Sisters Baking Day, Part One

Every one in a while you should really take a day off work. For no reason. Not for an appointment, not for anything you HAVE to do. Just one day, preferably a Friday, stretching out your weekend and giving you some down time to just relax and do something just for you. Something fun and carefree. That's exactly what we did, my "sister" Jessica and I. We took a day off of adult life and had a Baking Day.

We didn't totally fly by the seat of our pants, we did write up a list and a loose plan. We started with the ingredients we already had on hand and built from there. We managed to scrape together quite a few solid ingredients to build off: cake mix, flour, sugars, a can of raspberry pie filling, a couple fresh peaches, canned blueberries, a little bit of leftover granola, some cherry chips, an assortment of extracts. We headed off to Aldi to get a last few things- we needed fresh citrus fruits for zests and juices, grabbed some cream cheese just in case, some nuts, real butter, and we were in business.

Not gonna lie here, we did grab a brownie mix at Aldi. Brownie mixes are just too easy and really very good to mess with all the melting and mixing of scratch brownies, especially when Aldi had a special buy on Ghirardelli brownie mix. We baked the brownies in mini muffin cups for the perfect two bite brownie treats.

The first recipe we put together was a super easy recipe you're going to want to remember. You start with a cheat item- cake mix. This is the easiest recipe to switch up to suit your tastes and ingredients on hand. Any cake mix, and add-ins. When using a white cake mix, you want to stick with egg whites only, so we used three. If you're using other cake mixes, two whole eggs are perfect. Here is what we did:

Almond Cherry Chip Cookies

1 box 2 layer size white cake mix

1/2 cup oil

3 egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 cup mini cherry chips*

1/2 cup toasted sliced or slivered almonds

*We used Gurley Golden Recipe brand mini chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the cake mix, oil and egg together.

Stir in the chips and almonds. 

Use a cookie scoop to make evenly sized cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Jessica's scoop is about a perfect rounded tablespoon.

Bake for 10 minutes until just lightly browned on the bottom. Let the cookies set on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes before removing to a rack to cool. 

We dusted them generously with powered sugar. So so so delicious!!

Up next we were thinking about things that could also go into the freezer, so we'd have treats for future road trips or busy mornings. Naturally muffins were the first thing we thought of! A while back we had a road trip to Boone and visited the Dutch bakery there where we got the most delicious cranberry orange muffins. That's what we decided on. Jessica had some dried cranberries in the cupboard, and fresh oranges and nuts were newly purchased so here is how we made them:

Orange Cranberry Mini Muffins

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

zest of one orange

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Use a mixer for this, it's so much easier. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, the zest and then stir in the milk. 

Combine with the dry ingredients, mixing just enough to combine. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.

Use a scoop to fill the mini muffin pans. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until muffins are done. Remove from pan and cool on a rack. Dip tops of cooled muffins into orange glaze, or drizzle over them.

Simple Orange Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar

freshly squeezed orange juice

Mix together with a whisk until desired consistency. Dip muffins or drizzle over.

The glaze adds just the perfect sweetness and is a great way to use the orange left over after zesting. It's the ultimate topping for these tasty little muffin bites and sets up well so you don't have a sticky mess.

We had plenty more baking on the agenda, so stay tuned!! You won't want to miss the Bars part of our Sisters Baking Day. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Coffee Club- Store Bought Coffees

Since Jessica and I have both been down and out with a nasty case of flu, bronchitis, eye grossness and sinus misery we have been unable to visit any coffee destinations for a few weeks. We have had to feed our addictions with -gasp!- store bought coffee!! All is not lost though. We didn't hit the bottom of the barrel with Folgers or any of those brands, we still managed to find interesting coffees to make at home as we recuperate, and we are sharing with you.

From Trader Joe's - Columbia Supremo Medium Roast.

This coffee surprised me. I expected more, but maybe because I started with a small batch locally roasted coffee and almost always Trader Joe's products are top notch. This coffee was a let down. The first pot we made was a little pale, so the next time I used more ground coffee. This caused me to use up the coffee a lot faster than I should have. When I tried to use in the French press I had to grind it a little coarser, which made it even more weak. This is one coffee I won't buy again. 

From Aldi - Barrissimo Fair Trade, Single Origin, Organic medium roast Peru from the San Pablo Estate.

I am really loving the "new" Aldi with so many wonderful choices. Lots of organic products are available and I was really surprised to find this coffee! It's REALLY good and several of my friends have said they also love this coffee. It's a medium roast but it was not weak after brewing and didn't take half a basket of coffee to accomplish that.

From Starbucks - Kopelani Blend which features 10% beans from Hawaii's Kau coffee growing region. Also a medium roast.

It's no secret I am a Starbucks fan big time, so I expected to love love love this coffee, and I did. Even though it is a medium roast it brewed a beautiful rich and dark cup. Very flavorful. I tried it black and with just a little bit of half and half and it was a perfect cup. I don't know the acidity percentage on this one but it felt like it was relatively low in acid- it was very smooth. Nice oil sheen on the cup. Aroma that welcomed me right in. It's a seasonal blend so I'll have to wait til next year to get this again.

During our down time we both have been researching and making lists of interesting coffee places in Iowa to visit, and quite a few coffee roasters we want to check out, so stay tuned!! Lots more coffee adventures to come.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Nathan Night- Lobster Fried Rice

Normally on Nathan Night it's all about Nathan and Gramma doing something fun, but this time around The Chef was in on the fun. Since he was off work recuperating from his surgery he got a chance to be Grandpa for the evening and teach Nathan something new. Remember The Chef and Nathan playing guitar together on Easter Sunday? Holy buckets....... now it's DRUMS. Right smack in the middle of the dining room. I just have to shake my head and let boys be boys. It was a lot of fun watching the guys work out a couple songs. We made a couple videos for Nathan's parents to watch and I got a few pics snapped.

If only you had seen the look in Nathan's eyes sitting on the throne with those sticks in his hands. He was sooooo into it. Honestly for someone who had never ever played a drum in his life, he wasn't half bad! He listened to what Grampa Chef was telling him to do, and did his best to keep the count steady- even got the headbanging motion going on. 

All that drumming will make a guy work up quite an appetite! Nathan had wanted to learn about making Asian dumplings but he also wanted to try something new he'd never eaten before- lobster. Our budget was a little limited to we had to make something that stretched the lobster a bit, and sticking with the Asian theme, fried rice was the best option. We got our lobster at Aldi, believe it or not. 

If you haven't been in an Aldi store, you need to visit. I swear it's our new go-to grocery store. It's two blocks from home and they have a very large selection of organic produce and other foods, healthy grains, gluten free foods, imported European groceries and some of the best prices around, especially on meat and seafood. The package of lobster tails contained two good sized tails, just the perfect amount for our dinner, and a very reasonable $12.99 price tag. Here is how we made it-

Lobster Fried Rice

2 lobster tails

2 cups instant rice, uncooked

1 cup snow peas, halved

small bunch scallions, sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more

2 eggs

oil for cooking

Thaw lobster completely, if frozen. Rinse the lobster well. 

Bring a large pot of water o a full boil. Add the lobsters and cook for 8-12 minutes until the shells turn bight red and meat is tender. Remove from boiling water and plunge into an ice bath to stop cooking. Pull the meat from the shells and chop into large chunks.

Place the instant rice in a large boil. Stir in 1 3/4 cups boiling water and the soy sauce. Cover tightly and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff, and spread out on a sheet pan, pop in fridge to cool.

When ready to cook, heat a large wok or skillet over high heat. Add a swirl of oil. Beat the eggs and add to pan. Cook the egg like scrambled eggs and remove.  Add more oil and add the vegetables. Stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and continue to stir fry until hot. Toss in the lobster and egg, heat through. Serve with additional soy sauce.

Since Nathan has been curious about his Korean heritage, even though he is pretty far removed from his Korean ancestors, he has been talking a lot about dumplings- Asian dumplings. We talked about making dumplings next time we had a weekend together and I had been setting aside recipes but in the end, Nathan wanted to try the lobster more than he wanted to try making handmade dumplings so we went with our old standby- gyoza and shu mai from Trader Joe's. They are so super easy to prepare and very authentic. Nathan was able to help with the frying and steaming and plating. As always, we had a great time and a great dinner! Now we just need to convince Mom and Dad that they need to spring for a drum set too!