Apple Brownies

I saw the name of this recipe and was halfway to the kitchen before finishing reading. And I’m happy to report these bars are just as good as they sound. It’s like someone squished an apple pie into bar form, but gave it a cookie texture just for kicks. Awesome kicks.

These are surprisingly simple to make; the hardest part was peeling the apples. I definitely plan on including this recipe in my repertoire of apple recipes for the fall. I try to take at least one trip to a nearby orchard to pick apples and I always come back with at least 10 pounds. While I have no problem eating apples plain (in fact, I eat one every afternoon as a snack) after a while you want something new. And pie can sometimes be a pain – so many steps!

But these are a great compromise – same apple and cinnamon taste, half the effort. Enjoy!

Spinach and Orzo Salad with Chicken and Almonds

Pasta salads are a staple of American picnics and barbeques for a reason – they’re easy to make, it’s easy to scale them up to feed a crowd, and they taste fantastic at room temperature on a hot day. Growing up I was never really a fan of the traditional pasta (or even potato) salad because I don’t like mayonnaise.

I know it’s weird. I get the same looks I’m sure you’re giving the screen right now when I tell people I don’t like mashed potatoes either. It’s a texture thing. Both just strike my taste buds as wrongwrongwrong even though I know 98% of the country could probably happily live on mashed potatoes for a couple days (or years in the case of my sister).

In any case, I was a happy camper when I realized you could make pasta salad with olive oil rather than mayonnaise. I’m sure I’ll be sharing a couple other pasta salad recipes down the road with you all as we get deeper into summer, but for now I hope you enjoy this one!

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Almond Cookies

I’ve mentioned before that I love oatmeal raisin cookies, but I understand that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea (cup of cookie?). Maybe some people find the inclusion of raisin too healthy?

This recipe, however, replaces raisins with chocolate chips. There’s no mistaking these babies for something healthy! The inclusion of cinnamon and nutmeg just makes them even better.

Spinach and Leek Quiche

When I started this recipe I was worried I’d lost my cooking mojo; two days ago I burned a batch of box-mix muffins (I know, I know. Box mix? Let’s just say I was broke and short on time and move on). Four days ago I burnt my finger when I forgot where the edge of the oven mitt was on a hot cookie sheet. Last weekend I burnt my thumb when I had a brain fart and picked up a ramekin I had just pulled from the oven with my bare fingers.

And this morning I tried making pie crust by hand. It looked horrible. It wasn’t binding together and there was basically a big pile of flour sitting on my counter. I decided to simply gather it together, wrap it in saran warp (big hurdle. You all know I lack the saran wrap mastery gene), and chuck it in the fridge in the vain hope that it would magically turn into pie crust in an hour if I didn’t look at it.

Long story short, it didn’t. However, I’d already invested a stick of butter into it, so I added a bit more water and mushed it all together and hoped for the best. I added some flour and got to rolling. Miracle of miracles, it actually came together and looked like a pie crust.

So I topped it with some spinach and chopped leeks and made this tasty quiche. You should make it too. And maybe consider buying a pre-made pie crust if you aren’t feeling ambitious or like cleaning your kitchen counters four times.

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

I made these over Superbowl Weekend. Because when everyone else is talking about chicken wings and nachos, I want peanut butter and chocolate. To be fair though, I want peanut butter and chocolate all the time. In any case I thought they would be a good compromise between breakfast and dessert.

In that I would eat one for breakfast on the Saturday I made them and then serve them as dessert on Sunday when I watched the Superbowl. Yup, I’m crafty that way.

I know I've said I don't really like it when super sweet things are called "muffins" when they are clearly cakes, so you might be surprised I'm calling these muffins in spite of the cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and peanut butter. Honestly, I debated over it for a while. But despite everything these aren't particularly sweet except for the bites with the peanut butter.

We clearly need a word for things that straddle the muffin-cupcake divide. Mufcake? Cupfin? Those both sound disgusting. I'll get back to you.

In any case, I'm sorry I've kept these from you for so long. I think a part of my brain was afraid that if I shared the recipe there would be no more for me. It's a strange place, my brain. It likes to hoard delicious delicious recipes. 

Though once you eat one of these suckers, I think you'll begin to understand. Hope you enjoy!

Huevos Rancheros

This isn’t a traditional way of making or each huevos rancheros; for truth in advertising , I probably should have titled these “Fried Eggs with Yummy Stuff Underneath” but that doesn’t seem nearly as neat. Or enticing.

In any case, below is my usual recipe when I attempt to make huevos rancheros. I’ve seen other recipes that call for cooking the egg on the tortilla, but that never seems to work well for me. Either I burn the tortilla or break the yolk mid-way through cooking or some other tragedy befall what should be a delicious dish and my breakfast is much less happy.

So I wanted to share my method. It still only uses one pan (hooray for easy clean-up) but cooks each part in components to help get you to a happy, fully assembled and un-burnt breakfast. Or lunch if it’s been a lazy weekend morning.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

I lucked out in the roommate department. We were watching figure skating one Saturday afternoon and I really wanted a funfetti cupcake for some reason. No matter that I’d never had one or had made chocolate chip muffins earlier in the day, I needed a cupcake. Immediately.

But if I made cupcakes, I’d end up wanting to eat them all. I needed a comrade in arms, something to help me weather the storm of sugar about to descend into our tiny apartment. So I turned to her and asked if I made cupcakes, would she help me out with them?

This is why my roommate is awesome – she just looked at me.

Right, stupid question. Who says no to a homemade funfetti cupcake?

Twenty minutes later these were out of the oven and waiting to be frosted. Luckily we have some Betty Crocker in the fridge (again, awesome roommate!) but feel free to make your own if you’d rather. Just make sure to top with sprinkles, otherwise all that effort was wasted.