dinner with the boys.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Quesadilla, Chicken and Sauteed Veggie Quesadilla

The Bible Boys came over for dinner tonight. We have dubbed Thursday nights as supper club, and this evening we dined on quesadillas, spicy rice, roasted sweet potatoes and apples, and chips and salsa. I had a craving for sweet potatoes, so I did a few roasted sweet potato and caramelized onion sweet potatoes along with some chicken and sauteed veggie quesadillas.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples

 

 

Roasted Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Quesadilla
2 Cups of Cubed Roasted Sweet Potatoes
1 Cup Caramelized Onions
2 cups shredded Cheese (we used Sharp Cheddar and Monterey Jack)
4 Large Flour Tortillas
1 Tablespoon of butter, for the skillet

Heat Skillet.
Assemble Quesadillas.
Top one tortilla with 1/2 the cheese, sweet potatoes, and onions. Top with another tortilla. Melt butter on skillet, and place the assembled quesadilla on skillet. Fry each side for about 2 minutes, or until golden brown and cheese inside is melted. Repeat with remaining tortillas and ingredients.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples
2 large Sweet Potatoes
3 large apples
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons garlic salt
3 teaspoons various seasonings (we used parsley, basil, and oregano)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Core the apples and slice into thick slices. In a bowl, whisk remaining ingredients. Coat the sweet potatoes and apples in the mixture. I used a large plastic bag and tossed all of the ingredients together.
Pour all ingredients into a 13x9inch pan. Roast at 400degrees for 40 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Dinner!

Spicy Rice

Spicy Rice
4 cups Water
2 Cups long grain white rice
4 Tablespoons Cilantro
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
4 Tablespoons Tapito Hot Sauce
1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt

Bring water to a boil. Add Remaining ingredients, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat, let it cool for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and serve.

crazy for cookies.

Today is a very lazy afternoon.

Iced Oatmeal Cookies

Karen and I are sitting in my living room, which is flooded with sunshine, watching AquaMarine. Don't judge us, or do; its a wonderful Disney movie that follows two best friends who find a mermaid in their local pool. Of course this film covers all the teenage drama of heartbreak, jealousy, and finding your true self. Its awesome.

Crispy on the outside, but gooey inside.

With the beautiful laziness of the day, I have the time to tell you about some delicious oatmeal cookies that you must try. They are iced, which gives them an extra sweet kick, but loaded with oats so they are heart healthy.

Iced Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/4 cupold fashioned oats
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

In a food processor, pulse the oats until they are ground and just some larger pieces remain. In a large mixing bowl, stir in oats, flour, baking powder, soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk egg with the melted butter and syrup. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Scoop by heaping Tablespoon onto well greased cookie sheet. Leave a good amount of space in between cookies, they spread a lot when they bake! Bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden. Remove from cookie sheet and let them cool completely. Whisk together icing (below) and ice them!

Wet ingredients.

Mixed with Dry...

Makes really yummy dough.

Rounded Tablespoons

They Spread!

Golden Brown

And iced...

To ice the cookies....
Mix a few tablespoons of vanilla frosting with two teaspoons of cinnamon. Add milk until the frosting is glaze consistency. Pour icing into a plastic ziploc bag. Cut off one corner of the bag, and pipe icing onto cookies. Let it set, and then eat! You can store them in an airtight container for about a week to keep them fresh and soft.

have your cake and eat it.

Apple Chunk Cake

Tonight we had a meeting in my apartment. Evening meetings call for evening snacks. I happen to have (always) an abundance of apples in my refrigerator, and decided to make a cake. Apples are my favorite fruit. I know, call me boring or generic. But they are so versatile and delicious and wonderful both raw and cooked in desserts. Here is my spin on an apple cake that was featured on Smitten Kitchen. This cake is layered with thick chunks of apples, and is incredibly moist and DELICIOUS. Eat it.

We clearly did some damage.

Chunks of Apples, covered in cinnamon and sugar.

The cinnamon made my apartment smell delightful.

Gooey. and so good.

Pre-bake.

 
Apple Chunk Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6 apples, cored, and cut into large chunks. (I used fuji and braeburn)
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Orange Juice

Place chopped apples in a bowl. Coat in sugar, cinnamon, and oj. Set aside.

2 3/4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 eggs

In a bowl, whisk dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, sugar, orange juice, vanilla, and eggs. Fold dry ingredients into wet, and mix well. Pour half of the batter into a well greased Tube Pan. Top with half of the apple mixture. Pour remaining cake batter over the apples. Top with remaining apple mixture. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until cake is firm and golden.

Finished product.

Glaze:
4 Tablespoons Vanilla Frosting
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend well and pour over the cake. You could also glaze each individual slice, or serve warm with cinnamon ice cream.

Glazed.

jill joins breakfast.

Breakfast Pizza

Each Friday morning is breakfast with Kristi and Bekah. This week, their middle sister Jill joined us. The three of them together are a bundle of energy, comfort, and so much laughter. I love lazy mornings with delicious Intelligensia Coffee (thank you jill!) and creative food.

This week, we made a breakfast pizza and cereal encrusted french toast. The dough recipe was adopted from Smitten Kitchen, and the french toast was made with a honey-whole wheat bread that was gifted to me from one of my students. The dough for the breakfast pizza makes two portions. I threw the extra in the freezer to make another day.

Cereal Encrusted French Toast

The french toast was encrusted with Honey Bunches of Oats, but you could use any cereal. We ate ours with a honey-hazelnut glaze.

Friday Breakfast. Everything is better with Avocados.

Breakfast Pizza:
dough: see below
2 cups cheddar and provolone cheese
4 eggs
oregano, basil, Italian seasonings
garlic salt
pepper
parmesan cheese to sprinkle
1 sliced avocado

The beginning.

the dough:
The night before, place 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon yeast. Stir and then let it sit for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons of flour and stir until well mixed. Take dough out of the bowl and knead for about 4 minutes on a well-floured surface. Divide the dough and form into each part into a tight ball. Place on a floured cookie sheet, cover with plastic bags (I used a couple target bags) and place in the refrigerator. The next morning, take dough out of fridge an hour before baking and set in a warm area.

the pizza:
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
Take one portion of dough and form into 12inch diameter circle on a pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the dough with the two cups of cheese. Carefully break the four eggs onto the pizza. Cover with seasonings and garlic salt and extra parmesan. Bake for about 10 minutes, turning the stone halfway through. Remove from oven when cheese is golden and yolks are hard. Top the pizza with sliced avocado, cut into four portions, and enjoy!

And the finished product.

Cereal Encrusted French Toast:
6 thick slices of good bread
1 cup crushed cereal
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons cinnamon
butter for the skillet

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, place the crushed cereal.
Coat each piece of bread with egg mixture. Press one side of bread into crushed cereal and place directly on hot, buttered skillet. Fry each side of bread for about 2 minutes, or until golden. Serve with maple syrup and honey-hazelnut glaze.

Delightful.

Honey-Hazelnut Glaze
2 Tablespoons Hazelnut flavored Cream Cheese
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Milk

Blend the cream cheese, honey, and sugar. Add milk until the mixture is glaze consistency.

thursday dinner party.

My friends and I spend a lot of time talking about food. We love it. Unfortunately, with the chaos of grad school, we are often left without time to truly sit down and savor dinner. This week however, we vowed to make a good dinner party happen. Thursday became that night. We went pretty basic, and had a dinner that was pretty quick to make. Other than the dough prep, the entire dinner took less than an hour.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

You gotta love a pizza stone!

Flatbread with Sweet Potatoes, Onions, and Sunflower Seeds

Always a favorite... and so easy!

Grilled Apple Cheeses

Made with Cheddar, Provolone, Fuji Apples, and Rye Bread

Side Salad Please

With homemade Croutons, with a little "Kawoosh".

Ryan tagged these croutons as "kawoosh" croutons. Say it phonetically... Meaning they are crunchy on the outside but give a little on the inside.

soup group!

About once a month, we cancel our weekly staff meeting and do a dinner instead. In the language of Residence Life, this is called Soup Group. Last night, 4 of my RA's came over for dinner. We have done various themed dinners this year, and since this was our last official Soup Group of the semester, we opted for a favorite. Breakfast for dinner. This is something I could do daily.

Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal

With Hazelnut Glaze

Banana Oat Pancakes, with Blueberry Syrup and Hazelnut Glaze, and a Mixed Veggie Fritatta

fireside cupcakes.

Fireside Cupcakes.

Cupcake Day.

Dessert. It seems that everything tastes better when it looks better. I came across an idea for a cupcake this week after snacking on a Hershey Bar. Here is what I have dubbed a Fireside Cupcake... A vanilla cake with a graham cracker crust, vanilla frosting, and topped with the ingredients for a S'more.

Yum.

Graham Cracker Crust

Pressed Into Cupcake Holders

Topped with Vanilla Cake...

Fireside Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350degrees.

For the Crust:
1 Cup Crushed Graham Crackers
4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons Sugar

Mix all of the ingredients and press into the bottom of 15 cupcake cups. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until golden.

For the Cake:
1 3/4 Cup Cake Flour
1 Cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature, diced
1/2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg white

With an electric mixer, blend flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, baking powder, salt, and 1/4cup milk. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and remaining milk. In batches, with electric mixer, mix the flour mixture with the egg mixture. Blend on medium speed for about 3 minutes.

Pour the batter evenly into the 15 cups. Bake for 20 minutes, or until set.

Frost with vanilla frosting, and top with half of a marshmallow, piece of a graham cracker, and a piece of Hersheys Chocolate.

Hershey Bars...

And Marshmallows!

rachel's owls.

We had a waffle night about a week ago... Heart Shaped Waffles for Annie's birthday. I had to display Rachel's creation. They were darling owls. Waffles with peanut butter, bananas, almonds, and chocolate syrup.

eat me please.