NOTE: I was sent some products from Bob’s Red Mill to make this post. All opinions are my own.
I have a busy week ahead of me, so I wanted to do some food prep this weekend.
Weekday breakfasts for me are typically on-the-go, if I have breakfast at all.
So when I have the chance to make breakfast ahead for the week, I try to make it a healthier option.
Bob’s Red Mill sent me a few of their products recently, including Almond Flour. I love the subtle flavor almond flour adds to baked goods.
Blueberries are a tasty complement to almonds so I decided to make Gluten-Free Blueberry Almond Flour Muffins for the week. They are topped with Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten-Free Rolled Oats to add some texture.
Note: I was sent a holiday cookie decorating gift basket from De’Longhi, and one to give away. All opinions are mine alone.
With the holidays upon us, it’s always nice to find extra ways to give back. This season, De’Longhi, an international leader in household appliances, is helping to give back by donating 10% of its delonghi.us sales site-wide until December 20th to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a national non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for safer, more effective treatments for pediatric cancer, the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S. For the first time, CookiesforKids’ Cancer has launched a Challenge Gift Campaign where all of the money raised from now to December 31st will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $250K. Visit Delonghi.us to purchase products and see all of the great holiday gift ideas De’Longhi has to offer. Visit Cookiesforkidscancer.org for more information on ways to donate!
To help spread the word, De’Longhi sent me a holiday cookie decorated gift basket to help make some yummy cookies which included The Cookies for Kids’ Cancer Cookbook.
The gift box includes:
set of holiday cookie cutters
3-pack of holiday colored icing
pair of cappuccino glasses
coffee
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer: Best Bake Sale Cookbook
I decided to make the cookie that started it all, a recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies that was developed for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer’s first bake sale.
This recipe is legit. They are the perfect balance of chewy, buttery, and chocolately. It’s no wonder the recipe is so popular!
De’Longhi was generous enough to also make a holiday cookie decorating gift basket for an I Can Cook That reader! More details on the giveaway after the recipe.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
With Thanksgiving behind us, I was ready to get in the holiday spirit and wanted to incorporate eggnog into a baked treat; the flavor of eggnog translates so well into dessert!
These Eggnog Cupcakes are vanilla cupcakes with eggnog substituted for milk. They are topped off with a dollop of whipped topping and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
I love love love pomegranates. The burst of tanginess is awesome in both sweet and savory dishes.
It is once again pomegranate season (the season runs from ~October through ~January), so I am thrilled to be cooking again with one of my favorite ingredients.
POM Wonderful must have heard about my love of their products, because I was contacted to try out their POM POMS Fresh Arils and pomegranates. I will have a few recipes over the coming weeks, but let’s start with something a little sweet.
This recipe for Pomegranate Olive Oil Cake is from the POM Wonderful website. The Pomegranate Olive Oil Cake is topped with a Vanilla Crème Anglaise, a drizzle of olive oil, and some fresh pomegranate arils.
My mom recently put in a request for braciole. And by put in a request, I mean she went to Esposito’s in the Italian Market, purchased braciole, and told me I was going to make it. So. Slow Cooker Braciole it is!
I was excited to try; I’ve never made braciole before. Braciole is a thinly pounded meat that is topped with a filling and then rolled up and secured either with string or toothpicks. The rolled meat is browned and then added to a tomato sauce to cook.
I have to let you know. Braciole is a labor of love. There is so much prep work! The version I am sharing below is a recipe from a family friend that my parents have been using for years. I decided to make it in my slow cooker so that I could leave and run some errands while it cooked. Because of the prep work involved though, this is definitely a weekend meal.
Ingredients:
For Braciole:
3 eggs, hardboiled, diced
2 russet potatoes, boiled and diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 lb mushrooms, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
8 pieces of braiole, or 2 lbs top round, cut into half inch thick slices
Note: I was sent a Glass 3 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Glass 2 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Brownie Spatula, and Illuminating Digital Hand Mixer from OXO. All opinions are my own.
September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Every year, OXO donates up to $100,000 to support an organization called Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. The organization was founded by two OXOnians (OXO employees) who were inspired by their son Liam’s battle with pediatric cancer, a disease which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer provides inspiration and support to allow anyone to easily get involved in fundraising to find a cure for pediatric cancer.
I’ve posted twice a year for the last few years to help bring awareness to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Click here to see some of my past posts.
Each year, OXO donates $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blogger post up to their $100,000 commitment. This year, OXO asked us to use a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s newest cookbook, Dorie’s Cookies while using some of OXO’s great baking tools. Dorie’s Cookies includes over 200 recipes from classics to brownies to savory cookies, with some great baking tips thrown in.
I decided to make a recipe in the cookbook named Mary’s Maine Bars, named after a recipe developed by Dorie’s recipe tester (Mary Dodd) after a family trip to Maine. The Apple Butter Swirled Gingerbread Bars are a delicious, chewy gingerbread that is perfect for the fall. One of the alternative to the recipe suggested swirling apple butter into the batter, so I tried it out!
Note: I was sent a review copy of Dutch Treats: Heirloom Recipes from Farmhouse Kitchens
I live in Philadelphia, and a one of the largest influences on our local food is definitely Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. Despite growing up here, I haven’t cooked many traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipes like Himbeerdasche, although I certainly have been known to eat them!
Recipes include Shoofly Cake, New Year’s Pretzels and the original recipe for Snickerdoodles. Dutch Treats explores the vast diversity of authentic baked goods, festive breads and pastries that we call Pennsylvania Dutch (named for the German-speaking immigrants who settled there starting in the late 1600s).
I enjoyed reading the back stories to all of these delicious baked goods as I paged through the book. From learning about traditional holiday treats, to why pretzels are considered good luck, the cookbook was an interesting read as well as a great source of yummy recipes.
I decided to make Raspberry Pocket Cookies, or Himbeerdasche, using a recipe for Almond Pastry Dough that dates back to a late 18th century recipe. I edited the recipe just a bit to use Orange Blossom Water instead of Rose Water, because that was what I had on hand. I also made the cookies a bit larger than suggested.
Ingredients:
For Almond Pastry Dough
5 cups pastry flour
1 cup superfine (caster) sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
2 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the raspberry pockets)
In the past, I’ve made Arugula Pizza with Poached Eggs, so I went a bit more traditional this time with a Mexican inspired Cheesy Skillet Eggs and Hash.
This recipe is easy to make but has a ton going on: potatoes, chorizo, eggs, cheese, salsa, and avocado all together to make a truly delicious breakfast (or breakfast for dinner)!
Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
~10 oz uncooked chorizo, cut into bite sized pieces (I used 3 chorizo)
May is (was) National Egg Month, and, well, the month of May ended more abruptly than I was expecting. So, happy June, and happy belated National Egg Month! (This Friday, June 3rd, is National Egg DAY though, so you can celebrate your little heart out then.)
I love using eggs in dinner recipes, because I don’t get much opportunity for a nice sit down breakfast with eggs. This Cooking Light recipe is the perfect eggs-for-dinner meal — Arugula Pizza topped with Poached Eggs.
Nellie’s eggs sent me some coupons, plus a cool little kit that included a t-shirt, stress egg, and a gift card so that I could try their eggs in a post, and this recipe seemed like the perfect opportunity. Nellie’s are free range, the hens are never caged, and have as much or as little access to the outside as they’d like.
Nellie’s works with over 40 independent, family owned and operated farms to provide their free range eggs produced from Certified Humane Free Range hens that are antibiotic and hormone free.
Breakfast Night inspiration including sample Breakfast Night recipes
Krusteaz is also offering one I Can Cook That reader the same starter kit listed above! Details after the recipe. Krusteaz currently also has a coupon for $0.50 off any one pancake or waffle mix.
My fiance loves breakfast for dinner, so I decided to make a savory pancake topped with sunny side up eggs to celebrate National Pancake Day!
Krusteaz’s Buttermilk Pancake Mix makes this recipe for Cheesy Corn Pancakes with Eggs a cinch to prepare! Just add some additional ingredients and you have a delicious dinner ready in minutes!
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ChineseNYeats #CollectiveBias
Next Monday begins the Year of the Monkey, according to the Chinese Lunar New Year calendar. Celebrations are held around the world, particularly in places with large Chinese populations, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Locally, Philadelphia’s Chinatown holds a bunch of different events to celebrate, including a parade and a midnight dance performance on the 8th.
My favorite place in the city, Reading Terminal Market, along with the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, is featuring demonstrations of the cuisine and cultures of Asia next weekend. To get in the spirit, I decided to make one of my favorite Thai dishes: Pineapple Fried Rice with Chicken.
This recipe comes together really quickly with the help of Minute Rice, Dole and Kikkoman.
For this recipe, I used White Minute Rice, Dole Pineapple Chunks, and Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce and Sriracha Sauce, which I picked up at my local Wegmans, which were found in the rice aisle, canned fruit aisle, and Asian foods aisle, respectively.
Salty-sweet combinations are just. The best. My favorite involve chocolate; the saltiness really enhances the chocolate flavor!
These Brownies are an absolutely delicious salty-sweet combo. The super chocolately, fudgy brownie is made with Endangered Species Chocolate Almond Spread with Cocoa (and 3 other different kinds of chocolate!) while the crust is make of a deliciously salty pretzel/graham cracker combination.
The Almond Spread adds a different lay of flavor to the brownies. To keep the almond flavor noticeable in the brownies, I also used some almond extract. If you don’t have almond extract, or don’t want as much almond flavor, you can use vanilla extract.
What makes these brownies even more tasty is that the chocolate spread used in the brownies also helps give back: Endangered Species Chocolate donates 10% of net profits annually to 10% GiveBack Partners. In the past three years, Endangered Species Chocolate’s (ESC) 10% GiveBack program has donated more than $1.2 million for its carefully chosen beneficiaries!
ESC recently announced its 2016-2018 partners: Rainforest Trust and Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN). The organizations will receive 10% of ESC’s annual net profits (or a minimum annual donation of $10,000, whichever is greater) to fund projects they deem most important to achieving their conservation goals.
Rainforest Trust has saved more than 11 million acres of tropical forests to-date, but ESC’s 10% GiveBack program will be vital in expediting the organization’s goal of preserving 20 million acres by the year 2020. WCN funds projects in 24 different countries where the 10% GiveBack program will contribute to helping a myriad of at-risk species.
Past 10% GiveBack partners include SEE Turtles, SEEtheWild, Chimp Haven and, most recently, the Xerces Society and African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).
Endangered Species Chocolate was also kind enough to send me some extra jars of their delicious spreads to give away to one I Can Cook That reader! Details after the recipe.
Ingredients:
For crust:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1.5 cups crushed pretzels (about 2 cups mini pretzels before crushed)
The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap hosted is by Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. For the past five years, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap has helped raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease.
Kourambiethes are Greek Christmas Cookies, but also show up for really any celebratory event, so they are an all-year kind of treat. They are nut butter cookies, typically made with almonds or walnuts, which are then rolled in confectioners sugar. The result is a shortbread cookie that melts in your mouth!
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SplendaHoliday #CollectiveBias
Can you believe Thanksgiving is this week?? This year has just flown by!
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It’s a day spent with family and friends over good food, just enjoying each other’s company.
We spend Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house. Every year, I bring a little something up to contribute to the meal. For the past few years, I’ve done desserts. My sister put in a request for a chocolate cake this year because in her words, “there’s not enough chocolate at Thanksgiving.”
We usually have quite a few desserts for the taking, so I decided to make the cake with less added sugar with the help of SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend.
SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend works just like regular brown sugar, but with half the calories. I picked up a bag at Walmart (it can be found in the baking aisle with the other sweeteners, or on Walmart.com).
I love the flavors of Hazelnut and Chocolate together, so I tested out a recipe for chocolate hazelnut cake with chocolate frosting this past weekend.
The cake uses ground hazelnut in the batter to add a nutty, buttery flavor as well as a really nice texture to the cake.
Every Sunday night is pasta night in my house. Most of the time, that means taking out a batch of tomato sauce from the freezer and cooking whatever dry pasta we have one hand, but it’s nice to switch it up every now and then, like making this recipe for Mexican Spaghetti Squash Egg Boats.
I have never worked with spaghetti squash before, so I thought Sunday night would be a great time to try it.
This recipe for Mexican Spaghetti Squash Egg Boats tops the spaghetti squash with a flavorful chunky salsa, plus an egg that is cooked to over-easy (slightly runny), and then (if you are in the mood) topped with cheese and avocado slices.
These Mexican Spaghetti Squash Egg Boatss are very hearty without being too heavy. They take some time to prepare, so these are good for a weekend meal rather than trying to make these on a busy weeknight.
