A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

cooking

Quick to make peanut butter bars are an incredible snack

People who know me know I’ve been losing some weight recently.

And that’s a good thing.

I’ve lost a bunch, too. So much that my pants don’t fit me anymore. I can even see it myself, which I usually don’t. But that’s also a good thing. I still have a long way to go, but this is a good start.

Part of this is trying to eat a bit healthier.

Yum!

I don’t snack as much as I used to and I try and limit certain things. Though, I’ll admit, sometimes it’s hard. I also have to watch my sugar for health reasons, so I’m always trying to find something I can snack on that won’t send my blood sugars into the stratosphere.

A few days ago, I saw a post on my friend Chuck’s Facebook page. It was for no-bake peanut butter bars. Again, if you know me, you know what I think about peanut butter. It’s right up there with bacon. And cheese.

Anyway, I got peeking at this recipe and knew I needed to try it. Not that I’ve become Chef Ramsay or anything lately, but I’ve been pretty successful with trying new things in the kitchen. This seemed like something perfect to try.

But as I read the post at this blog about them, I discovered something else — no-bake peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip granola bars.

Yes, please.

When I go out to play disc golf or geocache, having snacks is a must. And this was something I needed to see how good they were and if it’s something I should have on hand more often.

But I’m only going to cover one of these in this post and the other will come sometime next week. First up are the peanut butter bars, which are amazingly good.

The blog which had the peanut butter bars was Six Sisters’ Stuff. There, they acknowledge they adapted the recipe from another blog. I look at both recipes and I like the adapted one a bit more, so I went with it.

However, I needed to give it a spin of my own — as in trying to make it a little less heavy on the sugar. (Too much sugar, after all, makes my levels go nuts… so what can we do… fix it!)

The recipe, from the Six Sisters’ site, is as follows (my changes are in italics):

Ingredients

  • 1 cup margarine melted
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (I made a sugar free version of this, using Equal. It wasn’t too bad, though the measurements I found were off and I needed to use much more Equal than originally called for)
  • 1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan (I don’t think I used a 9X13, but it was close enough). Then, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer and refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting and eating.

This was quite easy to do and it didn’t take too long. I wanted to use sugar free chocolate chips, but the local grocery store didn’t have them. I will make these again and I think I’d look around to try and find those to use.

End result?

Oh. My. God.

Before the chocolate topping is spread all over.

These are fantastic. Quite rich, but if you are a peanut butter fan, well worth it. Keep ’em in the fridge as they taste way better that way. I really like how they came out. And it seems like it’s a bit healthier than some of the other things I like to snack on, so bonus there. I’m really glad Chuck posted this to his Facebook and it’s a recipe that will stay with me, that’s for sure.

I think it might be fun, too, to play with this recipe. Maybe try a different peanut butter. One of the flavored ones, maybe? Or, try something different on the topping with a different type of chips? White chocolate, perhaps? Now that sounds divine.

The best part of this recipe is how easy it is. You don’t have to be some five-star chef to pull it off. Just go at it and have some incredible peanut butter bars as a snack. If you are a peanut butter nut, it’s well worth it.

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — a minimum of $5– you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted lap quilt or pillow. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Guinness cupcakes — well worth learning to bake

I have never baked.

Not cookies. Not cakes. Nothing. Not even from a box. Not even with a fox.

I’ve come close to making green eggs and ham.

But I’ve never baked. Not with a mouse. Not in a house. Not even Toll House cookies. And definitely not with Snookie.

See, when I was in college and such, I learned to cook. With some people on speed dial to help me if needed, I played around with things. I learned how to cook protein. I even figured veggies and other sides. Pasta wasn’t my thing, but I could do it if I needed to.

Not dessert. No way, no how.

See, if I wanted dessert I’d go get it elsewhere. I realize making a cake from a box isn’t too hard. Get a thing of icing and, voila, it’s done. Instant dessert. I don’t know why, but I just never have done it.

I might not be able to pipe too well, but these things still tasted pretty awesome!

Until last week.

I was minding my own business and had the Food Network on. During some commercials, Sandra Lee popped on talking about Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day (shocker, I know, that she was talking about a cocktail, right?) She noted some Guinness stew and mentioned going to the Food Network’s website to see what other types of things one could cook with Guinness.

Then I saw this — Guinness cupcakes!

Holy. Crap.

See, now the February blog challenge run by Nicky and Mike over at We Work For Cheese got me into trying crazy things. Remember when I blogged about making blintzes? Exactly. I always look for interesting things to do for a blog post, but trying different cooking things never came to me until that “where can I get a good blintz?” blog prompt.

So here we are, staring at this recipe.

And what does it tell me? It should take about 40 minutes (I want to say it was about an hour and change) and I’d get 24 cupcakes (nope, got 28) out of it. The key part? Easy.

Score!

Anyway, for the most part, this wasn’t too hard to pull off.

Things learned, though, include the idea of letting the Guinness warm up and the melted butter to cool a little. See, I had extreme heat and extreme cold and, well, the butter seemed to turn into curds. It took a little work to get it right, but it worked out in the end.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Pinch fine salt
  • 1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
  • 1 stick butter, melted (I used margarine) 
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
  • In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
  • Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.

Note that I didn’t use the icing that this recipe calls for. Instead, a sugar-free one was used, a little green food coloring made it festive for St. Patrick’s Day and, in the end, it tasted just as good.

Mmmm… fresh out of the oven.

This recipe got me 28 cupcakes, which was nice as I gave them out to people. I’ve heard good things, so I’m happy about that. I’m no Cake Boss or Sweet Genius, but it’s nice to know my first trip into baking was not from a box.

My review of these cupcakes is pretty simple — if you like chocolate, you’ll like these. It’s a strong chocolate taste. I think part of the Guinness is there, but it’s very, very subtle. (And, obviously, no alcohol as it’s gone in the cooking process!) So if you do this up, I highly recommend a nice, cold glass of milk while eating these.

I will definitely do it again. I’m considering making them at some point and using a bottle of my homebrewed Irish Stout instead of the Guinness. I’ll probably stick to the Guinness, but you never know.

As for doing more with Guinness and cooking — these recipes might be on tap (ha!) for me:

This was definitely a fun process and the cupcakes came out well. I’m glad I took the chance and look forward to playing around to see what else I can come up with.

Even if it doesn’t include Guinness.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30-2 Days of Writing: Where can I get a good blintz? (14/28)

It may not look the greatest, but it was worth making. And don’t lie — you want one.

I have to be honest — when this theme was first posted, my mind wandered trying to figure out what the heck a blintz was.

Knowing I had heard of it before, I had to head off to Google to figure out what in the name of holy heck a blintz was. I then realized I had eaten them before — they were called crepes filled with stuff.

Still, how to blog about it?

I have no idea where I’d find a blintz around here. There might be a place somewhere, but who knows?

Back to the Google drawing board. How does one go about making one of these things? Is it hard? Easy? Maybe I’ll make my own blintz.

My Google search brought me to The Shiksa in the Kitchen, where I found this seemingly easy recipe for a cheese blintz. I say easy, because I can cook decently well. But things like this usually throw me for a loop. That being said, this recipe was easy to follow and made me interested in trying it out.

Mmmm… frying a blintz.

OK, one thing I must note — making these things requires some patience, which I don’t always have. Shockingly, I didn’t have any issues. I made the batter, then made the filling. Then I started cooking up the blintzes.

They say to cook ’em all first. Well, part of the way. Then fill ’em. Then fry ’em. Then eat ’em.

So, after all were cooked for the first part, I went to filling.

I didn’t take photos of this process as it’s hard to actually take photos when you are using both hands to fill these things. The recipe shows you need to put some of the filling on the crepe and then fold it up, like an envelope.

Easier said than done.

I had a few profanities leave my mouth at times when the rolled up blintz popped out the edges. Then I had to try it all over. Or, when I moved it to the plate, it didn’t seem like it was solid enough.

But, I eventually got it right and then I focused on the frying, where I had to dodge a few splattering shots of oil.

They didn’t look too bad, though.

Frying the first couple o’ blintzes. Not too bad. A little splattering of the oil, but overall decent.

I won’t lie — I did fully cook one of the crepes and ate it, just to see if it was any good. And, despite it not looking pretty, it tasted pretty solid. I’m not on a cooking show or working in a professional kitchen, though. So plating isn’t something I’m worried about.

I’m going for taste. And I think I achieved it with the crepe.

The jury was still out for the blintz, though.

I did have a few issues with the blintzes. A couple of them I went a little longer than I should have, so they didn’t look so perfect. A couple of them opened during the frying aspect.

Some of the blintzes opened during frying… but they still tasted good!

Now, I needed to get these ready to eat. No more messing around.

But a plain blintz?

As if!

So what to put on them? I saw a couple of blintz recipes with a blueberry sauce. How good does that sound? Exactly. And being I wasn’t up for whipped cream (for the record, I make kick-ass whipped cream), so I went for a blueberry sauce.

Yummy!

Back to Google…

I found a recipe, which, again, seemed easy enough. This truly was easy. For the record, I substituted Equal for sugar and it tasted awesome. I have to watch my sugar intake, so any time I can do that, I’m happy.

The sauce was excellent and went very well with the blintzes. Yummy, indeed.

I don’t think I have a calling as a professional cook, but I was quite pleased with this attempt at making blintzes. I have a few things I can do to maybe change the process if I do it again and hopefully they will come out a bit prettier next time!

I also need to improve my food photography!

But, in the end, I call it a success. After all, the idea is to get something that tastes good, right? If it’s done at home, who cares what it looks like?

Although it does look pretty good here, no?

Tasty!

Turns out I didn’t have to go far for a good blintz.

Who knew?

I don’t think I’ll be looking to change careers to a chef anytime soon, but it’s nice to know I can make a decent crepe or a blintz!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Days of Writing: In the kitchen (12/30)

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one is an attempt at humor! 

Ahh, the kitchen.

It can be a great place, or a bad place. It all depends on how you look at it. Cooking, depending on how you do things, can be fun. Especially if you like to take chances.

I love the chowdah I made, but I won't blog about it again!

A few months ago, I blogged about making clam chowder. Errr, chowdah.

I could take that blog post and paste it here and call it a day. Alas, I won’t do that. I don’t think that helps me with this challenge. Instead, I’ll just post a photo of that chowdah. It was thick, too, which is what I liked. I got props from those who had it, too, so that’s good.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the real part of this blog post.

My name is P.J. And I’m a food show addict.

I am finally coming clean.

I’m hoping my story can be something to help future food show addicts. It’s a sickness, I know. And I have to get help.

I can’t go past them when I see them on television.

From Gordon Ramsay to Bobby Flay. From Iron Chef America to Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

The list goes on.

Watching Giada on the Food Network is like a super model making dinner for me — coming through the screen. Sheesh!

I have cheered against people on Chopped. I’ve shed tears at the tough stories people give when trying out for Master Chef. When someone screws up scallops on Hell’s Kitchen, I’m yelling “GET OUT” before it comes out of Ramsay’s mouth. And I wonder when Florian is going to really go off when he bites into a cupcake that “doesn’t work for him.”

Oh, don’t even get me started when Emeril throws some something on the dish he is creating.

BAM!

And damn, Buddy would be hellish cool to work for at Carlo’s Bakery, don’t you think?

I’m still trying to figure out, however, where the hell Adam Richman puts all that food he eats in those challenges. Anyone?

And man — how crazy is it to know people call Robert Irvine to fix their restaurants and then argue with him? Really? Come on, people!

All those succulent dishes these chefs and personalities cook up on my screen. Everything looks so perfect. It’s yummy. When Alton Brown is telling you about everything, he makes it sound so perfect.

The love that the Neelys deliver in their Southern dishes, too. Oh my. Ribs, anyone?

Goodness knows me and trying to bake is like taking a bowling ball and dropping it from the Empire State Building and expecting it to land softly. Yeah, right.

But wow does Ron Ben-Israel make me want to be a Sweet Genius.

All the competitions, too!

My oh my!

I can’t get enough of these shows. Not one bit. I’m an addict. I admit it.

What’s that you say? The secret ingredient is cheese?? Oh my yes.

Allez cuisine!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

It’s chowdah time!

Mmmm.... New England clam chowdah!

I’ve always wanted to make my own New England clam chowder.

Chowdah, that is.

None of the red stuff. I don’t particularly care for the Manhattan clam chowder. I like chowdah.

Thick, too.

For the Super Bowl, I decided to give it a go for a small gathering I was going to. I found a recipe that looked somewhat healthy on the Food Network’s website and went at it. It was a recipe by Ellie Krieger and seemed health-conscious, which I liked.

It wasn’t too hard.

But, despite some corn starch at the end, it wasn’t thick enough for my liking. It tasted good. I really liked it. But I wanted it a tad thicker. The recipe called for two pounds of frozen clams, but the store didn’t have them. So I went with canned clams, but unfortunately, they were minced. So no true “bite” of clams.

The people who tried it at the Super Bowl party seemed to like it, so I knew I was going in the right direction.

Round 2 came on Leap Day.

I started later than I probably should have, but the store did have frozen clams this time. However, I wasn’t up for paying $6 per pound knowing that I might not even be able to get them defrosted in time. So I debated options. I went to the canned aisle and saw something better this time — actual clams in a can! Not the minced stuff.

Clams, anyone?

So I grabbed a couple of them.

This time, I also went with the Canadian bacon that the recipe calls for, rather than regular bacon as I used the first time. The reality is that it’s a bit of a garnish — you put it on top of the chowder when done — so either can work. Though, as I found out, the thickness and diced up portions of the Canadian bacon is a bit better with the chowder.

The recipe calls for a total time of 55 minutes (20 prep, 35 cooking), but that differs a little bit it seemed. I guess it all depends on how long the ‘taters take to cook. It also says it will yield six servings, but realize that it’s six large portions. So having a dinner with it might not be the best idea if you want a big ol’ serving of the chowder!

The ingredients called for:

  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 4 slices Canadian bacon, diced (2 ounces) (Note: I used five slices)
  • 1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
  • 6 stalks celery, diced (about 2 cups)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (Note: I used regular salt and pepper)
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (about 3 large cloves) (Note: I used the garlic in a bottle…more of a paste. Worked well)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
  • 2 1-pound containers frozen clams packed in their own juice, thawed, juice reserved (Note: I used canned and it’s good.)
  • 1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups cold low-fat (1 percent) milk
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream (Note: You can use whipping cream, which has less fat and such). 
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • Hot sauce (such as Tabasco), for serving (optional) (I did not use).

Now, it was time to cook. Yum. I could taste the delicious chowder all along. Especially the second time when I was having clams that were full.

The chowder cooking.

There’s something to be said about actually getting a clam or two in a spoonful of chowder, ya know?

Directions:

  1. To start, heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add in the Canadian bacon, stirring frequently, until crisp. Then transfer the bacon to a plate. (+/- 3-4 minutes)
  2. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, onion, celery, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper to the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have softened. (+/- 6 minutes)
  3. Add the garlic, thyme and cook, stirring for 1 more minute.
  4. Add 1 1/2 cups of water, the clam juice (approx 1 1/2 cups), the potatoes and the bay leaf, bringing the soup to a boil.
  5. Now, partially cover the pot and simmer. Stir occasionally until the potatoes are tender. (+/- 15 minutes)
  6. Whisk the milk, cream and flour in a bowl until the flower is dissolved. Slowly add this to the pot, stirring constantly. Bring the soup to a simmer (no boiling here!)
  7. Reduce the heat to medium low, stirring occasionally, until thickened. (+/- 8 minutes)
  8. Add the clams and simmer 2 more minutes.
  9. Discard bay leave and add salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Before serving, stir in the bacon (and, add hot sauce if you want it).

Side note — I wanted it thicker. So before adding the clams, I also added corn starch a little at a time before getting the thickness I desired. Then I added the clams and went from there.

The end result was awesome.

I’m sure I’ve had much better chowdah — especially in Maine. But this was really good and was something that was relatively easy to make and was really tasty.

The website shows the nutritional facts as:  Per serving: Calories 312; Fat 8 g (Saturated 2 g); Cholesterol 66 mg; Sodium 510 mg; Carbohydrate 33 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 27 g.

Some of the other ones I had been looking at were WAY worse than that. I also used the whipping cream, so I’m sure these numbers went down a touch, if just slightly.

If you are a chowder fan, I would highly encourage you to try this recipe. It’s a simple and tasty way to enjoy some chowdah!

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — even a small amount — you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted scarf. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!