Groupon Deals – Via Baci Italian Bistro

Booooooo!! My iPhone camera does not and did not want to take any pictures…I got this image (which is the pizza we ordered) from their website. The Adriatico Pizza w/ Chicken & Sausage was pretty delish, but the Chicken Cavatappi t’was quite unappetizing-ly creamy. Reminded me of Mici’s extremely creamy pastas as well. Very very casual, sorta expenso for what it is…I probably won’t go out of my way for it. It was meh good but not that good. In the brighter side, the service was’t bad.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

p.s. forgive me for sucking at frosting cupcakes, I could use plenty more practice

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes via AE

Cake (25 cupcakes)

  • 1 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 2/3 c. all purpose flour
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1/4 t. salt
  • 1 c. 2% milk
  • 2 t. vanilla extract
  • 1 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips, floured

Filling (Made lots!! 50-1t. rounds)

  • 4 T. unsalted butter, softened
  • 6 T. light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 c. + 2 T. all purpose flour
  • 7 oz. condensed milk
  • 2 t. vanilla extract
  • 1/4 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting (Perfect.)

  • 1 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
  • 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 c. all purpose flour
  • 3 T. 2% milk
  • 2 1/2 t. vanilla extract
  • mini semisweet chocolate chips to garnish

Blackberry Jam ♥

WOW this is SO SO GOOD! That’s all I have to say.

Blackberry Jam via KMS (makes one pint)

  • 3 c. blackberries
  • 3/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 of a lime’s zest & juices
  • 1/4 c. frozen wild blueberries
  • 1/2 of a small honeycrisp apple, diced

– – –

  1. In a deep nonreactive pan, bring the blackberries, sugar, and lime to gentle boil. Start some mashing with a wooden spoon.
  2. Add the blueberries and diced apple. Continue stirring and occasionally mashing as often as possible. 
  3. Keep stirring the mixture at a rolling boil for 40 minutes more or less, until it thickens.
  4. Spoon into boiled jam jars, and cover with lids. At some point the lids will pop. Let them cool over night or all day before refrigerating them.

Ronald McDonald House

HAPPY SPRING!

Feeling oh so vernal. Looks like this spring will be great :)
BEST thing EVER: Tuesday Lunch at the Aurora Ronald McDonald House Solo!

Fried Rice (30 servings)

  • 18 c. cooked brown rice, cold
  • 1 pkg. Chinese sausage, boiled + pan fried & cubed
  • 20 oz. frozen peas and carrots, rinsed and strained
  • 6 T. canola oil
  • 12 eggs
  • 10-12 T. Mom’s fried rice sauce (soy sauce + sugar + chicken bouillon)
  • ground black pepper

Crab Rangoon Dip & Wonton Chips (30 servings)

  • 2 pkg. fried dumpling wrappers, quartered
  • 3 c. frying oil
  • 3-8oz. pkg. cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 c. sour cream
  • 3 T. honey
  • 1 T. soy sauce
  • 1/2 T. garlic powder
  • 1/2 T. sugar
  • 1 very generous t. coarse kosher salt
  • 1 t. ground black pepper
  • 8 oz. imitation crab, chopped

Mini Almond Cookie Crust Cheesecake (50 servings)

  • 16 almond cookies, finely crumbled w/ almonds reserved
  • 2-8 oz.pkg. of cream cheese
  • 3/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs

Chipotle-Mango Chicken

Chipotle-Mango Chicken via FN (4 servings)

  • 2 lbs chicken thighs, skin/bone/fat removed
  • 1 1/2 c. roughly chopped manila mango
  • 3/4 c. cilantro, loosely packed
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobe + 1 T. adobe sauce
  • 1 1/2 T. apple cider vinegar
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1-2 T. lemon juice
  • 1 T. canola oil
  • 2 t. kosher salt
  • 1 t. black pepper

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Whole Wheat Pita Pockets

Whole Wheat Pita Pockets via TR (8-6″ pita pockets)
  • 1 1/4 c. luke warm water
  • 1 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 t. salt
  • 2 t. granulated sugar
  • 2 3/4 c. stone ground whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 c. gluten
  • 1 1/2 t. active dry yeast

– – –

  1. Preheat oven to 500F. Combine the warm water, oil, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
  2. Add 1 c. of the whole wheat flour, gluten, and yeast to the water mixture to form a soft dough. Then, pinch in / knead the remaining flour. Not all of the flour will want to combine with the dough, but that’s alright…no additional flour will need to be added when rolling out the pitas later! Once the dough forms, tightly cover the bowl with saran wrap & cover the bowl with 2-3 kitchen towels.
  3. After about one hour, remove the towels and saran wrap. Gently punch the dough, and then evenly divide the dough into 8 pieces.
  4. Form the 8 pieces of dough into rounds. On a clean surface, roll the rounds into ~6″ circles. 
  5. Cover the rolled out dough with a few kitchen towels again, and let them sit for another 30 minutes to slightly puff.
  6. Bake the pitas one at a time on a clean cooling rack for exactly TWO minutes. DO NOT open the oven during that time!!! 
  7. Take the pita out of the oven– it will be puffed like a sphere. In between the layers of pitas place a damp paper towel to fully cover the pita, this is VERY important! With the paper towel covering the pita, gently press down on the pita to release internal air.
  8. Let the pitas cool completely with the damp paper towels before saran-wrapping them for storage :)

Beef & Guinness Pie

Happy St. Patrick’s

The highest PUFF PASTRY of my life, LOL!

Beef & Guinness Pie via E (2 servings)

  • 1.5 lbs. boneless beef chuck, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 2 T. all purpose flour
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. black pepper
  • 2-3 T. canola oil
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 3 T. water
  • 1 T. double concentrate tomato paste
  • 1 c. Guinness
  • 1 c. beef broth
  • 1 T. worcestershire
  • 1 t. dried thyme
  • puff pastry

– – –

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour, salt, and black pepper in a plate. Very lightly, but thoroughly, coat the cubes of chuck– being sure to shake off any excess flour.
  2. Heat canola oil to almost a smoke, and brown the cubes of chuck in 2-3 batches. Set the browned chuck in a separate bowl on the side.
  3. Add onion, garlic, and water to the same browning pan. Saute for about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute.
  4. To the pan, add back the beef and its juices, then the broth, Guinness, worcestershire, and thyme. Bring to a simmer.
  5. Braise in the stew in the oven for at least 1.5 hours.
  6. After the beef has tenderized and the stew has thickened, transfer the stew into ramekins. Brush the edge of a 5″x5″ puff pastry with an egg wash to help adhere the pastry to the ramekin. Also, lightly brush the top of the pastry with the egg wash.
  7. Bake the pie at 450F for 20 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes! 

Mango Habanero Chicken & Broccoli

Mango Habanero Chicken & Broccoli adapted via MH (3 servings)

  • 1 lb chicken breast, cut into medium pieces
  • 1 T. soy sauce
  • 1 t. sesame oil
  • 1 t. corn starch
  • 1/2 T. canola oil
  • 1 T. chopped shallots, white parts only
  • 1 t. grated ginger
  • 1 t. minced garlic
  • 2 c. broccoli, blanched
  • 1 manila mango, peeled & pitted
  • 1 habanero chili, seeds removed
  • 1 T. chili garlic sauce
  • salt & pepper

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Living Social Deals – 1515 Restaurant

Are we fatties because we ate at two restaurants in a row or is it because the first one was so bad we HAD to have better food? I spent $8 for $16 worth at 1515 Restaurant on Living Social, and my Reuben nor his 1515 Kobe Beef Burger was really not worth any of it. The Prime Beef Carpaccio was tasty and interesting in it’s own way– there was crab stuffed inside a carpaccio roll of beef…but the menu didn’t describe it in such a way. There was most definitely no mentions of crab. I ate my Reuben because it wasn’t that bad, but it certainly wasn’t delicious either. As for his burger, he loves burgers & is no means picky with his burgers just as long as it’s not overcooked or burnt. This one, however, was just plain weird and not worth the calories. The bun…I don’t even want to talk about the bun. We said eff it and got ourselves some xiao long bao’s & pot-stickers. Yum!

happy π day!