Recipe Review: The Brownies

Hold onto your hats!  We might have ourselves a winner here!

You may not know this, but I have been desperately searching for the perfect brownie recipe for years now.  I admit it, I have been hooked on commercial brownie mixes all these years.  Why?  Oh, well it might be the...add a little water, a little oil and a couple of eggs and PRESTO...brownies!

But before you professionals out there swoon in shock, please note the real reason why I haven't found a suitable substitute for my beloved box brownies is the consistency/texture.  Most brownie recipes I try taste more like a chocolate cake than a brownie.  As in, you have to eat them with a fork and are much better with frosting on them.  But brownies are meant to be eaten with your fingers!  And the ooey-gooey goodness should simply melt in your mouth.

Craving them yet? ;-)

Well, we'll just have to wait and see.  I'll let you know how they turn out (or rather how our guests this evening enjoy them topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce).  Now I KNOW I've gotten your attention!

Don't worry I'll be adding the recipe as soon as we taste-test them.

How do you like to eat your brownies (hands, fork, topped with chocolate syrup, hot/cold)?  Do you have a favorite brownie recipe?  If so, please SHARE!

Recipe Review: The Quick Pasta Alfredo for One

Don't get me wrong I LOVE a classic Alfredo sauce!  But if you are like me and may not have the time or energy to go through all that trouble, I think you might enjoy my adapted version of a similar recipe I found on the Tasty Kitchen website.  I made this in less than 10 minutes (not counting cooking the pasta) - how can you beat that?

Here is my version (double or triple the ingredients for more servings):

• 1-2 servings cooked pasta (any type will do:  spaghetti, shells, penne, bowties, etc.)
• Dab of butter
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2-3 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 - 1/2 cups pasta water
• Dash black pepper
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain, reserving at least 1/2 cup pasta water.  Set aside.
2. Melt butter in pasta pot and add garlic.  Cook just for 1-2 minutes just as garlic starts to brown slightly.
3. Take  pot off the heat and drop the cream cheese into the pot.  Add pasta immediately right on top of the cream cheese.  Begin mixing the cream cheese into the pasta.  If the cream cheese doesn't begin to melt right away or is difficult to mix, pour up to 1/4 cup of the pasta water in and continue mixing.  
4. Once the cream cheese begins to melt and starts to blend into the pasta, add the pepper and Parmesan cheese.  Feel free to add extra pepper and/or cheese to taste!  If you're having trouble mixing the pasta, add up to 1/4 cup pasta water.  You may want to put it back on the heat as well to get the flavors blended well and the pasta heated through.

Note:  This pasta is SCREAMING for extras so feel free to add whatever you have on hand.  I might try to sauté some mushrooms to add at the end, some steamed broccoli or even some leftover chicken.  The possibilities are endless!  Feel free to experiment and change - that is what it's all about.

Happy cooking!

Recipe Review: The Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

Are you ready for a simple, chocolaty, delicious snack cake that will take your breath away?  Well, look no further because THIS would be a crowd-pleaser!


Note:  I cut this second piece for photographing purposes and *sacrificed* by eating it as I didn't want all that yummy goodness to go to waste!


This recipe was adapted from one that I found on All Recipes.com.  I LOVE that you can type in the words "oatmeal cake" and the first recipe in the list is exactly what you need!

Here's my version of the recipe:
1 1/3 cups boiling water
3/4 cup oats (I used quick cooking)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 whole eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips, divided

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).  Grease a 9"x13" pan and set aside.
2.  Combine water & oats together and let sit for 10 minutes.
3.  Add butter & sugars and stir until mixed well (i.e. no clumps of butter left).
4.  Add eggs and mix well.
5.  Add flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt all at once.  Mix together well to make sure dry and wet ingredients are combined.
6.  Add 1 cup of chocolate chips and fold gently into the batter.
7.  Pour into prepared pan.  Sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips over top of batter.
8.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Note: The original recipe called for walnuts which I did not have, but I think they would be a great addition to have sprinkled across the top as well. Also, I used mini-chocolate chips (because that's all I can get here).

Well, there you have it!  This was wonderful served warm.

Happy baking!

Recipe Review: The Potato Salad

Potatoes!  Oh how I love potatoes!  Fry 'em, mash 'em, bake 'em, you name it...I am ON BOARD!  Maybe it's that red-blooded American in me but I just love me some potatoes.  I have been trying to eat less of them in recent years because all that starch just adds up to extra calories (and extra you-know-what as well).  But how can I resist sharing this love with the rest of you when I couldn't resist the whole idea of making the potato salad in the first place!

First of all, I must admit that there was no "aha" recipe for me this time when making my potato salad.  If I were making this for guests or strangers, I would have put a lot more thought into it.  However, this was mostly for me and for Sameh if he so chooses.  As it was, I was trying to make something different with the potatoes I cooked up the other day to go with the roast beef.  Sameh is not much of a potato person so I have to make them in small quantities for myself or otherwise they go bad (or the other scenario is that I STILL eat them all and you know where that will leave me).

My first pet-peeve when it comes to potato salad is when the potatoes are too hard.  You know what I'm talking about, the store-bought potato salad you bought to go with the fried chicken and the potatoes are so hard you think they might still be raw.  So I like my potatoes well-cooked, which means you have to be very careful with them when you're cutting them and mixing in other ingredients because they can fall apart and then you have potato mush and not potato salad. 

I am sure you all have that favorite potato salad in mind that you are always striving to find again.  For me, that potato salad will always be Momma's.  Years ago my grandmother was diagnosed with diabetes and so she gradually stopped making all that good southern-style (aka "to die for") food that we all knew and loved.  And unfortunately I never had the foresight to write down any of her recipes, one being her potato salad.

But there are certain things I know.  You never use just mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip or whatever your choice of white goo is).  You always add mustard.  Potato salad requires a little crunch so add in your onion (as finely chopped as possible in my case), your celery (unfortunately I did NOT have any on-hand as this is not a regular vegetable item we find in the stores here), and your pickles.  Everybody has a favorite pickle as well, whether dill or sweet or bread-n-butter (what IS that anyways).  Mine happens to be dill so in it went.  I actually chopped a bunch of pickles up into itty bitty pieces and then when tasting, I realized that it needed some bigger pieces in all their crispy glory to add that bit of *crunch* that I was missing (no celery, mind you). 

Oh, and never EVER forget the hard-boiled eggs.  For me, a potato salad is never complete without the hard-boiled eggs.  You can layer them on top with some paprika sprinkled over for color or just chop them up and *gently* fold them in - either way delicious things happen!

I have to be honest and tell you that I DID have my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook out for reference and to remind me of the basic ingredients.  There IS a great potato salad recipe in there that I have made on occasion.  My version didn't make much, though, so I wasn't too stressed out about the exact measurements of everything.

That's it for now.  I hope you enjoyed my potato salad comments.  As always, take my advice with a grain of salt because I am NOT a professional! =)

Happy cooking!

Recipe Review: The Roast Beef

There is nothing better than a simple roast beef recipe that you throw in the oven and bring out to all that meaty goodness!  I found this recipe on All Recipes.com and was very pleased with the results.  I actually made this roast beef again today - we get this great eye round roast from our butcher here in Egypt and I couldn't resist making it again.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/All-American-Roast-Beef/Detail.aspx

A few notes I would like to make about making a roast beef, basically some advice I read up on from reviews on this recipe and my own two cents as well.  One is that you leave the roast out for a while to reach room temperature by the time you stick it in the oven so that it cooks evenly.  Secondly, it is important to tie the roast (this really means to tie a string around it at about every 3 inches or so) - keeps it from falling apart when it cooks.  Also make sure you have a meat thermometer - that whole guessing from looking at the inside doesn't really cut it.  You want to make sure the inside reaches the "safe" temperature so that it is cooked thoroughly to the way you like it.

A side note is that I do NOT like a rare roast beef.  Some people can eat it straight off the cow but I am not one of those people.  In recent years I have gotten more "adventurous" and eat my steaks at medium-well (pink but no blood).  But I have sent back a steak that was supposed to be medium well and it had blood coming out of it that was mixing with my mashed potatoes...uggh!  Maybe it's a living abroad thing but I want to make sure that baby is cooked to get all those crazy bacteria that may be lurking inside from Lord knows where good and dead! 

Oh, and the roast will continue to cook once you take it out of the oven so be ready to let it sit for a good 15 minutes before you try to do anything to it.  Plus it is much easier to cut if it's not so pipin' hot coming out of the oven. 

I use an electric knife to cut my roasts with and would highly recommend it.  This tool is very useful for this and other things like whole roast chicken and turkey.  There is a bread knife part on ours that I have never used, but I might break it out if I had some major bread cutting to do.

Happy cooking!