Ombre and Rainbow St. Patty’s Day Printables

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I decided that I needed some ombre art to match my ombre garland. I quickly made up a simple printable to add to my last minute St. Patty’s day décor.

I printed out the one below. It goes perfectly with my garland. (If I get a chance today, I will take a photo of it for you. I at least wanted to get the printable shared incase anyone is looking for last minute St. Patty’s day decor.)

Just for fun I created a few different designs.

All print as 8x10. You can download the PDF for all of these designs right HERE.

Enjoy!

Baked Chicken Wings with Spicy Dijon Molasses Sauce

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I’ve got kind of a thing for chicken wings. During football season I’d estimate that I probably eat a chicken wings at least once every 24 hours. That might be a slight exaggeration, but the point is, I like wings a lot. So, naturally, I’ve saved up a lot of recipes to try at home. I made one that was such a colossal failure that I didn’t post it here. But these turned out pretty ok. I wouldn’t say that I’ve found the perfect recipe quite yet, but this is a nice stop on the way to perfection. It’s got a little spice, a little sweet, and the mustard gives it a complexity and sets it apart from your normal wings. I found the recipe on Living Lou’s blog and made a couple tiny tweaks (incorporated below).


Spice Rub1 tbsp chipotle chili pepper powder1 tsp sweet paprika1/2 tsp dried oregano1/2 tsp coriander1/2 tsp dried mustard1/2 tsp cumin1/4 tsp salt1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper1 tbsp brown sugar
Sauce1/4 cup Dijon mustard1/4 cup spicy mustard1/4 cup molasses5 tbsp ketchup2 tbsp honey1 tbsp chili garlic sauce1 tbsp Worcestershire1 tbsp brown sugar1 tsp chipotle hot sauce1/2 tsp garlic powder1/2 tsp onion powder
3 pounds chicken wings
I actually used Kroger drummies for this instead of actual wings. If you use wings, make sure to break them down and remove the tips. Preheat the oven to 375. Mix your spice rub ingredients together in a bowl and then pour it over the drummies, mixing them around to make sure they are all evenly covered. I laid them out on a foil lined baking sheet which made them super easy to clean up after. Cook them for 15-18 minutes on one side, then flip them and cook for 15-18 minutes on the other. Mine went for 17 minutes each side.
While the wings are baking, mix up your sauce ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate it until you need it. After the wings have baked the full time, take them out of the oven and set it to broil. Put the wings in a large bowl and pour about half of the sauce over them, mixing to make sure they are all coated. They should look pretty delicious right now, but don’t skip the next step!
Lay them back out on the baking sheet (you may want to lay out new foil) and broil for two minutes on one side, and one minute on the other. Now they are ready to serve with the remaining sauce for dipping. Or you could go with the classic Ranch or bleu cheese, but they aren’t crazy spicy so I don’t think you need it. Hope you like them, and look forward to some more wing recipes in the future as I try to find a favorite!

(click here for printable recipe)

Challah Bread

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Challah back ya'll! This bread is awesome and you must try making it. I made this the other week to test out a recipe, give it a dry run. It was this months Daring Bakers challenge, hosted by Ruth from Crafts of Mommyhood. I wanted to try to a recipe other than what was supplied, hence the practice recipes and dry runs. A bad habit of mine is to not read the full recipe, just look at ingredients and not amounts or blindly follow the recipe.


The first recipe I made called for close to 8 cups of flour. Didn't think twice about that crazy amount of flour until my stand mixer started to make strange noises, get real hot and have screws fall out. I like to think the screw was already feeling loose and this was just the last straw. I ended up kneading this by hand, good thing I lift weights.

Despite that little mishap (my stand mixer is fine, in case you were worried), the bread was yummy. A little dry, but it didn't stop my brother from eating practically all of it. Since it was a bit on the dry side and I gave away 3/4 of it to my brother (I can't have that much carb temptation in my presence), a new recipe was in order.


Found it (see below)! This guy is super moist, dense and not too sweet. Made this one at the parents, while home for Memorial day. weekend. There were a lot of nasty looks given by my brother, after I most of this loaf. I'm really not as good of a sharer as I seem or think to seem I am. 
After eating most of the loaf, it was decided this bread is on the healthy side of the fence. At least close to it. There is no butter, a little sugar and no butter. The rest is eggs, flour, water and a little oil. If there isn't any butter it has to be healthy, right? You probably don't need to have this sort of conversation with yourself, if you don't eat the whole loaf.

If you do eat the whole loaf, its okay not just because there is no butter. This bread is not fussy or complicated. Easy peasy. The hardest part is waiting for it to rise and not eating  it all imediately. You've been warned though, its eat the whole loaf in one sitting good.
xo
April
Adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast or one envelope
3/4 cup warm water
2 large eggs, plus 1 for glazing
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon honey

Instructions:

1. Combine 3/4 cup of the flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisking by hand to combine. Then add the warm water and whisk until smooth and let stand 10-20 minutes until foamy and fragrant. 
2. Add the eggs, oil, salt, sugar and honey to the mixture and whisk by hand again until well incorporated. Place the bowl on your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour, mixing until the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too wet or dry add a little flour or water. Knead the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size. At this point it can also be placed covered, in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. If refrigerated the dough with take about 30 to 60 minutes longer to rise. 
4. After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and place it on a clean work surface. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions, rolling each out into a 1-foot long strand that is slightly thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends. Lay the three strands side by side, pinching them together and then braiding them together, pinching it closed and tucking it under the loaf. Beat 1 egg yolk together with a  teaspoon of water and brush the loaf lightly with it, reserving the mixture for another coat right before baking. Let the bread rise for 1 1/2 hours or until a finger indentation remains after being lightly pushed.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F. Brush the loaf with the remaining egg wash and bake for 30-40 minutes, until it is nicely browned and the internal temp is 180F. Enjoy and challah back if you like it!

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Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

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For Mother's Day this year I volunteered to make dessert for our family dinner and asked my Mom what she wanted me to make.  She said anything with rhubarb.  Ironically, I had just been telling my roommates about how I was going to buy rhubarb the next time I went to the farmer's market and make a strawberry-rhubarb pie.  I borrowed Brittany's pie pan and off I was making my first ever pie!  The family gave it rave reviews.  Unfortunately, the lattice top did not permit for attractive pictures after the pie was cut.




Recipe from Epicurious.


Ingredients

• 2 9-inch pie crusts (I used store bought crusts)
• 3 1/2 cups 1/2 inch thick slices trimmed rhubarb (about 1 1/2 lbs untrimmed)
• 1 16-ounce container of strawberries, cut in half with green leaves removed (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg yolk beaten to blend, mixed with 1 teaspoon water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.  Gently toss.
3. Place one pie crust in a 9-inch pie dish.  Depending on your pie dish there should be some overhang.  Trim overhang to about 3/4 of an inch.
4. Spoon filling into crust.
5. Lay the other pie crust out on the counter and cut into 14 strips about 1/2-3/4 inch wide.
6. Now make the lattice top.  Lay every other strip evenly spaced across the pie.  Fold back every other strip and lay a new strip down in the opposite direction.  Fold strips back.  Fold back the other strips and place a new one down.  Repeat until the remaining seven strips have been woven in.  Trim excess dough from strips. (Watch a video on how to make a lattice top here.)
7. Tuck any excess crust or strips under and seal crust.  Crimp decoratively as desired.
8. Brush egg and water mixture over top of pie.
9. Place pie pan on a baking pan in case pie filling overflows.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 1 hour and 25 minutes.  Let cool.

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Cornflake, Marshmallow, Chocolate Chip Cookies

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June just came out of nowhere! This year has flown by, which also implies my summer is dwindling too. I've got a long list of things I want to accomplish this summer too. Who knows it may be one of my last in Madison? That decision is a long ways away though, lets focus on the summer list:

1. Find a hostess or waitress job. Check, cocktail waitress to be precise!
2. Raise $4,000 for the MS bike ride. Only 2 months and $3,965 to go, no biggie.
3. Put a 1,000 miles on my sexy new bike.
4. Go on a brewery tour. Ale Asylum anyone?
5. Make a trip to Devils Lake. I've never been, which appalls many of my fellow Wisconsin natives.
6. Canoe camping round two.
7. Concerts on the square, cheese and wine.
8. Willy Street biking eating-drinking crawl.
9. Lose a bit of the pasty white girl look.
10. Make a mean sangria.

That list probably makes me seems a lot more outdoorsy than I really am. Because I think that last word anyone would use to describe me is outdoorsy. That is just my summer list too, there are so many things that I want to do before the year is over! What sort of things do you want to do this summer?

Make these cookies, if June being here is as alarming as it is to me. Even if it isn't, the first of everything month deserves to be started out right. Theses cookies are just the thing. The sister-in-law was in town last weekend. I hadn't seen her since Christmas!!!! I met up with her and my brother at our favorite watering hole, The Library Bar and Cafe. These cookies along with some cake balls came with us. I like to bake and then contemplate how to pawn the goods off on people.


Turns out a bar is a pretty great place to pawn baked goods off on people. These cookies especially. They are crispy, chewy and salty. The salty aspect keeps the people drinking too. I like to help not only myself the bar too. All the reviews were amazing and it wasn't just because people were drinking. The night was young, in fact it wasn't even night time yet.


There will be a leftover cornflake crunch, but just make yourself a bowl of cereal with it. You won't regret it. You can save it too, since after you share these, people will want you to make more. Give these a try you won't regret the sweet, salty, gooey, chewy goodness that results.


Recipe by Christina Tosi from Momofuki Milk Bar Cookbook
Makes 15 large cookies
Ingredients:
Cornflake Crunch:
1/2 box (5 cups) cornflakes
1/2 cup milk powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cookie:
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups Cornflake Crunch
2/3 mini chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups mini marshmallows

Making the Cornflake Crunch:

1. Heat the oven to 275F
2. Pour the cornflakes in a medium bowl and crush them with your hands to one-quarter of their original size. Add the milk powder, sugar, and salt and toss to mix. Add the butter and toss to coat. As you toss, the butter will act as glue, binding the dry ingredients to the cereal and creating small clusters.
3. Spread the clusters on a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes, at which point they should look toasted, smell buttery, and crunch gently when cooled slightly and chewed.
4. Cool the cornflake crunch completely before storing or using in a recipe. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the crunch will keep fresh for 1 week; in the fridge or freezer, it will keep 1 month.

Making the Cookies:

1. Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.
2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minutes. (Do not walk away from the mixer at this point, or you will risk overmixing the dough.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. 
3. Still on low speed, paddle in the cornflake crunch and mini chocolate chips just until they're incorproated, no more than 30-45 seconds. Paddle in the mini marshmallows just until incorprated. 
4. Using a 2 3/4-ounce ice cream scoop (or a 1/3 cup measure), portion out the dough onto a parchment lined-sheet pan. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake your cookies at room temperature-they will not hold their shape.
5. Heat the oven to 375F.
6. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment-lined sheet pans. Bake for 10-18 minutes (I baked mine for for 15 minutes-keep an eye on them). The cookies will puff, crackle and spread. The cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown toward the center. Leave them in the oven for an additional minute or so if they aren't and they still seem pale and doughy on the surface.
7. Cool the cookies on the sheet pans before transferring to a place or an airtight container for storage. At room temperature, the cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

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Caramel Oatmeal Chewies

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So yesterday while I was at work I was thinking about how it is less than two weeks until I leave to study abroad in Spain for the summer, and boy am I excited!!!  The only problem is that being away for two months means two months of not cooking and baking, so I figured I should try to get in a couple of good posts before I leave.



I decided I wanted to bake a dessert so when I got home from work I looked through my two new cookbooks and found this bad boy.  I was short a couple of ingredients though, so I decided to walk the couple of block to Trader Joe's since I had never been there which I am now embarrassed to say because it is my new favorite grocery store!  It is awesome!



Recipe from Fresh, Fast and Fabulous: 2nd Edition.


Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups oatmeal
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 cup caramel ice cream topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom of a 13x9 inch metal baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.
3. Stir in melted butter, mixing well.
4. Set aside 1 cup of oats mixture.  Press remaining mixture into bottom of pan.
5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
6. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and pecans.
7. Mix caramel topping with remaining 1/4 cup flour.  Drizzle over pecans to within 1/4 inch of edges.
8. Sprinkle with remaining oats mixture.
9. Bake for an additional 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. Cool in pan on wire rack.  Then refrigerate until firm.

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No More Excuses

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In light of the most recent Biggest Loser Season I thought I would do a spin off of the "No Excuses" campaign, which encourages contestants to forego their excuses for bad habits. With that in mind, each of the next four Tuesdays I'll debunk common excuses reasons for not exercising and living healthy.

Excuse #1: I don't have time...



This is pretty common. Like most of you, my days are jam-packed. I believe that for each one of you there is time. Whether it is 20 minutes or an hour, exercise and eating right can happen.

Here are some ideas: 

1. Break it up: 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there — it adds up. You might not have a full 30-minute block of time in your day, but that doesn't mean you can't break up your exercise. Go on a 10-minute walk at your lunch break. Get up just 20 minutes early to get in a quick walk, run or bike ride.

2.  Incorporate exercise into your daily routine: Without having to add extra time, mix exercise into things you already do, such as parking farther away from the office and walking in. Or walk to a park to eat your lunch, or maybe volunteer to be your child's sports team coach and exercise with them during practice.

3. Plan ahead: Planning ahead is extremely important when trying to exercise and eat healthy. Make it a goal to set aside 30 minutes on one day during the week to plan out your meals for the week and go buy those ingredients. It is easy to use the excuse of "I dont have time to cook or to exercise" when you have not already planned what you are going to do. By planning ahead you will have set more time aside for the things that important.

4. Add it to your scheduler: Make exercise an item that is on your daily list. By making it a priority and a part of your everyday routine, you are more likely to get it done. Make it another item on your list that must get done before your day can be over.