Let Me Eat Cake!

Good afternoon everybody!  So my birthday is over……I don’t feel 35 yet.  I’ll check again tomorrow;)  We had a fabulous birthday cake to celebrate.  I’m not normally one for store bought cakes….I think I’ve mentioned that before.  In fact, I am not the world’s biggest cake fan.  I prefer other desserts.  But since I have two small children, I have to blow out candles on an actual birthday cake.  My kids would be devastated if I didn’t.  But back to the point I was trying to make…I don’t like store bought cakes.  And since nobody was making one for me….I made it myself.

I have been really into chai lattes lately.  Have you had one?  I got into them at Christmas time because they taste like Christmas in a cup.  I especially like them “dirty”, which means it has a shot of espresso thrown in.  When I was trying to come up with a new cake recipe….I thought I might as well try to make a chai flavored cake.  It turned out so crazy good.  Better than I even expected!

Do you know what chai is?  According to the good people at “Wikipedia”, Chai is a generic term for tea in many parts of Asia and Europe.  For us here in the ‘ol US of A….chai is usually black tea, simmered with black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, anise and sometimes nutmeg.  This brew is served with steamed milk to become a “chai latte”.  I figured that would be easy enough to make a cake with……

I started with a boxed vanilla cake mix.  If you are noticing that my box looks mangled….it is because my 7 year old removes “box tops” for her school the second I get home from the grocery store.  I also used a chai concentrate.  This is what you would use if you wanted to make a latte at home.  You simmer together the concentrate with equal parts milk.  Since it is a concentrate….on its own, it is strong.

I also used eggs and oil, just like the box told me to.

To bump up the chai-ness of this cake, I added more cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg.  At this point, you could choose to bump up the flavors from the chai that you prefer.  Since I would rather eat rocks then anise, I left that out.  I also skipped adding more black pepper.  Truthfully, I would have added more ginger, but I was out of ground ginger.  This is your chance to choose.

I dumped all the ingredients in a large bowl.  This is why I love using boxed cake mixes.  They are so super easy!  It is also really simple to make additions and substitutions to any boxed mix.  You can create a brand new cake….from one box.  Plus, they make the box mixes pretty idiot proof, so you just dump and blend.

See?  Dump and blend.  I followed the instructions and blended for 2 minutes.  Then, I licked the beaters, which the box did not tell me to do.  I can think for myself, thank you very much.

I did my cake as a layer cake.  Mainly because I wanted to be able to sneak more frosting on, but also because the Today Show said that layer cakes are very "in" for 2012, and I am nothing if not in style;)

I used two 8 inch baking pans.  I sprayed them with cooking spray and also lined the bottoms with parchment paper.

I split the batter evenly and baked these bad boys at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Now for the best part…..the frosting!!

This is no ordinary buttercream, my friends.  I made a browned butter frosting.  I used two sticks of butter, whole milk and powdered sugar.

The first step is to brown the butter.  This takes a bit of time.  I put the two sticks of butter in a small pot and let it go for about 20 minutes over medium heat.  I did stir from time to time, and I always kept an eye on it.  The butter will separate into liquid and solids.  It will also brown.  Browned butter is nutty and delicious.  Don’t confuse it with burned butter because that is just gross.

Once the butter is browned, pour the liquid into a small dish.  Leave the solids in the pan.  Pop the browned butter into the fridge for about one hour.

Once the browned butter had chilled and solidified, I beat it together with a bit of milk and tons of powdered sugar. 

Once my cakes were cooled off, I was ready to frost.  The first step is to get a flat bottom layer.  I cut the top off of one layer.  This will be my base, and the cut off top part will be my snack.  I earned it.

I popped my bottom layer on a cake plate and plopped some frosting in the middle.  I spread it out gently towards the side, leaving a small border all the way around.  This way, when the top layer gets put on, all the frosting won’t sploosh out the sides.

And no “sploosh” is not a real word.  I tried to play it on “Words with Friends” and it was a no-go.  But I will still use it.

Once I put the top on, I frosted the whole thing.  It is easiest to start by putting big globs of frosting in the center and spreading that out towards the sides, and down the sides.

Happy Birthday to me!  This cake was spicy, sweet and so delicious!  The frosting was the perfect complement to the spiciness of the cake.  And by spicy, I don’t mean peppery spicy, I mean warm cinnamon type spicy.  The frosting was nutty and just perfect!

This cake recipe is a must try!  It is easy, yet it totally doesn’t taste, or look, like it came from a box.  You should make it and totally impress your friends and family!

See you next week!!

Chai Latte Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

One boxed cake mix, Vanilla

1 cup Chai Latte concentrate, Tazo brand

3 eggs

½ cup oil

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Frosting:

2 sticks butter, (one cup)

32 ounces powdered sugar

½-3/4 cup milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together all ingredients with a hand mixer.  Beat for approximately 2 minutes.

Grease 2 8 inch cake pans with cooking spray and line bottoms with parchment paper.  Pour batter, evenly, into two pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 24 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cakes cool for at least 1 hour before removing from pans.  Once removed from pans, cut the top off one cake to make a flat bottom layer. 

To make frosting:

Place butter in a small sauce pan and let melt.  Cook, over medium heat, until butter is browned.  This will take about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Place browned butter in the refrigerator for one hour.

Once butter is chilled, beat together butter and powdered sugar.  Add milk slowly while beating until you have desired consistency.

Frost top of bottom layer, leaving a ½ inch border around the edge.  Place 2^nd cake on top.  Frost entire cake.

Chicken Fried Steak for my Birthday!

Good morning!  Do you know what tomorrow is?  My birthday!  I honestly can’t believe that I am going to be 35.  I still feel 25-ish.  But I can’t feel too bad….no matter what, my sisters will always be older than me.  Ha!

Last Friday night we celebrated my birthday with some friends at a restaurant called “Ichiban”.  It is a teppanyakki restaurant in Harrah’s Casino.  That basically means that it is Japanese food that the chef cooks right in front of you.  Like Benihana’s…if you are familiar with that.  It was ah-may-zing.  So, so good.  I had lobster, filet mignon, shrimp, etc. 

We celebrated my birthday, just the four of us, last night.  I cooked;)  But I didn’t mind….because I made one of favorite things, ever.  I made chicken fried steak with country gravy.  Yes, I know I am supposed to be eating “healthier”, but hey, it’s my birthday. 

Have you had chicken fried steak?  It is tender steak with a coating like fried chicken!  Hence the name…..I cut mine into strips before I cook it, so it is more like chicken fried steak fingers.  I will show you how I made it, plus, I will show you how to make amazing country gravy.  You could put this gravy on Styrofoam, and it would be good.

Let’s start with the steak fingers first.  I used cube steak.  That is the steaks that look like they have been run over.  Actually, they have been run through a tenderizer.  They are a super cheap-o cut of beef, but with the tenderizing magic, they turn out great!  I used a one pound package.  1.16 if you want to get technical.

I also used flour, eggs, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.  Yep, we are going to season the bajeesus out of the flour.

My first step was to slice the beef into “fingers”.  I cut against the grain.  Can you see what I mean about the meat looking like it got run over?

Now that the beef is sliced, I set up for dredging.  I have the seasoned flour in one pan, and beaten eggs in the other.

Please don’t be intimidated by this.  Dredging is easy, and actually super quick.  There is no reason that you can’t make this on a regular week night.  I promise, it goes fast.

The beef goes into the flour first.

Then in the egg….

And back in the flour.  This is what gives the steak its chicken-fried coating.  You will get a thick, crispy coating.  It needs the triple dip.

Don’t throw the flour away when you are done dredging.  You will use this to make your gravy.  It is already seasoned, so why not?

While I was getting my dredge on, I had been pre-heating a pan of oil on the stove.  I had about ½ an inch of oil down in the bottom of my cast iron pan.  Any big skillet will work.  Keep your oil over medium heat….you don’t want it to get too hot because then the coating will burn before the steak gets a chance to cook.

I cooked my fingers about 4 minutes per side.  They will get nice and golden brown.

These guys have to cook in batches unless you have the world’s biggest skillet.  If you overcrowd the skillet, the oil temperature will come down….that leads to soggy fingers.  And nobody wants soggy fingers, right?

When mine were done cooking, I placed them on a cooling rack and sprinkled them with salt.  If you are cooking a lot of these guys, keep the cooked ones warm in a 170 degree oven.

Gravy time……

For this gravy (have I mentioned how good this gravy is?), I used the leftover seasoned flour, butter, more black pepper, whole milk, and some of the fat left in the steak pan.

This was how much fat was left in my pan.  I only want to use two tablespoons of this.  The rest can get tossed.

I put the two tablespoons of fat back into the same skillet, along with two tablespoons of butter.  Once the butter melts, four tablespoons of the seasoned flour gets whisked in.

Like so.

Whisk this until it is smooth.  I cooked this for about a minute to get the raw flour taste out. 

In goes the milk.  I whisked this until smooth.  As this starts to boil, it will thicken.

See how thick that is?  As soon as it thickens, remove it from the heat….or keep in on super low heat.  Taste this, and adjust for seasoning.  Mine needed more black pepper.

There you have it…..country gravy.  It’s not pretty, it’s not healthy, but it is goooooood.

This was THE. BEST. BIRTHDAY. DINNER. EVER.  That picture above was Chris’s plate.  We couldn’t photograph mine because it was drowning in gravy.

I served my chicken fried steak fingers with mashed potatoes (duh), green beans and biscuits.  I could not have been happier with my birthday dinner.  Oh wait, yes I could have.  Chris could have cleaned up.

I will see you on Thursday!  I will show you how I made my birthday cake!

Chicken Fried Steak Fingers

1 pound cube steak, sliced into “fingers”

1 ½ cups flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 ½  teaspoons seasoned salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Oil for frying

Pre-heat a large skillet over low heat.  Add about ½ inch of oil to the bottom of the pan.

In a flat dish, add flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne.  Mix well.

In another flat dish, add beaten eggs.

Dredge steak slices in seasoned flour, then eggs, then back in seasoned flour.

Fry slices in oil, over medium heat, until browned on both sides.  This will take about 4 minutes per side.

Keep warm in a low oven.

Serves 4-6

Country Gravy

2 tablespoons of reserved fat from chicken fried steak fingers

2 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons left-over seasoned flour

1 ½ cups whole milk

Black pepper to taste

Salt to taste

In the same skillet that steak was cooked in, add 2 tablespoons reserved fat, and 2 tablespoons butter.   Once butter has melted, whisk in flour.  Whisk until smooth.  Cook mixture over medium heat for about 1 minute. 

Slowly whisk in milk.  Let mixture come to a boil to thicken, whisking occasionally.  Once gravy has thickened, remove from heat.  Season to taste.

Creamy Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup....Lightened Up!

Good morning! Or almost afternoon, rather.  I trust you are all still sticking to your New Year’s resolutions;)  I would hope you are, after all…..it is only the 5^th of January.  I am still trying to eat “healthier”.  It hasn’t been fun, I might add.  But I’m doing it.  Yesterday I made a delicious Creamy Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup.  I lightened it up, so it doesn’t have a billion grams of fat like your typical cream of broccoli soup.  I will show you how I did it.

 

I love soup.  I really do.  But only certain kinds.  Usually it is the kind that is super bad for you.  Yep, creamy soups….I’m lookin’ at you.  I have never been a fan of broth based soups, but I could eat my body weight in creamy soups, such as clam chowder, potato soup, and cream of anything.  I especially love soup when it is cold out.  Since it’s cold a lot here in Northern Nevada, I had to figure out a way to lighten up said creamy soups, so I don’t look like a whale.

For this soup, I used a whole head of cauliflower.  My broccoli came already cut up for me, and I used an equal amount to the cauliflower.  I also used one potato, a shallot, garlic, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, poultry seasoning and light cream cheese.

The light cream cheese is what will make the soup nice and creamy.  The potato will keep it thick.  You will never miss the heavy cream;)  At least not that much.

I started by roasting the broccoli and cauliflower.  This will caramelize the veggies and give them a great flavor.  They will become sweet and yummy.  I roasted them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Before I threw them in the oven, I sprayed them with cooking spray and sprinkled salt and pepper over the top.  When they veggies come out they will be nicely browned and charred…..like so:

See those yummy brown spots?  If you think you don’t like broccoli or cauliflower, try them roasted.  They taste completely different then steamed veggies.  I promise.

Before I could get the soup pot going, I also had to dice my shallot and peel and dice my potato.  I used one shallot, but two would be good too. 

Don’t worry too much about the size of anything….this soup gets blended at the end.

To get the soup started, I added 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of my soup pot.  Yes, you need a bit of fat in your diet.  It will give you a shiny coat.

I also added the shallot, garlic and poultry seasoning.  Poultry seasoning doesn’t have to just be used on poultry.  Don’t let the name throw you off.  It is chock full of great herbs, like sage, marjoram, thyme and sometimes, celery salt. It is a great blend that is fantastic added to pretty much any savory dish.

I let the shallot cook, just until softened…about 4 minutes over medium heat. 

Once the shallot was softened, I added the potato.

Then, I added the broth and Worcestershire sauce.  I brought this to a boil, and then I put a lid on it.  I want to cook the potato, but I didn’t want any of the broth to evaporate, so it needs its lid.  I let this cook for about 16 minutes, or until the potato breaks up when you poke it with a fork.

I also added the broccoli and cauliflower back into the pan at this point.  Now it is ready to be blended!

I used my immersion blended.  Some of you might remember that I was devastated by the loss of my old immersion blender a few months back;)  My BFF got me one for Christmas!  I think she might have just been trying to prove that she reads this blog, but whatever the reason….I love it!

If you don’t have an immersion blender, make friends with my BFF Jennifer.  Maybe she will buy you one.  Otherwise, use a blender or food processor.

Once the soup was all blended, I added the cream cheese and stirred until the cheese was melted.  At this point, you will need to taste it to see where you are at with seasoning.  Mine needed more salt.

I served my soup with fat free croutons and sharp cheddar cheese.  I prefer sharp cheddar because you can use way less of it because it is “sharp”….hence the name.  The best part about this soup is that you can eat a ton of it, and not feel badly.  It is crazy low in fat and calories!

The potato keeps this soup nice and thick, and the cream cheese gives it creaminess and tang.  This soup turned out really, really good.  I am pretty sure you will love it too!  For those of you in California….if you ever get a real winter, you will thank me.  This soup warms you up!

See you next week!

Creamy Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

12 ounces fresh broccoli

12 ounces fresh cauliflower

2 teaspoons salt, divided

1 teaspoon pepper, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large shallot, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 potato, peeled and diced

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

4 cups chicken stock

4 ounces light cream cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Place broccoli and cauliflower on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Spray veggies with more cooking spray, and sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper over the top.  Roast at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until veggies are slightly charred around the edges.  Set aside.

In a large soup pot, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Over medium heat, sauté shallot, garlic and poultry seasoning until shallot is softened.  This will take about 4 minutes.  Add peeled and diced potato, stock and Worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil, and cover.  Lower heat to maintain a simmer and cook until potato is soft, about 16 minutes.

Add veggies to soup pot and puree with an immersion blender.  Add cream cheese and heat soup until cheese is melted.  Check for seasoning and add remaining salt and pepper, if needed.

Serve with fat free croutons and sharp cheddar cheese.

Serves 6

New Year, New You.....2012 Edition

Happy 2012!  Did 2011 go out with a bang?  I am pretty sure I was in bed and asleep by 12:05am.  And it was a struggle to even stay up that late.  I was rockin’ the Just Dance 3 on the Wii early in the night, but I was pooped by 10pm.  All that dancing, and winning, can make a girl tired.

Anyhoo, as usual, one of my 2012 resolutions is to eat healthier.  I make this resolution every year.  Usually I say “eat healthy”, but this year I am not being as aggressive.  I am just saying “eat healthier”.  Less pressure on me.  Plus, with this blog…..nobody wants to see 356 days of salad. I’m not that blog.

Eating healthy can be a challenge for me.  I constantly crave comfort foods, and comfort foods usually aren’t that healthy.  If I can take one of my favorite comfort foods, and make that healthier….I seem to do better.  I was craving burgers and fries yesterday, so I came up with this recipe for a healthier chicken burger that is loaded with veggies.  It turned out great.  If all healthy food was this delicious, I could get on board with it….plus, I would weigh a lot less.

First off, holy glare!  Sorry about that. 

For these chicken burgers, I used one pound of ground chicken breast.  Chicken breast can be super dry, especially when formed into burgers.  To combat that, I stuff this bad boy with lots of veggies.  I used spinach, sundried tomatoes, red onion and Gourmet Rooster Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Spread.  I also used some salt and pepper.

Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic spread is chock full of roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, onion and other yummy goodness.  If you can’t get a hold of any, which would be weird because I can ship it anywhere, you can always replace it with roasted red peppers and roasted garlic.  It won’t be the same, but it will be close;)

I started by sweating the onions a bit in a pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Let’s keep this light, folks;)

I sautéed the onions, over low heat, for about 5 minutes….until they were just starting to soften.  I also sprinkled the onions with salt and pepper.

At my grocery store, I could only find sundried tomatoes in oil.  Obviously, the oil would defeat the purpose.  I rinsed my tomatoes and drained them well.  I made sure to get all the oil off.  I also diced them up a bit.

If you can find sundried tomatoes not packed in oil….use those.

Once the onions were soft, I added the spinach and sundried tomatoes to the pan.  I cooked this just until the spinach was wilted.  This will happen in a couple of minutes.

I set this mixture aside to cool a bit.  I mix my burgers by hand and super-hot spinach isn’t the best idea.

While the veggies cooled, I added the Gourmet Rooster spread to the chicken.  See how juicy it is?  This will keep your burgers moist.

I hate the word “moist”, and I wish there was another word that I could use.  I can’t think of one yet.  My birthday is January 11^th.  Buy me a Thesaurus.

I mixed in the veggie mixture by hand, just like I promised above.  This is the best way to mix ground meat.  You don’t want to over mix because that will make the burgers tough.  Using your hands is the best way to ensure you don’t over mix.

This mixture will be very wet and sticky.  When you form your burgers, make sure your hands are slightly wet.  I got 6 burgers out of this.

I cooked my burgers on my Lean Mean Grilling Machine.  Actually, I think my grill is a different brand, but I like saying that.  So yeah, I used my indoor grill.  If you have one, your burgers should cook in about 8 minutes.  Spray the grill well with cooking spray.  Since there is very little fat in these burgers, they will stick if you don’t spray.

If you are cooking these in a pan on your stove top, spray the pan well.  Cook these little guys for about 5 minutes per side.

I topped my burgers with a reduced fat Provolone cheese.  If I wasn’t feeding my kids, I would top these with goat cheese.  Strong cheeses like goat cheese and blue cheese are excellent when you are trying to lose weight.  Why, you ask?  Because they are so strong….you can eat way less and still get the same satisfaction.

I served my burgers on “bun thins”.  They are reduced fat buns.  I guess they are reduced fat because there isn’t much too them…but I didn’t want to make a healthy chicken burger and then slap it on a 500 calorie bun;)

I also served my burgers with Dijon mustard (no mayo, which made me cry a little bit), lettuce and sliced tomato.

I have to say….these little suckers were crazy good.  They were moist from the veggies, and the Roasted Red Pepper spread gave them a really yummy flavor. They are almost reminiscent of the flavors of a crab cake. without the crab.  Like I said above, if all healthy food was this good……I would be a happy, and thinner, girl.

To keep up the “healthier in 2012”….I will be posting a recipe for super healthy creamy cauliflower and broccoli soup on Thursday.  See you then;)

Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Burgers

1 pound ground chicken breast

½ cup red onion, diced

1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, rinsed, drained and diced

2 handfuls baby spinach, or about 2 cups

1/3 cup Gourmet Rooster Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Spread

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Cooking spray

Pre-heat an indoor electric grill.

In a sauté pan, sprayed with cooking spray, sauté red onion over low heat for about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  When onions are starting to get soft, add diced sundried tomatoes and spinach.  Cook until spinach wilts, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl, place ground chicken, Roasted Red Pepper sauce and sautéed veggies.  Mix thoroughly, by hand.  Form 6 patties.

Cook patties on electric grill for about 8 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.

Serve with reduced fat cheese, reduced fat buns, lettuce, tomato and mustard.

Makes 6 burgers