Birthday Blondies

One of my best friends' birthday was last week, followed by her return to UNC for the fall semester. To celebrate and say goodbye, I made a special requested baked good: blondies. I have never made blondies before, but have decided that are really delicious and quite easy.

The recipe was really simple, though it took me a long time to decide which recipe to use. There were two varieties, one that combined most ingredients into the mix without any elaboration or extra steps. The other type combined the butter and sugar over heat before combining other ingredients. I have no idea what difference this step makes, so if anybody does, please enlighten me!

Anyways, I chose a recipe that was very simple, no extra or elaborate steps. I would have liked to add more to the recipe to spice it up, but alas, our pantry was out of baking goods. So the blondies were filled only with chocolate chips and pecans. Because of that, I think they were a little too like chocolate chip cookies baked into a bar. So, last time I was at the grocery store I picked up some dried cranberries, white chocolate and butterscotch chips, as well as more pecans and walnuts, almost all of which will be added to my next blondies batch, in addition to some oatmeal. I think I'll try my own test kitchen to see how that other type of recipe turns out.

Side note, my friend unfortunately left the box of blondies I gave her on her kitchen counter at home when she left for school. Oops.

I found this recipe on Baking Bites. Check it out.

Chewy, Chunky Blondies
(from Baking: From My Home to Yours)
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (light) brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet/semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or cover pan with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated to add the next, then beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, gradually add in the flour mixture, stirring only until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chips, nuts and coconut by hand.
Spread batter into prepared pan, using a lightly greased spatula to even it out.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a tester comes out with only a few crumbs.
Cool blondies in the pan, but turn them out (and then reinvert them so the top is facing up) before slicing. If pan was covered with parchment paper, lift out blondies together using paper as handles.

Greatest and Easiest Meat Ever!

I have found my new favorite dish to cook. It is simply the best. And I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything. But this is good.

Carnitas is simply one of the greatest meats out there. "Little meats", carnitas is simply slow cooked, shredded pork, though you could really do it with any kind of meat. It makes superb tacos, even better with an entirely themed Mexican night.
I made this for the first time on our third night at the beach. Because the meat cooks slowly, I was able to go up to the house to start the meat, head back down to the beach for happy hour, return to the house, shower, and make side dishes before the meat was completely done. In that same time, my sister's boyfriend caught a bluefish down at the beach. They brought it back to the house, where he, my sister and my dad cleaned, scaled, and hacked it apart so that we could bake it.
I had been wanting to make Carnitas for a very long time, and had looked for a recipe from a reliable source, and our plethora of cookbooks at home. Finally I found a recipe from another blogger, taken from Diana Kennedy. The recipe follows, but please check out the blog to get a history and back story on Carnitas.

Ingredients
3 lb. pork butt/ shoulder
3 cups water
1 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons salt

1. Cut pork into cubes, about 2 or 3 inches. Pour liquids and salt into pot, or dutch oven, placing meat on top. Bring liquids to a boil before turning heat to low. Let meat simmer for 2 hours. (Original recipe says uncovered, but I accidentally covered the pot, and it turned out fine, while also preventing too much of the liquid from steaming off).
2. If you covered the pot, uncover near the end of 2 hours.
3. After 2 hours, turn heat up to medium high, letting liquid boil off, uncovered. Stir occasionally to keep meat from sticking to the bottom. (Some meat will stick no matter what).
4. Once liquid is gone or almost gone, you can shred the pork with a fork if you so desire ( and I much desire).

Homesick Texan's Carnitas

The key to this recipe is not to freak out if you make a mistake, such as when I covered the simmering pot; do not worry if the meat looks kind of funky after the two hours of boiling (the meat will be plump, and pale); and most of all, you cannot be afraid of fat. True carnitas from Mexico are often cooked in lard. This recipe renders the pork's own fat, rather than adding extra fat to it. And most of all, do not freak out if the meat sticks to the bottom of the pan. Scrape it off with a spatula, and you'll be pleased with a little crispness in the largely soft and juicy meat.
With the meat, we served warm tortillas, beans and onions, fresh salsa, avocado, fresh cole slaw (without mayonnaise), and roasted corn with cilantro butter. And, who could forget, the fresh fish, drenched in butter, lemon juice, garlic, and old bay, wrapped in foil, and baked. It basically tasted like crabs, with all the old bay. But it was still delicious, tasty, and most importantly, really really fresh! It also made good tacos with the cole slaw.
It was a full kitchen, once again.

So That's Why They Use Fondant!

I ruled out another career option last night: Cake Maker. I am so NOT the Ace of Cakes!

I decided I wanted to make a cake from scratch, as I had not yet crossed that off my culinary to-do list. I began the ill-fated escapade yesterday afternoon, choosing a "perfect" chocolate cake, according to the recipe. The actual making, mixing, and baking was not so difficult. And the house smelled really good, chocolate-y and fresh. The cream filling and the frosting was good.
However, I did not anticipate the amount of time the whole ordeal would take, nor did I have any idea that piecing the cake together would be so difficult. Did I mention that this was to be a three level cake? And that the tiers were not all the same size, because our cake pans are not all the same? And that one of the cakes broke in half when I took it out of the pan? Oops...
Piling the cakes on top of each other was also tricky, as was guessing the right amount of cream filling and frosting.
But once it was all assembled and frosted, though it looked a bit of a mess and towered over the counter, it was still pretty tasty. Just to give you an idea of what it looked like: If you've ever seen the seen the scene in Matilda where the chubby little boy has to eat Trunchbull's cake, yeah- it looks like that! That's all you get. I am too embarrassed to put a picture up.
At least I can truly say that it was a learning experience.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Such is the scene when everyone in my family participates in making dinner at once.

On our second night at the beach, my family wound up cooking for over 20 people. 20 people crammed into our small beach house dining/living room. What do you cook quickly for that amount of people? Spaghetti, of course. But good spaghetti. With a semi-homemade pasta sauce. Canned sauce, with a few additions: fresh veggies, Italian sausage, spices, and fresh herbs brought from the garden at home. Sandra Lee would be proud.

But the real feat of the night was dessert. Two desserts, made by my sister Jennifer and me. To begin, an ice cream sandwich cake. My sister made this one: a layer of ice cream sandwiches across the bottom of a 9X13 pan, topped with a layer of whipped cream, another layer of sandwiches and cream each. My only contribution to this was smashed and crumbled Heath bars on top, smashed by hand with the handle of a whisk. That's hard work.

Our second dessert was a peach and blueberry cobbler, one that we have made in variations before. Double the fruit, double the yum! Production was more of a group effort, due to my snacking while peeling the peaches. Oops. It turned out very very well, and was promptly devoured after its removal from the oven. Boy, did our house smell good that night!

Life's a Beach

First week in August means just one thing to me: VACATION. And more specifically, the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We always stay in Corolla, which is at the northernmost part of the islands, less touristy, more relaxed, and pretty much heaven.

We arrived yesterday afternoon after a longer than normal drive, due to inclement weather and a huge amount of traffic. The best part of the drive is the stop at Sonic. Sonic, one of the greatest fast-food chains in America, and one of the very few that I trust. The only problem is there is not one single Sonic within an hour or two of my home in Maryland. I guess this might be one of the reasons it is so special, because I can only have it once a year when at the beach. The burgers and shakes brought straight out to the parked car, like an old drive in diner (I'm assuming, since I don't go back that far). And the shakes... amazing!

Anyways, we arrived at the beach in the afternoon. Yay!!! Unpacking followed, as well the first trip to the beach. The water was calm and perfect, the heat was pretty bad, the sun unbearable and the flies biting hard. Perfect! Sort of.

And for dinner we had Carolina BBQ from this cute little bbq shack and this cute little beach village. Its a yearly tradition to start the week with this yummy food, followed by continued stops throughout the week. Pulled pork, whole barbecued chicken, sauces, slaw and potato salad. Delicious. Nothing like it!