Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

I made this for Tim's birthday and the leftovers didn't last long!  It was very moist and quite rich, but the peanut butter glaze was a more balanced addition than super sugary frosting.

(from Whipped)
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
16 oz. sour cream
3 large eggs
20 mini Reese's peanut butter cups, cut into quarters

Glaze:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. 
Mix cake mix, sour cream and eggs in a bowl until fully combined. 
Grease and flour a bundt pan. 
Pour half batter in pan, top with cut up Reese's cups, then add the remaining batter.
Cook at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  (This was sort of hard to gauge as the peanut butter cups melted, so you just have to gauge whether it's uncooked batter or melted peanut butter and chocolate!)
Let stand in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool.
For the glaze:
Heat milk in a sauce pan. 
Whisk in peanut butter and powdered sugar. 
Drizzle over cake (put rack on a pan or plate to catch the excess.)

Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce

This one was a hit with the wee one!  With only 5 ingredients, I think it's going to become a staple for us.  I think it would be good with a chopped up clove of garlic, too!

(from Vegetarian Times)
Ingredients:

• 8 oz. dry linguine
• 1/2 cup light cream cheese
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced and 1 Tbs. zest grated
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

 1. Cook linguine according to package directions in pot of boiling salted water.

2. Warm cream cheese, oil, and 2 Tbs. lemon juice in saucepan over low heat.

3. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Stir reserved cooking water into cream cheese mixture.  (Don't skimp on this part - I cut back the water by half because it seemed like too much and the pasta was a little to thick/dry.)  Add pasta, lemon zest, and parsley; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Blondies

I tried making Smitten Kitchen's blondies for Conor's playdate Saturday. They turned out disappointingly thin, not the thick little squares pictured on SK's blog. It was basically a big chocolate chip cookie - tasty, but not a blondie. It wasn't until AFTER I made them that I actually read the blog post and realized that she doubles the recipe and cooks them in a 9x13 pan (not 8x8 as the recipes states.)

I made them again last night, keeping the recipes proportions the same (not doubling.) I cooked them in a loaf pan thinking it would make them nice and thick, and they should cook evenly. Well they turned out badly again - the top was almost overdone but the middle was goopy. Not good.

Until today! They looked better so I tried one - AWESOME! Apparently they need to cool completely, if not overnight, to reach their full potential. The first batch was better the next day, too.

Here's the recipe: (italics mine)

Blondies
Adapted from How to Cook Everything

8 tablespoons butter, melted (I used Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (I used the vanilla)
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

1. Butter an 8×8 pan (or a 9x5 loaf pan if you want them thicker)
   
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar – beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below).
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. I always err on the side of caution with baking times — nobody ever complained about a gooey-middled cookie. Cool on rack before cutting them.

Further additions, use one or a combination of:

• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts, toasting them first for even better flavor
• 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon mint extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla
• 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
• 2 tablespoons of espresso powder with the vanilla
• Stir 1/2 cup dried fruit, especially dried cherries, into the prepared batter
• Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting

I made mine with 1/2 cup Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, which are dairy free.

Crash Hot Potatoes

Tried these last night and they are yummy! A little time consuming to boil them and then roast them, but they come out very crispy and tasty.

Crash Hot Potatoes
from The Pioneer Woman

Seared Tofu with Gingered Vegetables

This recipe is from Cooking Light (thanks for the link Kelly!) It was very easy and unlike past attempts with tofu, this one turned out well. I used cubed extra firm because that's all I could find at the grocery store. You could easliy substitute chicken.

I wish the ginger flavor had been a little stronger - I might double it next time or maybe marinate the tofu in a ginger sauce. I also used chili sesame oil, which was HOT. Next time I'll use regular sesame oil and it might not mask the other flavors. There also wasn't a lot of sauce to it, which left the the rice a little dry, so I added extra sesame oil and soy sauce to the finished dish.

Here's the recipe with a few minor modifications:

Ingredients
1 pound extrafirm tofu, cubed
1 cup brown rice (uncooked)

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil, divided
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 tablespoon bottled ground fresh ginger
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced green onions, divided
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Place tofu on several layers of paper towels; let stand 15 minutes.

Prepare rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to rice; fluff with a fork.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, and bell pepper to pan; sauté for 5-8 minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup onions, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons soy sauce; cook for 3 minutes. Remove from pan.

Wipe skillet with paper towels; recoat pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Place pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle tofu with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Add tofu to pan; cook 10-15 minutes or until golden, turning to brown on all sides.

Return bell pepper mixture to pan, and cook 3-5 minute or until thoroughly heated. Drizzle tofu mixture with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce; top with sesame seeds. Serve tofu mixture with rice; top with remaining 1/4 cup onions.

Macadamia Butter Cookies with Cranberries

I made these today and they turned out really good! Lisa, I think you could have these because they don't use butter, but instead you grind up the macadamia nuts into a butter.

Macadamia Butter Cookies with Cranberries

Vegan Best Banana Bread

This is really good, Very Moist, and SO EASY!! Great too for those days you want to bake but find that you are out of eggs :o)

1 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/3 c oil (I used Canola)
1/2 c brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 c mashed banana (I used 3 med bananas, very ripe)
1/3 c milk (I used rice milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl combine oil and brown sugar. Add bananas and milk and stir to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spread batter in the loaf pan and bake for 43 to 48 minutes, until bread is golden and a toothpick comes out clean (I did find that it needed to bake a bit longer than the 48 minutes to be done all the way through).