Flan for One (or two)

2 T + 1 t sugar, divided

1 egg

1/2 c milk

1/4 t vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 300.  Have your ramekin or baking dish next to the stove.  Heat a small saucepan over med-low and add 1 T of sugar.  Evenly distribute the sugar in the pan and let sit until the sugar melts.  This takes a few minutes, but be patient and watch carefully.  Sugar burns very quickly.  When the sugar is an amber/caramel color, pour the  sugar into your waiting ramekin and swirl to coat the bottom and sides.  Set the ramekin aside.

2.  Beat the egg slightly in a small bowl.  Add 4 t of sugar and whisk until the mixture is slightly foamy and the sugar is dissolved.  Add the milk and vanilla and whisk to combine.  Pour mixture into the ramekin.  Place the ramekin in a deep baking dish and put into the oven.  Pour boiling water into the baking dish to a depth of 1-2 inches.  Bake for 1 hour or until set.  Cool completely.  May be served at room temperature or cold from the fridge.

This is the first time I’ve ever attempted to make flan.  It was so easy!  I want to smack myself for not trying it earlier.  My flan turned out very light in texture and had tiny holes.  I like my flan on the denser, creamier side.  I used skim milk mixed with some egg nog this go around.  Next time I think I’ll use at least 2% milk.  The egg nog flavor was good, but it ended up being too sweet for me.  If you use egg nog instead of milk, I’d cut the sugar down a little bit.  Unless you like super sweet.  I also read some things after the fact that I’ll try next time to achieve the creaminess I love.  Some suggestions were to strain the custard mixture and to make sure that the custard bakes slowly.  I think my oven runs hot so that might have been one of my issues.  The mixture was a little bubbly to start with also.

I’m very excited about this kitchen experiment.  Hooray for single servings of flan!

Smoky Bacon-Wrapped Pork Chops and Beans

(modified from a recipe in the June 2010 BH&G magazine)

4 boneless loin pork chops about  1 inch thick

4 slices bacon

4 green onions, sliced

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1 16-oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1/3 c ketchup

1 t yellow mustard

1 T brown sugar

1.  Brine the pork chops for 4-6 hours (see brining instructions following recipe).  Remove the pork chops from the brine, rinse and pat dry.  Season with pepper.  Wrap one slice of bacon around each chop and secure with a wooden toothpick.

2.  I have an infrared gas grill so that is what the grilling instruction is based on.  Thirty minutes prior to grilling soak wood chips (I used hickory) in water.  Heat the grill to high.  Add the wood chips directly to the trough in the grill.  Reduce the grill heat to medium and place the pork chops on the grill.  Cover and grill 20-25 mins or until the pork is slightly pink in the center and the juices run clear,  turning once halfway through cooking.

3.  Meanwhile, place a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add 1 teaspoon of oil and the onions.  Cook for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, beans, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and 2 T water to the saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until the pork chops are done.  Serve with pork.

To brine the pork chops, add 1/4 c brown sugar and 1/4 c salt to a large bowl.  Pour 2 c of boiling water and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved.  Add 3 c of ice cubes to the brining solution and stir to dissolve.  You may have pieces of ice floating in the bowl, but the point is to make sure the solution is cold and won’t “cook” your chops.  Add the pork chops, cover and refrigerate until 30 minutes before grilling time.

I need to start posting recipes again though.  I make modifications to recipes and then I forget what I did.  It’s unfortunate.

I bought a couple bags of apples for super cheap a few weeks ago.  I’ve been trying to use them up before they go bad.  These pancakes were a tasty addition to my apple recipe file.  Lovely fall flavors.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

1 c flour (I used 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)

1 T packed brown sugar

1 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 t ground cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

1 c buttermilk

2 T melted butter

1 large apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated

1.  Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and set aside.

2.  Combine the egg, buttermilk and melted butter in a small bowl.  Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture.  Stir just until the flour is moistened.  The batter will be a little lumpy.

3.   Fold in the grated apple.  If the mixture is too thick you can add a couple tablespoons of additional buttermilk or regular milk to thin it out.

4.  Pour a 1/4 cup of batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or frying pan.  Flip when the edges are golden brown.

Sorry there’s no photo.  They were gobbled up before I thought to take a picture.

I haven’t posted a Cookie Carnival goodie in a really long time.  Not to say that I haven’t made any since February.  I loved the Toasted Almond Lemon bars (which I made 3 times actually).  I also enjoyed the Strawberry Shortcake cookies from last month.  Truth be told- I’m just too lazy to post them.

I’m not sure what has motivated me to post these particular cookies.  Maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t posted anything to my blog in over a month.  Perhaps it’s because I actually made them at the beginning of the month rather than the last day of the month.  Whatever the reason, these are yummy!  I love all things lemon.  And these are no exception.  They’re not really what I consider a traditional cookie.  They’re more like a tiny cake in my opinion.  I loved the richness that the ricotta added to the cookie.  I tried the glaze and didn’t really like it.  I preferred them plain or with a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Although I’m not too lazy to post about these cookies, I am too lazy to add the recipe.  Thus, I give you a link to Giada’s recipe on the Food Network website.

I haven’t met very many wheat free baked goods that I’m crazy about. In fact, I don’t think I’ve met any. Until I made these muffins that is. These were so good, you couldn’t tell they were made with rice flour. Or that they didn’t have any milk or eggs in them. Hence, the “Muffins for Everyone!” title. Wheat free, vegan friendly, food lover friendly, allergy friendly muffins. Unless you’re allergic to rice or sweet potatoes. Or if you don’t like sweet potatoes. Maybe I should re-title: Muffins for Almost Everyone!

Anyway, I am very proud of these muffins, even though it’s not an original recipe. If my son didn’t eat them, I would have eaten them. All of them. Every last one.

Sweet Potato Muffins
recipe adapted from Vegan w/ a Vengeance (The Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever)
makes approximately 18 muffins

1 1/4 c GF Flour Mix (see this post for the components)
1 1/4 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
pinch each of nutmeg, ground allspice & ground cloves
1/4 t xanthum gum
1 c pureed sweet potato
1/2 c hemp seed milk or other dairy substitute
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 T molasses

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Line the muffin tins with paper liners or grease the muffin tin.
2. Sift all of the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. After sifting, I like to whisk the dry ingredients together to make sure that everything is evenly distributed, but you can skip that step if you want.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
3. Fill the muffins cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins and place on a rack to finish cooling.

You can use the same amount of regular flour if you don’t have wheat or gluten issues.  If you use regular wheat flour, eliminate the xanthum gum. In addition to making wheat free modifications, I altered the spices a bit.  I didn’t think Makua would be too crazy about the nutmeg, allspice or cloves so I toned those down a bit and added more cinnamon.  It did take him one or two muffins before he ate the whole thing himself, but he LOVES these muffins now.  He asks for them all the time.

I like to freeze these and defrost them in the toaster oven. They taste fresh baked that way. Just place the muffin in the toaster oven and set the toaster on medium. That works well with what we have. To avoid cross contamination with my son’s food, I use the foil liners you can buy at the grocery store. After taking it out of the freezer, I unwrap the muffin (make sure you use both the paper and foil liner- if you just use the foil, it rips easily when you’re unwrapping them) and place it on the foil liner in the toaster oven. Then I don’t have to worry about latent crumbs ending up on his muffin.

When I heard Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious were hosting the Ice Cream Cupcake Round-up again, I was giddy with excitement.  I loved seeing what people came up with last year.  And I discovered that ice cream cupcakes are the best!  Cake, ice cream and frosting in one bite.  Ah yeah!  I even made ice cream cupcakes a few more times after the round-up last summer. 

I was a bit stumped this time around and asked for some flavor inspiration from friends and family.  I got a few good suggestions, but nothing that really jumped out at me.  Finally, thanks to a bowl of Breyers, I decided to try my hand at fried ice cream cupcakes.

There are a few components to these cupcakes, but all of them are simple and easy to make so it didn’t take me long to whip these up.  I made a brown sugar cupcake sprinkled with a sugary cornflake concoction and topped it with caramel swirl ice cream and a dollop of cinnamon whip cream.  Cinnamon tortilla crisps garnished my little creations. 

These turned out better than I thought they would.  I, of course, tried a quickie version where I just plopped a small scoop of ice cream on top of a cupcake before I put them away.  Just to make sure they were edible.  I loved the crunchiness of the cornflake layer and the yummy brown sugar cake.  The flavors all melded together nicely.  One word of caution- I made the cupcakes the day before I served them (to other people) and stored them in a tupperware.  Unfortunately, the moisture from the cupcakes softened the cornflake layer so if you decide you want to make these and you like crunchy, I would suggest baking and assembling the same day.  No one complained about the softer cornflake layer.  It kind of reminded me of the texture of coconut actually.

I’m looking forward to the round-up and seeing everyone’s creations!

Fried Ice Cream Cupcakes
makes approximately 2 dozen ice cream cupcakes

For the cornflake topping:

1/2 c cornflakes, crushed
1 1/2  T sugar
1  t cinnamon
1/2 T butter, melted

For the cupcakes:
recipe courtesy of My Sweet & Saucy (I halved her recipe)

1 1/2 c + 2 T flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 + 1 T sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 t vanilla
3/4 c milk

For the cinnamon whipped cream:

1 c whipping cream
1 – 2 T powdered sugar
1 1/2  t cinnamon

For the cinnamon tortilla crisps:

1 tortilla, cut into 16 triangles
3 T sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 T butter, melted

you will also need softened caramel swirl ice cream…I used this kind

1. To make the cornflake topping, combine the cornflakes, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix really well to evenly distribute the cinnamon and sugar. Drizzle with the melted butter and stir to mix the butter in. Set aside.
2. To make the cupcakes, line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners.  Set aside.  Preheat the oven to 325.  Sift the flour and baking powder together into a medium sized bowl.  Whisk in the salt.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 – 4 minutes.  Add the eggs one a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.  Reduce the speed to low and alternately add the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, starting and ending with the flour.  Beat in each addition until it’s incorporated into the batter.  Fill the cupcake liners about 1/3 full.  Sprinkle the tops generously with the cornflake mixture.  Bake for 15 – 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pans for 5 minutes.  Then remove the cupcakes to a  rack to finish cooling completely.  Once they’re completely cool, put them back into the muffin tins.
3. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the whipped cream and cinnamon crisps. For the whipped cream, pour the whipping cream into a chilled bowl. Sprinkle the powdered sugar and cinnamon over the whipping cream. Whip on high speed with an electric mixer until peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
4. To make the cinnamon crisps, preheat the oven to 375. Lay the tortilla triangles on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Brush the tortilla triangles with the melted butter and lightly sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 6 – 8 minutes or until lightly browned.
5. To assemble the cupcakes, scoop ice cream onto the cupcakes until the liner is full (the cupcakes should be back in the tins at this step). If you’re weird like me, you can dip a butter knife into hot water, wipe it dry and then run the knife over the ice cream to smooth it out. Or if you don’t care, just leave it as is. Put the cupcakes in the freezer for at least 2 hours to harden the ice cream. Pipe the cinnamon whipped cream onto the ice cream cupcakes and stick a cinnamon crisp into the cupcake before serving.

Topping the cupcakes with the ice cream. The one on the left is what the cornflake topping looks like. Yummy, crunchy goodness.

Assembled with the whipped cream and cinnamon crisps.

The guts

I also served these the quick way which some might say is technically not an ice cream cupcake. Just a cupcake with ice cream on top. For those, you just place a small scoop of ice cream on top of the cupcake, spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top of the ice cream and then stick a cinnamon crisp into the ice cream. Either way, they’re just as tasty.

I intended on making a chocolate sauce to drizzle over the cupcake, but this week was so crazy that I was lucky I got the cupcakes done in time. I was also hoping to have a second version of the fried ice cream cupcake where I place a cupcake in the middle of an ice cream ball, roll it in the above cornflake mixture and then actually deep fry it like real fried ice cream, but I’ve run out of time. I am still hoping to try it and get it posted up in the next few days. So if you’re curious to see how that turns out, check back sometime soon.

The restaurant is tucked in the back of a condo/shopping development (the name escapes me) off of State Street.  The dining area is very small so if you’re taking a large party, I would suggest calling and making reservations (you can find their reservation policy here).

From their website and what I gathered from Lindsey’s post, I was concerned they wouldn’t be too kid friendly and I was taking my son along with me.  My concerns were immediately put to rest.  We were offered a high chair and no one threw looks of disgust our way when they saw we had a toddler in tow (that has happened to me a few times).  Their menu changes seasonly and they use local, sustainable ingredients whenever possible.  I’m not sure if their menu has changed since we’ve been there, but what they have listed on their website is what we had to choose from.  I have to say I was pretty impressed with the prices.  I expected the food to be more expensive considering local and sustainable foods aren’t always cheap.

We were given pita and hummus to munch on while we looked over the menu.  The hummus was different than what I’ve had at other restaurants, but equally good.  After much debate and inquiring “what are you going to have?”, I decided on the housemade pastrami panini with sauerkraut, fontina and russian dressing.  Oh so good.  The panini come with the salad of the day which was an apricot almond cous cous.  I was in taste bud heaven.

My sister decided on the tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza which was ginormous! It could easily feed 2 or 3 people or 1 person with a huge appetite. She let me try a bite and it was pretty good. The crust was a bit thinner than I like, but it wasn’t cooked to cracker crisp like some thin crust pizzas are.

I wanted to get dessert, but I was stuffed and we were going to get cupcakes after lunch anyway. I’ll have to save dessert for another time.

I am obsessed with finding good cupcakes and I had looked at a few of the choices we had in the area. My son was having an allergic reaction and was tired by the time we were done with lunch so I didn’t want to drive all the way down to The Sweet Tooth Fairy.  The only other choice we really had was to head to one of the coffee shops that sells Cupcake Chic’s cupcakes.  Off to the Coffee Pod we went.  I called to make sure they had cupcakes left.   They did indeed have cupcakes and the girl on the phone proclaimed them to be “absolutely delicious!”  When we got to the display case, I was a bit disappointed.  There wasn’t a huge assortment, but what should I have expected?  It was a coffee shop, not a cupcake shop.  My sister chose the lemon cupcake and I got the red velvet.  I’m not sure if it was because the cupcakes were sitting in a refrigerated case, but they seemed a little on the dense side.  They tasted good, but I wasn’t too crazy about the lack of fluffiness.  There was also too much frosting for me.  I scraped about half of mine off.  My sister on the other hand ate every bit of hers.

Despite my bit of disappointment in the cupcakes, I’d say lunch was a success.  I highly recommend giving P712 a try. The food is delicious and the philosophy behind their food and business is great (they even packaged our leftovers in containers that looked like they’d been made from recycled materials).

Pizzeria 712
320 S State St, Suite 147
Orem, UT
(801)623-6712

Cupcake Chic
no store front
(801)368-9469

I cut this recipe out of the monthly magazine/advertisement flyer that one of our local grocery stores produces.  I love burgers and these sounded like an interesting variation.  The only thing I didn’t really like was the ranch sauce.  It just tasted like regular ranch to me.  I guess I was expecting something a little more spectacular.  Maybe the celery salt would have made it better, but I didn’t have any and didn’t feel like making a trip to the store just for that one ingredient.  I’ll have to play around with the sauce next time to see if I can make up something better.

Because my husband strongly dislikes spicy food, I don’t know that the burgers I made could be described as “fiery.”  More like smoldering.   Despite my efforts to tone down the spice in the burger, he still said it was too spicy and that it was burning his lips.  I, on the other hand, could barely detect any heat.  Next time, I’ll just make his burgers plain and make mine as spicy as I like.

Fiery Chicken Cheeseburgers with Soothing Ranch Sauce
recipe courtesy of Harmons
serves 4

For the ranch sauce:

1/4 c sour cream
2 T mayonnaise
1/8 t celery salt
1/4 c ranch
1/2 t dried parsley

For the burgers:

1 lb ground chicken
1 T jalapeno, minced
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T hot sauce- I used 1/2 T sriracha
1/4 c minced onion- I used 2 green onions
1/4 c dried bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper

For serving:

hamburger buns
lettuce
tomatoes
Monterey Jack cheese

1. Stir the sauce ingredients together and chill until ready to serve.
2. Combine the all of the burger ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and mix well. Shape into 4 patties.
3. Cook the patties over a hot grill for 8 – 10 minutes, turning once. Top the burgers with the cheese the last minute of cooking.
4. Serve the burgers on buns with lettuce, tomatoes and the ranch sauce.

I saw this recipe in a magazine and it was meant for the crock pot, but I thought you could make it just as well on the stove.  My hubby’s not fond of chili, but I thought the sweetness of the barbeque sauce might convince him to like this version.  It didn’t. I liked it though.  It was a nice change from regular ol’ chili.

BBQ Chili
recipe adapted from Family Circle
makes 4 – 6 servings

1/2 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 T chili powder
1 T ground cumin
2 15 oz cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 15 oz cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 c chicken broth
1 c frozen corn, thawed
3/4 – 1 c barbeque sauce– I used honey BBQ sauce
cilantro, shredded cheddar & sour cream for serving (optional)

1. Brown the ground beef in a large pot set over medium high heat. Lower the heat to medium once the meat is browned. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until veggies have softened. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook, stirring frequently, for another minute or two.
2. Add the rest of the beans, tomatoes, chicken broth and corn. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Stir in the barbeque sauce. Lower the heat to medium low, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Top with cilantro, cheese and sour cream if desired.

These pancakes actually aren’t bad considering they’re wheat free and don’t have eggs or dairy in them.  I make up a batch and freeze the leftovers which heat up great in the toaster oven.

FAF Buttermilk Pancakes
adapted from Bette Hagman’s recipe in the Gluten Free Gourmet

1 c soy milk
1 t apple cider vinegar
1 c GF Mix*
1 T sugar
1 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 T Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/4 c warm water
2 T vegetable oil

1. Stir the apple cider vinegar into the soy milk and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. Beat the egg replacer with the water. Add the oil and soy mixture to the “eggs” and stir until combined.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Beat until the batter is smooth, but don’t overbeat.
4. Heat a nonstick griddle over medium heat. Pour the batter onto the hot griddle (I usually use 1/4 c of batter per pancake). Cook both sides until golden brown.
5. To freeze & re-heat: Place the pancakes in a ziploc freezer bag with a piece of parchment paper in between each pancake. The parchment paper makes them easier to take out one at a time once they’re frozen. To re-heat, I place a frozen pancake in the toaster oven and set the toaster to medium. When the toaster dings, the pancake is nice and hot.

Like I said, these don’t taste too bad. If you want to use eggs instead of the egg replacer, the original recipe calls for 2 large eggs. Next time, I want to try them with less egg replacer and see if that will make them fluffier.

* Gluten Free Flour Mix: 2 parts rice flour, 2/3 parts potato starch flour, 1/3 parts tapioca flour. For 9 cups- 6 c rice flour, 2 c potato starch flour, 1 c tapioca flour