Blog — "recipe"

If there is one thing I am most certain about myself, it is that I am not a runner. I've always excelled in exercise that was focused around a sport. To me, running is torturous and boring. Competitive sports though are fun. And fun = not boring.

About three years ago I attempted to go running with Andrew. We took a nice little loop the whole way around Patterson Park. By the time we had made our way back to our street, I thought I was going to die, and I proclaimed, "That's it! I'm done! I'm walking the rest of the way!" The rest of the way, mind you, was only a block and a half.

Andrew began to laugh. He then said that it was funny that I couldn't at least jog the rest of the way to our house and that I had only run a quarter of a mile. I disagreed. I had definitely just ran more than a quarter of a mile! I was sure that I had run about a mile. Ok, not a lot, but a good starting place for someone that is pretty out of shape.

For the next week, Andrew continued to give me a hard time about my inability to jog more than a quarter of a mile. Finally, in an attempt to prove him wrong, I went to the computer, pulled up mapmyrun.com and plotted out our path from a week before. Sure enough, I was right. I had jogged more than a mile! I had jogged a mile and a quarter!

Long story short, I never went running again after this particular event. I told Andrew I had been traumatized. Give me a hard time about trying to get in shape when I've never been a runner to begin with? Yup, traumatic.

Until Monday.

On Monday morning, I woke up, put on my running shoes, and took a 10 minute jog. I know it wasn't a lot-- about half a mile. For whatever reason, I seemed to have thought this was going to be a good idea. It was a pretty crappy experience, but at least I didn't have anyone to make fun of me or tell me I had to run more. And maybe the next time, I'll go a little further.

You may find yourself wondering what this has to do with anything. I know I find myself wondering that a lot when it comes to some of my blog posts, so I'll try to get to the point of this post. After I went on my horrific and grueling half a mile jog, I was hungry. And hot. It was 9:13 in the morning and I wasn't even quite sure what I was doing up at this ungodly hour during my summer break anyway-- let alone going running! I needed a super awesome breakfast and something to cool me down, but I'm not much of a breakfast person. So I tossed together a few ingredients and made a delicious smoothie. I used to buy or make smoothies all the time when I lived in Australia and it had been much too long.


Monday's go to flavor was Strawberry Banana, but you could definitely use all sorts of fruit for this simple recipe. Sometimes I use mango, peach, or pineapple as well. The key though, I believe, is to use fresh fruit!

Toss these ingredients into a blender--

• 1 1/2 cups of cut up strawberries
• one banana
• 1 cup of low fat vanilla yogurt
• 1/4 cup apple juice

Blend everything until it is nice and smooth. I prefer to use low fat instead of nonfat yogurt. The nonfat yogurt tends to have weird additives in it that makes it nonfat. And I also use unsweetened 100% apple juice not from concentrate again for the same reasons.

Yuuuuummmy. It was just what I needed after my endless morning workout. And by endless, I mean ten minutes.

Anyone is the same boat as me when it comes to running? What tactics do you use to get yourself motivated to run?

It has been hot. And when I say hot, I mean the Baltimore kind of hot where there is so much humidity in the air that your skin pores can breath the instant you step out of the air-conditioned house. Combine the humidity with 95 degree, 99 degree heat index temps at 11:01am (yup, I'm writing this as we speak and have pulled up weather.com because I'm a weather nerd like that) and you are going to die when you walk out of that house. Well, you probably won't die, but it will at least feel like death until you are back in the A/C with an ice cold glass of water.

Yesterday, I did what any normal and sane person would do-- I played softball in this kind of weather. I was standing in the dugout, yes, just standing, and I felt the sweat drip from my forehead three minutes into the game. I did not die, thanks to chugging three bottles of water that were readily available, but once I got home and needed to make dinner, I didn't want to move a muscle.

These kinds of days happen more often than not in Baltimore. It is a shame because you know how much I love spending time outside. Luckily, believe it or not, our roof deck is the coolest place you could possibly find outdoors in this kind of weather. It has a nice breeze and the humidity is not nearly as bad. Plus there are usually no bugs. None of those awful mosquito bites!

So what to do for dinner on a night like this? Crock pot it up early on in the day, cook some corn really quickly, throw some greens on a plate, grab a good ol' IPA and you have a delicious dinner on a breezy roof deck.


This was the perfect summertime roof deck dinner. The baked bean casserole is a super easy recipe that my mom used to always make. It's a recipe that you usually bake, but in an attempt to avoid the heat of the oven I decided to try making it in the crock pot earlier in the day. Best idea ever. It turned out just as perfectly and left me with the chance to be lazy and enjoy summer break while it simmered in the crock pot.

Round-Up Bean Casserole

Fry together:

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 onion, diced

In your crock pot, mix a can of kidney beans, butter beans, and pinto beans. Mix together with meat and onion and the following mixture:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• salt to taste

Set your crock pot to high and cook for 2 hours. Stir the casserole and cook at low or warm until ready to serve. If you choose to go the baked route instead, mix everything in a casserole dish and bake at 350 for an hour.

This casserole can serve as the perfect main course along with some other veggies, or as a baked bean side at a barbeque.

And as with any roof deck dinner, you can't forget to enjoy the sunset as an after dinner treat.


What summer foods have you been cooking up lately?

For those of you that missed me the last few days, I am officially back! I took a quick trip up to New Jersey and New York City to visit a friend and attend a bridal shower of another friend. I had promised that later last week I would share the recipe to my black bean salad that so many of you requested. Obviously, I failed tremendously at getting it posted later that week. A busy week leading up to Spring Break plus our quick trip all led to me having no time. So what better way to get back to my blog than to finally share this recipe you've all been waiting for. And I can also now officially say that I'm on Spring Break for the entire week! Woohoo!



Santa Fe Black Bean Salad

2 15 ounce cans of back beans, drained
2 cups whole kernel corn
1 small onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp salt
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced

Combine and toss ingredients, adding avocado and tomato right before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

This is one of the most simple, yet flavorful recipes that I've made. I absolutely love making this when we have barbeques or backyard parties in the summer. It is perfect for a quick snack as well. The flavors really set in even more so by the second day, so I often quickly make it the night before I plan on eating it.

I'm not one that usually needs meat in my life, but Andrew is part Irish, part English, and grew up with meat and potatoes on a regular basis. Aiming to please once in a while, and wanting to try something new, I decided to go the meat and potatoes route the other night. This beef tenderloin, accompanied by potato risotto, is a recipe that worked perfectly for a Friday date night at home. The tenderloin was seasoned just perfectly, and the potato risotto was rich and creamy-- a perfect side that I'll be sure to use with other meals.


Want to have a go at this delicious (and fairly simple) gourmet dinner? I'm happily passing on the recipe below.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices, then 1/8-inch cubes
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Coarse kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 2 6-ounce beef tenderloin steaks
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions for the Potato Risotto

Melt butter with the onion in a large deep sauce pan. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until the onions are clear. Add the cubed potatoes and cayenne pepper, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the burner to medium heat and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender (about 8 minutes). Add cream and continue to simmer for about another 10 minutes. At this point, the potatoes will begin to hold their shape. You'll want to continue stirring the potatoes so they do not stick to the pan. Finally, stir in chives and the Parmesan cheese.

Directions for the Tenderloin

Sprinkle coarse salt, pepper, and thyme on both sides of the steak. Rub the spices into each side of the steak. Heat the olive oil in a skillet on a medium-high burner. When the oil is heated, add the steaks and cook until they are done as desired. I found that for a medium steak, each side needed 4-5 minutes.


This meal went fabulously with a red glass of wine and the best chocolate cake ever. We enjoyed a bottle of La Posta Cocina Malbec with the meal which ended up being the perfect pairing! What have you been cooking up in the kitchen lately?

P.S. I know a lot of you have been requesting my black bean salad recipe, so stay tuned for that recipe in the next few days! :)

When I was in high school, I used to bake desserts for the coffee shop in my hometown called The Electric Brew. I would spend the day at school and the afternoons and early evenings baking. In that time, I baked hundreds of cookies, muffins, cakes, quick breads, brownies, and other assorted things. And I got pretty good at it. I had a lot of experience going into it all considering that my mom is a baker and owns the best European-style break bakery in the area (I'm not being biased!) called Rachel's Bread.

I asked Andrew last week if there was anything in particular that he wanted to eat for dinner this week, and his response was just, "Desserts. You make the best desserts." So on a quest to come through for him, and with the excitement of getting back to what I'm truly the best at in the kitchen, I scoured the web for a new recipe to try. And what I found was the most delectable chocolate cake I think I've ever had. Mind you, it may be incredibly rich and take a bit of time to make, but in the end, I guarantee it is all worth it!



Ingredients for the Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

Ingredients for the Frosting

• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
• 8 oz milk chocolate, melted and cooled (I used a little under 2 Lindt milk chocolate bars)
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions for the Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 350. In a stand-up mixer, cream sugars and butter until nice and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Incorporate chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk alternately. Pour the batter into 2 greased, round cake pans and bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool in the cake pans for about 10 minutes and finally invert the cakes onto a wire rack.

Directions for the Frosting

Begin heating the milk until hot, but not boiling in a small quart-sized saucepan. In a bowl, combine egg yolks, flour, and 1/3 cup confectioners sugar along with a pinch of salt. Pour milk into egg mixture and whisk continually.  Put mixture back into the sauce pan and bring it to a low boil while continually whisking. Reduce the heat and continue whisking until the mixture becomes a thick custard. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and let cool for 45 minutes to an hour.

Once cooled, add vanilla and remaining amount of confectioners sugar and mix well. Beat in softened butter until smooth and creamy. Finally, pour in melted chocolate and beat the frosting until nice and airy.

Directions for Assembling the Cake

Using a serrated knife, cut each cake into two horizontal layers. Use about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of frosting between each layer and then use the remaining frosting for the top and sides of the cake.


The cake turned out very light, moist, and fluffy, yet extremely rich. We enjoyed a piece of cake along with some of our homemade mint liqueur. This is most definitely not your every day cake and would be perfect for a special occasion or surprise.


Needless to say, this must be the best chocolate cake that I've made to date, and would highly recommend trying it! Do you have any special dessert recipes that you'd like to share? I would love to try them!