Danielle's devilishly good brownies

Enoch as well as the rest of the gang thought these brownies were sooooo good! Maybe they were just excited that they weren't filled with too much salt because of my April Fool's prank!

Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies

These are the best homemade brownies I have yet to make. This could possibly have something to do with my intense craving for, well food, since I've been nursing Elijah.

Luci loves anything with chocolate. She was helping me and I turned away for a minute to look at the recipe, and there she was slathered in chocolate goo.

Deep, Dark Chocolate Brownies

Recipe adapted from melskitchencafe.blogspot.com

2 sticks (8 oz) butter
10 oz good-quality semisweet chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 large eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips *optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9 inch metal pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray. Alternatively, you may use parchment. These are pretty sticky at first!

Melt butter and chocolate in a 3-qt heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Add 1 cup of the sugar to the hot chocolate mixture. Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm.

Whisk in remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time until mixture is glossy and smooth. Whisk in salt and cocoa powder, then add flour and stir until it disappears (do not overbeat). Stir in chocoate chips.

Spread in pan and bake until a pick inserted in center comes out with crumbs, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool to room temperature then chill for an hour or more. Lift from pan, place on a cutting board, cut into squares.

Makes 1 13×9 inch pan (yield depends on how big you cut your brownies, but they are rich, so small is fine.

Roasted Tomato and Black Bean Soup

I'm not a huge soup fan, but this was really good! I found it in Reader's Digest.

7 med. tomatoes, quartered

1 lg. onion, large pieces

3 garlic cloves

2 T. olive oil

1 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

5 c. chicken broth

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 t. cumin

1 t. chili powder

1/4 t. hot pepper sauce (I substituted 3-4 slices of jalapenos and a dash of cayenne pepper)

1/4 c. sour cream

1/4 c. chopped cilantro

Toss tomatoes, onion, garlic, oil, 1/2 t. salt and 1/4 t. pepper. Place on baking sheet and roast until garlic has softened, onion edges are brown, and tomatoes collapsed (about 35-40 minutes) stirring once after 20 minutes. Transfer to 4 qt. pan. Add broth, beans, cumin, chili powder, and remaining salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Then blend until smooth with a blender. (I have a hand blender that I could just stick in the pan or else you have to transfer it to a regular blender.) Stir in hot sauce. Garnish with cilantro and sour cream. Guten Appetit!

Professional Pizza by Daniella

Friday night is pizza night, and this weekend I decided to try a new recipe for pizza crust. I love my quick and easy one, but this one was amazing! And still, not very hard, especially if you have a bread maker. Jacob couldn't stop talking about how good this pizza turned out. He wants me to enter it into some kind of recipe contest, specifically the pear and Gorgonzola pizza. :) Cute husband of mine. Luci wasn't a big fan this time...but she's had strep throat, and she's on some pretty strong anti-biotics. I really can't wait for spring time so that she will hopefully stop getting sick! She is getting tubes on February 10th, which we are hopeful will make a difference. Anyway, here is the recipe...

Crust
Makes one medium pizza (I doubled it)

3/4 c water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. dry milk powder
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp active dry yeast (I always use SAF)
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Add ingredients to bread machine (usually wet first, yeast last) and put on dough cycle.
**If you don't have a bread maker either dissolve the yeast in a 1/4 cup of the water (hot from the tap) or just throw the SAF yeast in with your dry ingredients. Then mix in the rest of your water, oil, and lemon juice into your dry ingredients and knead or beat in mixer until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough should be slightly sticky but not enough to stick onto your fingers. Add more or less to ensure correct consistency. Make sure your water is hot from the tap if you aren't using a bread maker.
After dough has risen to double in size roll out on a floured surface to be about 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to a greased pan with cornmeal on the bottom. Let rise for 30 more minutes for a chewier crust. Then top with your favorite traditional toppings, or try these... (Bake in a 500 degree oven, on a pizza stone if you have one, for 12-15 minutes depending on how thick your crust is.)

Garlic Crazy Bread Style
Spread olive oil over the dough, sprinkle fresh Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and sea salt. Dip in warm marinara sauce.

Pear and Gorgonzola Style
Sounds fancy, but so delicious and easy!
Caramelize 1 small onion. (saute in oil over medium high heat until browned and still slightly crunchy) Spread olive oil over dough, sprinkle mozzarella, and parmesan cheese, sliced pears, caramelized onions, Gorgonzola, or Blue cheese, ground pepper, sea salt, and drizzle some honey on top. Amazing.

And here's a cute picture of dad being a professional Pa Paw! Thanks Mom and Dad for all you do! It was fun to hang out with the cousins last weekend:)

Crustless Quiche

My oven is back in commission. Did I mention that? Jacob fixed it for me when all of his finals were done! I have been a baking machine since then. Baked oatmeal, coffee cake, German chocolate cake cupcakes, pizza, cornbread, mexican cornbread, etc... Thank you Jacob for figuring it out, so that I didn't have to take Jody's advice and go pioneer style with a dutch oven out in the snow :) I made this for a friends birthday brunch this morning. It was delish, and everyone wanted the recipe. So, here it is :)


Crustless Roasted Potato, Onion, and Garlic Quiche

Do Ahead:
The night before, or morning of if you're having this for dinner, roast your potatoes, onion, and garlic. You can use the potato wedges for dinner too! We couldn't stop eating them last night. They will make your whole house smell good...

2 cups potatoes (I used plain Russet, but red or gold would be yummy)
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
season salt
pepper

5 Eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (heaping)
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Fresh veggies you have on hand: I used spinach, and red peppers
Dry parsley, and basil

Coat potato wedges, onion wedges, and whole garlic in olive oil. Pour onto a tin foil lined sheet pan. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in 400 degree oven for 30-45 min. Or until soft in the middle and crisp on the outside.

Lightly coat a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray or butter. Layer potatoes, cheese, spinach, peppers. Beat eggs and yogurt and pour on top. Make sure you move the eggs around to cover everything else. Sprinkle with a little more cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Volare's Heath toffee cheesecake

Made for Jared's birthday cake!!

Crust:

3 1/2 cups ground Oreos

1 stick butter, melted

Filling:

3 lbs. cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 t. vanilla

1 t. lemon juice

1 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 1/2 cups crushed Heath toffee pieces

Crust:

Combine butter and crushed Oreos. Press into bottom and up 2/3 the side of 10 x 3 inch springform pan.

Filling:

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, sour cream and heavy cream. Fold in about 1 1/2 cups of toffee pieces. Pour onto crust all the way to the top and top with 1 cup toffee pieces. (You can pour excess filling into a graham cracker crust and bake until just set.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Double wrap springform pan in foil and place in a water bath filled halfway up the side. Bake in the water bath for 30 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees and bake for the final 25 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake set in the oven for 30 minutes.

(It will look wobbly like jell-o and it's actually done! I tend to overcook cheesecake until it doesn't look like this--but don't!!)

While the cake is warm take your finger and pull the edge of the cheesecake away from the pan. Remove it from the water bath and refrigerate overnight.

Use knife to separate cheesecake from the side of the pan. Remove springform. Serves 12-15 and that's no joke!! (A 1 inch piece will fill you up--it sits heavy in the stomach but is soooo good!)

ENJOY!!!!!

Best Cornbread Ever

This cornbread is always a hit. It's so good that you don't need to put anything on it, even better with honey butter though. Try try try it! Homemade cornbread is so much better than Jiffy ;) I made it tonight with sweet potato fries, while Jacob made some delicious chili. I love having him home so that he can cook for me. Last night we were at Mom and Dad's and he made us Eggs Benedict for our Anniversary. My favorite! Anyway...the recipe...

½ cup cornmeal
1 ½ cup flour ( I use 1 c. wheat flour, and 1/2 c. white)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 ¼ cup milk

Add dry ingredients, make a well and add oil, butter, eggs, and milk into the center. Stir until just mixed (batter will be runny - don't be alarmed!). Bake in an 8” square pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. This doubles perfectly for a 9X13-inch pan.

Recipe Source: mykitchencafe.blogspot.com