Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

You know how sometimes you just really want chocolate and peanut butter? And sometimes a Reese’s just doesn’t cut it? In those cases, you should do what I did when I was craving peanut butter and chocolate and knew that my friend Amber was coming over to help me eat whatever I baked.

This cupcake combines the best of many worlds – a rich, moist chocolate cake, peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and a chocolate peanut butter ganache. All you need are some friends to help you with the extras and a tall glass of milk.

Or just the milk depending on what kind of week it’s been.

Beef and Bean Chili

There’s a constant battle in my house when the topic of chili comes up. No, not the traditional Texan chili (no beans) versus other states’ chili (beans); rather, it’s over how much spice we’re allowed to use. I like my chili spicy – if I can’t taste cumin in every bite it’s not worth it – but my family seems insistent on eating versions that mostly taste like tomatoes (though they would claim they simply like having feeling in their lips, to which I reply, “whimps”).

When I first started cooking on my own after realizing that I could cook anything I wanted to for any meal (I can have quiche for all three meals today!), the second most important culinary realization I had was that I was in control of the spices. I could add cumin, cayenne, chili powder, and jalapenos if I wanted to – and I do.

This recipe is one of my favorite comfort foods; it’s easy to make, relatively cheap, and fills you up. In other words, the perfect antidote for a cold, gray, rainy day. Sorry for the lack of pictures - chili is remarkably tricky to photograph!

Moosewood Cornbread

My first roommate during graduate school had never eaten corn bread. Cue me fainting when I heard the news. Seriously? Cornbread is one step below chocolate in proof that someone up there loves us. You can smother it in butter, you can dunk it into soup or chili, you can eat it with jam. It's amazing food and having a basic cornbread recipe in your back pocket is always handy.

One day I plan to experiment with the different varieties I know exist. I've seen recipes for cornbread with cheese inside it, with aleppo - you name it, I've seen it. However, I keep coming back to this one because it doesn't let me down; it's quick, it's easy, and it tastes good. The holy trifecta of recipes. I think you'll enjoy this one. I recently ate it with roasted eggplant soup (recipe coming soon) and it was perfect smothered in chili.  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie

My breakfast habits aren't consistent; some days I'm happy with a quick bowl of Cheerios and milk, others only an egg will satisfy, while still others demand cold pad thai (don't knock till you've tried it). But I also tend not to like eating in the first hour I've been awake. It feels too rushed. Unfortunately, this makes eating during the week a bit tricky. I need a meal that can be prepared quickly because I'm generally eating it during the time I should be brushing my teeth before I leave for work.

So when I found this recipe for a chocolate peanut butter smoothie, you can bet I was excited to try it out. Chocolate and peanut butter in the morning? Prep time under five minutes? Chocolate and peanut butter in the morning? (This point needs to be repeated)

Sold.

Pork Meatballs

My sister Emma asked me to explore the wonderful world of meatballs after an experiment of hers went terribly terribly wrong. She mistakenly thought I would have a better idea of how to make them and could walk her step by step through the process. While I really like the recipe seen below, it wasn’t what I would call a crowning moment of cooking glory.

Here’s a sad confession – I don’t like touching raw meat. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have many meat recipes up on the blog (the other being that meat’s really expensive). The full body shudders and the facial expressions I made while rolling the meatballs would have you believe I was elbow deep in tarantulas or something. Luckily, the end result was totally worth subjecting myself to several five minute long hand washings.

Peach and Blueberry Muffins

The temperature dropped suddenly here in DC and I wanted to celebrate one last hurrah of summer while also reveling in the fact that turning on my oven no longer makes people in my kitchen lightheaded. So fruit muffins it was. I never got around to making a peach and blueberry cobbler, so I decided to use both fruits in a muffin.

This is really stretching the definition of a muffin though; it’s fruit bound together by a bit of spongy muffin. Keep your fruit slices large – blueberries whole and peach chunky – to help you stretch summer out for just a few more hours.

Spinach Quiche

Quiche is one of my favorite foods. It sounds fancy but really just involves mixing all the best things in life together in a bowl and pouring it into a pie crust to bake for about half an hour. Seriously, how can anyone not want to eat something whose base involves eggs and cheese?

In the past my quiches were usually made in a pie pan and had fresh vegetables as their base (typically onion, broccoli, and tomatoes). So I was a bit apprehensive about using frozen spinach and cream cheese. It felt almost like cheating. Especially as it only took me about 10 minutes to make, even with a disastrous pie crust (see below). But this quiche is delicious and I really like the use of the tart pan. It gives a more equal ratio of filling to crust, which for a carbofile such as myself is a glorious thing.