Spring Rolls

As the seasons change, cravings change. The comfort food that sounded good just two months ago now sounds, well, uncomfortable. When I walk in the door on a week like this, all I crave is cold, fresh salads with lots of veggies and fruit. Grilled meat and summer salads are always summer classics, but I encourage you to branch out and try something new this season. These simple spring rolls are not only easy to make, but are the perfect ending to a hot July day. If you grow your own lettuce and herbs like we do, this is also a great way to share (show off) all of those homegrown goodies with your family and friends. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Spring roll skins (Bahn)

Rice sticks

Crisp lettuce (green leaf or romaine are best)

Fresh mint

Fresh basil

Fresh cilantro

Shredded carrots

Butterfly pork chops (optional)

Teriyaki marinade (optional)

Hoisin sauce

Peanut butter

Directions

The first two ingredients on the list can definitely be found at your local Asian market if you can't find them in your grocery store. If you are opting for vegetarian spring rolls, then skip this first step.

Thinly slice your pork chops and pan fry with a bit of salt and pepper. Once cooked through and no longer pink, add some teriyaki sauce or marinade and toss to coat. Set aside to cool.

Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Add the rice sticks as you would pasta and cook for just a couple of minutes. Rinse in cold water and set aside.

Take a spring roll skin and soak it in hot water until soft (about a minute). Lay the skin on a large plate.

Now for the fun part. Simply layer these ingredients in whatever order you prefer. I usually start with the rice sticks and follow with the lettuce, carrots and herbs. Top with the pork then fold in both ends of the skin and roll like a burrito. The skin will stick to itself. It's much easier to roll tightly when you don't overload the skin with ingredients.

Hoisin Dipping Sauce

Put a few spoonfuls of hoisin sauce in a microwave-safe bowl. Add a teaspoon of water then microwave until almost boiling. In our weakling microwave circa 1945, this takes about a minute. But for those of you with a fancy microwave from this century, 30 seconds should do the trick. Once hot, remove from the microwave and add one spoonful of creamy peanut butter and stir until incorporated. The warm hoisin will melt the peanut butter down and create the most amazing dipping sauce you could imagine. I must admit that I always find myself eating this sauce with a spoon if there is a bit left over.

This recipe is adapted from Tien Tran's famous spring rolls she always made in college!

Magnolia's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

After a week of salivating over the endless tweets and posts about festive goodies, I decided to join the masses and do some baking in honor of the upcoming holiday too. While making a cake is typically less time consuming, it's just not as cute as a bunch of little cupcakes dressed up with sprinkles and the like. Plus, cupcakes are easy to share and when you bake, SHARING IS A MUST. This not just for the sake of generosity, but for your waistline as well. If any of you are like me, those cute little cupcakes just stare at you every time you walk through the kitchen, begging to be inhaled in excessive portions.

I have never been to Magnolia's famous bakery in NYC, but the pictures I've seen of the ridiculously long lines at Magnolia's speak for themselves. I adapted this recipe slightly as I had to improv on an ingredient or two, but they turned out wonderfully! I brought a tray of them out to my office this morning and from what I hear, they didn't disappoint. If you're looking for a fun treat that's relatively simple to make and easy to share, give this one a try. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Line two muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours and baking soda then whisk until smooth. In your electric mixer, cream the butter then gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy, about three minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake papers, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for five to ten minutes, then let cool completely on a wire rack before icing.


Vanilla Buttercream Icing

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
Cream the butter and sugar in your electric mixer. Add four cups of the sugar, milk and vanilla. On medium speed, beat until smooth and creamy, about three minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time, until the icing is thick enough for piping or spreading. This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes or one 9-inch layer cake.

A Five Course Dinner

I thought I'd share a few pictures from our very first, VERY successful five course dinner party we hosted last Friday night. Course recipes coming soon of course!

Wine and Cheese

Balsamic Greens with Cold Strawberry Soup

Creamy Chicken and Prosciutto Pasta

Marinated Flank Steak with Panzanella Salad

German Chocolate Cake

Edible Cookie Dough

Not that all cookie dough isn't edible, but this is little number is "acceptably" edible to those that frown upon the raw egg thing. No eggs, no butter, just a little something to scratch that itch that can't be scratched any other way. Don't worry about getting the ingredient amounts just right because these cookies are not meant to be baked. Simply throw the following ingredients in a bowl, mix 'em up and SCRATCH away. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine
2 tablespoons milk
Dash of salt
Dash of vanilla extract

Directions
Mix and eat. Yes, it's that simple to scratch that itch.

Quinoa Fruit Salad

For those that haven't given quinoa a try, the time is now my friends. Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-wah, looks like a grain, is prepared like a grain, but is actually a seed. This protein-packed seed is inexpensive, easy to prepare and extremely good for you. If you love a hearty breakfast such as oatmeal or cream of wheat, here's a more summery alternative for you.

While I frequently bake and enjoy my "Paula Deen style" sweets loaded with cream, sugar and butter, I also take pride in a healthy lifestyle full of balance. To balance my fat-packed indulgences (see nearly every recipe I've posted thus far), I counter them with healthy eats and lots of exercise. This sweet, fruity salad was my breakfast this morning and proved to be high protein indeed as my stomach didn't growl once before lunchtime as it usually does around 10:00am. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup dry quinoa (bag your own in the health food section of your grocery store, it's way cheaper than buying the pre-packaged stuff)
Plain greek yogurt, non-fat
Seasonal fruit (berries are my favorite)
Honey or agave nectar

Directions
In a saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of water with one cup of quinoa and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let cool (or run under cold water if you're really hungry, impatient or both like me).

Mix equal parts of quinoa and greek yogurt together and top with your favorite fruit. Sweeten to taste with honey or agave nectar. Depending on the amount and type of fruit use, you may not need a ton of extra sweetness.

Homemade Peanut Butter

As much as I love peanut butter, I had never even thought about making it from scratch until recently. Peanut butter seems like one of those grocery staples you just buy. However after a quick gander at various peanut butter recipes, I quickly realized that there's nothing to making it at all. This recipe requires hardly any ingredients and minimal work, assuming you buy the peanuts sans shell. Trust me, shelling a bag of peanuts to save a couple of dollars is most definitely not worth the time and sore fingers. I usually make more than the recipe below and simply add one tablespoon of oil per cup of shelled peanuts.

Ingredients
1 cup of peanuts, shelled, unsalted and roasted (highly recommend buying in this form)
1 tablespoon peanut oil
Sea salt to taste
Honey to taste

Directions
Combine peanuts and peanut oil in food processor. Don't add more oil if you don't see the peanuts break down right away as it will take a couple of minutes for the peanuts to break down and soften with the oil. If you want your peanut butter chunky, don't allow the substance to break down completely.

Once you achieve your desired texture, it's time to perfect the taste. Add salt and honey in small amounts  until you achieve your desired taste. Make sure to taste the mixture prior to adding any salt or honey to avoid over-salting. Remember, you can always add more so stay on the conservative side.

Spread on anything and everything and enjoy! My favorite is on a warm piece of toast as shown in the picture below. I would recommend storing it in the fridge and using within a month, however I have yet to keep it around any longer than that to see how long it really lasts!

Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I don't have much to say about this recipe other than I have VERY high standards for carrot cake and this one is among the best I've tasted. I like my carrot cake dense, moist and smothered with cream cheese frosting. In my opinion, carrot cake tastes best served chilled. I made this cake a few weeks ago for Jory's birthday and enjoyed it with every single meal that birthday weekend, whoops. There's nothing better than a cold piece of carrot cake with a hot cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. YUM!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten well
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained well
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Directions
Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and ground cinnamon and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, pineapple, carrots, coconut flakes and walnuts.

Pout into two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. I grease each pan then put parchment paper rounds in the bottom of each. Pour half of the batter into each pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes cleanly out of the center of the cake. Carefully remove the parchment paper from the bottoms of each cake layer, let cool and top with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
3 tablespoons butter at room temperature
2 tablespoons of milk (if needed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients together, adjusting ingredient amounts until desired consistency is achieved.

This recipe is originally titled Julie Treacy's Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake, passed along by my amazing friend and baker, Kelsey Bulat.