Life is good

At dinner time, we ask everyone what their favorite part of their day. Normally, our teenager has the most to tell us which is very nice. The other day my son said he wanted to tell us two favorite parts of his day. Afterwards, he decided to give everyone a hug including his older sister. 

When he sat back down, he said, "Oh, I forgot one person." Then he gave himself a big hug. It is nice that he thinks life is good. The day we had these potatoes skins life was good. My oldest daughter made them. She did a great job!

PW's Potato Skins
8 slices of bacon
8 russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
3/4 cup sour cream
4 green onions, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cook the bacon and then chop into small pieces.
3. Rub the cleaned potatoes with the vegetable oil and place on a baking pan.
4. Bake the potatoes for about 45 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
5. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise.
6. Scope out the inner potato but leave a small area of potato on the skin.
7. Brush both sides of the potato with oil and salt liberally.
8. Place the skins cut side down onto the baking pan and bake for 7 more minutes.
9. Flip the potatoes over and bake for another 7 minutes or until the skin is crispy.
10. Sprinkle cheese into each potato and then top with bacon.
11. Return the potatoes to the oven until the cheese melts.
12. Serve each potato with sour cream topped with green onions. 

Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook.

Did you already know......
-Potatoes are native to South America.
-Potatoes first arrived in the U.S. in 1621 when the Gov. of Bermuda sent a chest full of vegetables to the Gov. of Virginia.
-Potatoes weren't first cultivated in the U.S. until Scottish immigrants planted them in 1719 in NH.

Milk Chocolate Cookies

My husband said to me, "You know, you were right." Before he could continue, I replied, "You know, you can tell me that every day." He just laughed. Wouldn't that be a great way to start the day? "Good morning, dear. You know you are always right." I don't think he'll go for it or he'll try to comprise and I'll have to greet him as, "Good morning, Great One!"

When I made these cookies, he hadn't returned home yet. I left a couple on the counter for him. I had previously told him they were good. He tried them and told me that I was right. The kids agreed that the cookies were really good.

Dark Chocolate Cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder, dark
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz. mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a microwave safe bowl, add 1/2 the chocolate chips and the butter. Microwave for 1 minute and stir. If needed, microwave in 20 second intervals until all the chocolate is melted.
4. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly.
5. Add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla to the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix until combined. 
6. Slowly add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture. 
7. Fold in the remaining chocolate chips into the batter.
8. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
9. Scoop the batter onto the cookie sheet. Bake until the surface of the cookies have cracked. The cookies should be soft. The large cookies took about 15 minutes and the mini cookies took about 10 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook.

Did you already know.....
-Chocolate is made from chocolate liquor, chocolate butter, and sugar.
-White chocolate has no no chocolate liquor but does contain chocolate butter.
-Milk chocolate contains milk while dark chocolate has no milk added.

Rice Pilaf

I grew up on Rice-A-Roni which I like. The problem is I don't do well with high sodium products. So, I have tried several rice pilaf recipes for awhile. I have made this version several times and I keep trying to take photos of it but there is never any leftover. My family loves rice so any rice dish is gone. 

When I think of rice pilaf, there is a mix of rice with pasta. So, I had to add broken pieces of spaghetti to this recipe. I think I make this about once a month. It is a great side dish.

Rice Pilaf
1 Tbsp butter, unsalted
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
 1/2 cup of uncooked spaghetti noodles, broken into 1 inch pieces
2 cups basmati-style long grain rice
3 cups chicken broth, low sodium
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp parsley


Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter.
2. Add the shallot, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the spaghetti noodles and 1 cup of the rice. 
4. Stir and toast the noodles and rice for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the other cup of rice, chicken broth, and bay leaf. 
6. Cover and bring the rice to a simmer over low heat. 
7. Cook the rice for about 15 minutes. 
8. Remove the rice from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. 
9. Remove the bay leaf from the rice.
10. Add the parsley and fluff the rice with a fork.

Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence.

Did you know....
-Rice-A-Roni was created by the DeDomenico family in 1958.
-The DeDomenico's family pasta plant was located in San Francisco.
-The recipe is influenced from the Armenian style rice pilaf. 
-Rice-A-Roni is a Quaker Oats brand which is owned by Pepsi.

PQ: Tropical Carrot Cake

Are you a coconut type of person? I really love coconut. I remember my Dad trying to open one. It is hard work especially if you don't want to spill any milk. If I was stranded on a desert island, I think we would be having coconut nightly. We would be having bananas soaked in coconut milk. Fish brushed with coconut oil, etc. Please share any of your suggestions. You never know if you will be stranded on a tropical, deserted island. I don't want you to say hey, I wish I could remember some of the ideas suggested for the use of coconuts because it is really hard to reach those bananas. Good thing, the majority of my children like coconut. We could make it like the Swiss Family Robinson.

The carrot cake is tropical with macadamia nuts, coconut, and pineapples. Doesn't this cake make you want to travel to some tropical island? The island could be in the Pacific or Atlantic. The island can be made of entirely volcanic rock or man made. I wouldn't care. It just would have to be warm. 

 This weeks pick for Project Pastry Queen was picked by Emily of A Gilt Nutmeg. I made cupcakes so I could share which I'm glad since the recipe made about 20 cupcakes. I really liked these recipe. I highly recommend using fresh pineapple. (You may want practice cutting one up just in case there are any on your deserted island.) Please make sure to check out the other members blogs and for the frosting. I used different topping for the cupcakes like shredded coconut, pineapple, and shredded carrots.

Tropical Carrot Cake
1 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cups sweetened flaked coconut
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and shredded
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple, diced
1/2 cup sweetened cream of coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line the muffin tin with about 20 cupcake liners.
3. Arrange the nuts on a baking sheet and toast them for about 7 to 9 minutes. Set aside to cool.
4. In a large bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut, and nuts. Set aside.
5. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, oil, carrots, pineapple, and cream of coconut.
6. Pour the egg and carrot mixture into the flour mixture.
7. Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
8. Bake the cupcakes about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting if you can wait. 

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen.

A single serving cupcake holder to go

Did you already know.....
-The Swiss Family Robinson was written by Johann Wyss.
-It was published in 1812 in German.
-The family were on their way to Australia.
-The first animal to greet them on the island were penguins.

Leprechauns

My youngest daughter set up traps to catch a leprechaun. She said she wanted his gold or to make him a servant. I said to her I thought your younger brother was your servant. "Yep, he is," she replied. I just don't think he received the memo or he is going to be fired soon.

Since my daughter is setting up traps, I figured I could set up my own trap. I made Pioneer Woman's Knock You Naked Brownies. This way I can catch someone with no green, right? Clever, huh. My husband tried this dessert and he said they are really good even with the nuts since he doesn't eat nuts.

 Knock You Naked Brownies
1 box German Chocolate Mix
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
60 whole caramels, unwrapped
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9 x9 or 7.5 x 11 inch baking pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and the melted butter. Combine well.
4. Take half of the batter and press into the baking pan.
5. Bake about 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Remove and set aside.
7. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the caramels with the remaining evaporated milk for about 2 minutes. Stir and microwave for another 20 seconds if needed until all of the caramels are melted.
8. Pour the caramel milk into the baking pan evenly over the pressed brownie base.
9. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the caramel.
10. With the remaining batter in the large bowl, roll out onto a floured surface.
11. Place the rolled batter dough on top of the chocolate chips and caramel.
12. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
13. Remove from pan and allow to cool.
14. Once the brownies have cooled to room temperature, cover and refrigerate for several hours.
15. Before serving, dust with the powdered sugar. 

Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman. 

Maybe next year

 Did you already know....
-Leprechauns originally wore red.
-You can try to find one by listening to the sound of their hammer while they make shoes.
-Here is a webcam in Ireland to spot a leprechaun. 
Good Luck!