodie movie, but it definitely has many food scenes!

This movie is about Paula and Tripp. Tripp is in his 30’s and still lives with his parents. His parents hire Paula, a professional who’s one goal in life is to help grown men grow up and move out of their parents’ houses. While Tripp has his own reasons for failing to launch (ha, like what I did there?) I decided to mix together two things from the movie: the idea that moving out is immature and this sushi scene pictured above where Paula and Tripp went on one of their dates.

I wasn’t about to try my hand at sushi for real, because though I love to eat it, I don’t trust buying raw fish from anywhere. But I really wanted to do something from this scene. So I made some incredibly immature candy sushi.

Candy Sushi

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
5 oz jet puffed marshmallows, plus 4 more
3 cups rice krispies
twizzlers
gummy worms
fruit by the foot

Directions

1. First we are going to make a thin layer of rice krispies treats. Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the marshmallows and stir over heat until the marshmallows melt into the butter. Stir in the rice krispies. On a wax paper lined tray spread the rice krispies out thinly. Set aside until it hardens.
2. Once the rice krispies have hardened, cut into a rectangle, so you have straight edges.
3. At one edge, place a twizzlers and gummy worms, creating your filling.
4. Roll the rice krispies just once. Cut the rice krispies roll from the rest of your sheet.
5. Wrap in fruit by the foot.
6. Continue with your remaining rice kripsies treat.

White Hot Chocolate with Blackberry Brandy

Sundays have unofficially become “hot chocolate day.” As long as it stays cold outside, I’ll be beginning the new week with a mug of hot chocolate. It’ll be the one thing that makes me sad when it becomes hot out again – I’ll need to think of other ways to bring a sweet start to my week: milkshakes, smoothies, slushies. 😛

This week’s hot chocolate is a white hot chocolate. I’ve never had white hot chocolate before. And while I truly am a dark chocolate type of girl, this hot chocolate was perfect.

Let’s see how long I keep this up!

White Hot Chocolate with Blackberry Brandy

 Ingredients

• 16 oz skim milk
• 4 oz white chocolate, cut into small pieces
• blackberry brandy, to taste
• 4 marshmallows

Directions

1. In a saucepan, heat the milk. Once the milk begins to bubble remove from the heat.
2. Add the white chocolate. Cover with a lid and let sit for 3 minutes.
3. Stir the chocolate/milk mixture together to ensure the chocolate gets melted in the milk.
4. Pour into 2 mugs.
5. Add a splash of blackberry brandy. Use however much or however little you prefer!
6. Top with marshmallows.

• serves 2

Brussels Sprouts and Egg Breakfast Boats

I haven’t participated very much in Dom’s new Simply Eggcellent. I guess I can’t even call it new, because I think he’s been running it for the last year. I think I only have one other submission. Each month he gives a theme and bloggers from all around the internet make an egg dish based on the theme. This month’s theme was all about being healthy, because so many people have resolutions to start the new year healthy.

This is healthy for two reasons: for two pieces of this, it was only 366 calories (so one piece of stuffed bread is only 183 calories) and eating breakfast is supposed to be a way to start your day on a good foot!

I’m really bad about eating breakfast. I’ve been trying all week to do it and even bought some easy meals, cereal and yogurt and granola, but I’m just so slow in the morning that it makes it difficult. But because it’s Saturday now I really have no reason.

So, I decided to start my weekend off with a delicious breakfast.

While I’m early for Breakfast Week (January 24-30), this definitely a simple breakfast you can make either for breakfast week or any morning! Use whatever veggies you have in the house, smother it with cheese, do your thing!

Brussels Sprouts and Eggs Breakfast Boats

Ingredients
2 sandwich rolls, split in half lengthwise
1 tbsp Brummel & Brown yogurt spread (or butter)
4 brussels sprouts, sliced into shreds
4 eggs
2 slices of pepper bacon
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat to 375. Scoop the bread out of the middle of the sandwich rolls large enough to place an egg in the hole. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray and put your bread in the dishes.
2. Smear the inside of the bread with your butter substitute or butter.
3. Fill the holes with brussels sprouts.
4. Push the brussels sprouts down. Put an egg in the middle of each hole.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 18 minutes.
7. While your bread is baking, cook up your bacon. Cut it into small pieces.
8. Sprinkle the top of each bread boat with bacon.

• makes 4 boats

Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate

I love winter time almost exclusively for hot chocolate. Every mug of hot chocolate when it’s cold outside feel so justified. Living here in the desert, it didn’t get cold until rather recently. Usually I’m drinking hot chocolate much before Christmas. But with the warm weather outside, I didn’t even want hot chocolate! How awful! All I wanted to drink was water!

Alas, the cold weather has come and done some havoc on the house like freezing my pipes. Before we talk any more about hot chocolate, I have to tell you that this winter hates me. First my pipes froze (and luckily thawed without bursting) and THEN my power went out and left me without any heat! The power going out wasn’t actually weather related and was just old wiring related, but having these back to back disasters when it’s cold out isn’t fun!

What is fun is cuddling up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.

When I was at the grocery store today I saw something I have never seen before: McCormick’s Valencia Orange Peel. Something inspired me to pull it off the shelf. And then something else inspired me to put the boxed hot chocolate aside and make a delicious cup of orange hot chocolate.

What else should I do with the orange peel? It’s really finely grated and tastes delicious.

This month’s We Should Cocoa is all about simplicity. Lisa at Lovely Appetite is hosting this month. This might be the simplest chocolate recipe of all!

Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate

Ingredients
2 cups skim milk
1 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
3 oz milk chocolate chips
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 tsp McCormick’s Valencia orange peel
whipped cream

Directions

1. In a small saucepan heat the milk, Valencia orange peel, ground cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
2. When the milk just begins to simmer, add the chocolate. Whisk continuously until all the chocolate has melted.
3. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream.

• serves 2
• Besides We Should Cocoa, I’m also sharing this with the Small Victories Sunday Linkup

Curried Tomato Soup

I rung in the new year with several goals for myself, one of which involves blogging at least once a week. I don’t know what it is that keeps me from doing this more regularly.

My first dinner of 2016 was grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. This soup wasn’t just canned Campbell’s (which I’m not slamming!) but a curried tomato soup. It was a very warm way to start 2016 (it’s cold out!) and was a simple start to the new year.

Curried Tomato Soup

Ingredients
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium red onion, sliced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp red chile flakes
1 14-oz can of whole tomatoes
3 tbsp coconut milk

Directions

1. In a large pot melt the butter. Add the onion and salt and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions soften up.
2. Stir in the spices and stir for 30 seconds.
3. Stir in the tomatoes and the liquid in the cans with the juices and 3 cups of water. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Puree with a hand blender until smooth.
5. Stir in the coconut milk

* serves 2
* This recipe is being shared with Beth Fish Reads’s Weekend Cooking.