Baker's Theory

Everything Everything Bagel Chips with Creamy Garlic-Chili Dip

by

The tastiest, easiest party dip ever

Looking for an easy party dip that both astounds and doesn’t turn brown after ten minutes? You found it! At its heart, it’s a very fancy ranch dressing dip: cool Greek yogurt thinned with fresh lemon juice drizzled with a fiery garlic and chili oil. 

This easy dip recipe was inspired by one of my favorite cooking writers, Alison Roman, with her Labneh Dip with sizzled scallions and chili. It’s laughably simple to prepare and ready in a snap for those last minute gatherings. Serve it with everything everything bagel chips or your favorite crackers. 

Everything Everything Bagel Chips

Dangerously addictive, and similar to making croutons, these bagel chips will warm your home with the smell of melted, browning butter and bread. If that were a perfume, I’d spritz it all over my head. 

These everything everything bagel chips are so versatile. They’re excellent in salads, with a slice of sharp white cheddar, as a solo afternoon snack, with lox and cream cheese…or of course, with this creamy garlic-chili dip.

What makes them “everything everything” bagel chips? They’re made with everything bagels, and they’re coated with butter and everything bagel seasoning.

How to make Everything Everything Bagel Chips

Step 1: Slice four (4) Everything bagels vertically in 1/4" thick strips. Arrange flat on two parchment lined cookie sheets.
Step 2: Melt 4 tbsp salted butter and combine with 4 tbsp olive oil and 2 tsp Everything Bagel seasoning.
Step 3: Brush butter-oil-seasoning onto bagels. Bake at 325 degrees for 26-30 minutes, flipping bagel chips half way through.
Step 4: Check for doneness: should be completely crisp--no soft centers. Cool before serving. Can be stored in a freezer gallon ziplock bag for up to one month.

Creamy Parmesan Garlic-Chili Ranch Dip

This dip is perfection. Its creamy Greek yogurt base gets a lemony pucker and a roundhouse kick of heat from garlic and red pepper flakes. Spooning dollops of it on an everything everything bagel chip and subsequently on everything else is a normal side effect of this dip. Ask your doctor; they’ll tell you avocados cause more cooking injuries than any other food. Skip the guac. This is much easier and ten times more delicious. 

It’s also not that spicy of a dip. I’m admittedly a big wuss with spicy food, and this is heat I can handle and enjoy. Red pepper flakes give off a kind of light burn at the back of the throat, and its firepower is quickly deluged by the coolness of the Greek yogurt.

Creamy Parm Garlic-Chili Ranch Dip

Alex
Extremely easy party dip, full of zest and big, bold flavors. Greek yogurt based, thinned with fresh lemon juice, seasoned with lemon zest, salt, parsley, and drizzled with homemade garlic-chili oil.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Appetizer
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

For the Greek yogurt base

  • 8 oz Full-fat Greek yogurt
  • Zest of half a lemon About 1/2 tsp
  • Juice of half a lemon About 1-2 tbsp
  • 1/2 tsp Sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp Parsley dried is fine
  • 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese

For the garlic-chili oil

  • 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves Garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp Tomato paste

Instructions
 

For Greek yogurt base

  • Combine Greek yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, parsley, and Parmesan in a serving bowl. Mix with a silicone spatula until completely mixed. Make garlic-chili oil.

For the garlic-chili oil

  • In a small pot, heat olive oil under medium heat for about a minute.
  • Add garlic and crushed red pepper flakes, whisking constantly until garlic turns golden, about a minute. Turn off heat and cool for a minute. Whisk in tomato paste.
  • Spoon the oil over the Greek yogurt base. Serve with everything everything bagel chips (see recipe above) or your favorite chips.
Keyword spicy garlic ranch dip

Banana Chocolate Chip Kodiak Muffins with Honey Butter

by

Your next breakfast upgrade

Banana chocolate chip Kodiak muffins are your next breakfast game changer. Banana and chocolate chips already are a great muffin act, but the protein and fiber added from the Kodiak mix keeps you feeling full and healthy! If you already love banana chocolate chip muffins, I offer you this wholesome upgrade. 

My brunch obsessions are probably coming off a little strong lately, but this banana chocolate chip Kodiak muffin bouquet just makes such a lovely arrangement for a brunch buffet. I divided the batter between a 24-mini-muffin tin and a regular 12-muffin tin to get the different sizes. 

What is Kodiak Mix?

Kodiak mix–specifically the Kodiak Flapjack & Waffle Mix–is pancake/waffle mix made with whole wheat flour and dairy-based protein powders. It adds extra protein and fiber to anything you want to make with pancake mix, and you can make a lot with pancake mix. All pancake mixes have salt and leavening agents in them like baking soda and baking powder, so you don’t need to add them in when you’re using pancake mix to make muffins. 

Ingredients for Banana chocolate Chip Kodiak Muffins

  • Kodiak flour – I get it in bulk at CostCo. It’s about a 5 lb box, but you can get it at most grocery stores (except Trader Joe’s, though they have their own brand of high-fiber, high-protein flour mix)
  • 3 Ripe bananas – I consider a ripe banana one that is deep golden yellow and has a healthy covering of brown freckles. Anywhere from here to completely brown is perfect.
  •  Butter and vegetable oil (or coconut oil)
  • Sugar and brown sugar
  • Cinnamon and vanilla extract
  • Eggs
  • Mini or regular semi-sweet chocolate chips

How to make banana chocolate chip Kodiak muffins

Make the muffins in this order, and I promise you, you’ll only need one bowl.

Melt butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Add to it the vegetable oil, and then the bananas. Mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher. Add in the sugars, eggs, vanilla, and use a hand mixer to blend them all together. Sprinkle in the chocolate chips, and finally, blend in the flour. Don’t overmix the flour or you’ll have some tough muffins. Fill a regular muffin tin using a 1/4 cup size ice cream scoop and bake. 

By the way, I absolutely despise cupcake liners, so I just non-stick spray the heck out of the muffin tins. This recipe makes a 2 dozen muffins or 48 mini muffins, give or take a few, depending on the size of your bananas. 

The virtues of honey butter

My husband introduced me to putting butter on muffins, (okay, I guess the movie Mean Girls did, too) and it’s an excellent condiment! If you have cute little jars or serving dishes, honey butter looks adorable at a table. It’s very simple to make, all you need is honey and butter. I also add flakey sea salt for crunch and balance. Slathering a warm muffin with honey butter is a little bite of heaven. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Kodiak Muffins with Honey Butter

Alex
Chocolate chip banana muffin recipe made using Kodiak pancake/waffle mix instead of flour, and slathered in honey butter.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 28 minutes
Total Time 38 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

Banana Chocolate Chip Kodiak Muffins

  • 2 cups Kodiak Flapjack & Waffle Mix Buttermilk flavor
  • 3 Bananas very ripe
  • 1/4 cup Butter melted
  • 1/4 cup Vegetable oil Coconut oil works too
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Brown sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 1 cup Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Honey Butter

  • 1/2 cup Softened butter
  • 2½ tbsp Honey plus more for drizzling
  • Flakey sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Spray two 12-cup cupcake tins or a 24-mini muffin tin with non-stick spray. There is no need to use cupcake liners.
  • Melt butter in a large mixing bowl in microwave. Add to it the vegetable oil and bananas.
  • Mash bananas with a fork or potato masher.
  • Sprinkle in sugar, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla. Use a hand mixer to blend well.
  • Add chocolate chips to the mixture and blend well.
  • Add in the Kodiak mix and blend until just combined. Do not overmix.
  • For regular muffins, drop 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin tin cup. For mini muffins, drop 1 tbsp of batter into each muffin tin cup.
  • Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on the raw batter in the muffin tins.
  • Bake for 28 minutes (one tin at a time--not simultaneously) for regular muffins or 18 minutes for mini muffins. Cool slightly before turning out of the tin.
  • While muffins bake, combine butter and honey in a bowl. Stir vigorously with a spatula until blended. Drizzle a bit of honey on top and sprinkle with flakey sea salt. Spread on warm muffins.
Keyword banana chocolate chip Kodiak muffins honey butter

Lavender Lime Thyme Gin Sling

by

Brunch Libations

These lavender lime thyme gin slings are such a delightful morning libation, great for any brunch. I made these with lavender infused simple syrup, but plain simple syrup works perfectly well, too, and “lime thyme gin sling” sound just as catchy. Lime and thyme are a great duo, and combined with lavender and botanical gin, you get a fresh, puckering, ever-so-slightly sweet beverage. If you’re looking to brighten a brunch party this spring, (ahem, Easter,) try these lavender lime thyme gin slings!  

Lavender infused simple syrup

Okay, I admit lavender syrup is very bougie, but Trader Joe’s had dried lavender this week and I could not resist. Can you use simple syrup? Absolutely. Is the lavender syrup better? Definitely. The herbal lavender and thyme components of the drink lovingly compliment the botanicals in gin. My lavender syrup recipe makes 1.5 cups of syrup, so you’ll definitely have leftover. It goes really well in Earl Grey tea, which also has lavender in it! Or you can use it as a cake soaking syrup. (Ooh, lavender lemon cakes?!) Endless possibilities when it comes to lavender syrup!

Lavender Syrup Recipe

  • 1/4 cup dried lavender buds, pulled from thee stem
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
    Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized sauce pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring so the sugar dissolves. Once it reaches a simmer, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the lavender buds steep in the syrup for an hour. Then strain into a glass container and store in the refrigerator. Can use up to three months.

Lavender Lime Thyme Gin Sling

Ingredients

  • Fresh Lime Juice and lime slices for garnish
  • Lavender Syrup (or Simple Syrup)
  • Gin (Hendrick’s is great)
  • Fresh thyme leaves, pulled off the stem
  • Hot water
  • Lemon-flavored sparkling water
  • Ice

These lavender lime thyme gin slings are really great for entertaining because they’re not overly heavy. You can still get a charming buzz without getting wild. And you only need one! I think they also cleanse the palette, which works well if you’ve got a buffet going and want to try everything! 

How to make lavender lime thyme gin slings

Drop about 2 tbsp of thyme leaves (slid off the stems) into a cocktail shaker. Pour over the leaves 1/4 cup of boiling water and cover the cocktail shaker. Steep the thyme in the water for five minutes. Meanwhile, juice the limes (about two and a half limes) up to 1/4 cup in a liquid measuring cup. Slice the other half of the remaining lime into thin slices for garnish. Add 1/4 cup of lavender syrup and 4 oz of gin to the lime juice. Pour it all over the thyme and water in the cocktail shaker. Cover and shake, shake, shake! Drop a large (old fashioned) ice cube in three low ball glasses. Pour the drink into each glass, about 3/4 full. Top off with sparkling water. Garnish with lime slice, a sprig of thyme, and a fun straw. 

Lavender Lime Thyme Gin Sling

Alex
Floral, herbal, and bright gin cocktail
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Course Drinks
Cuisine American
Servings 3 low balls

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp Fresh thyme leaves stem removed, plus three sprigs for garnish
  • 1/4 cup Boiling hot water
  • 1/4 cup Lavender syrup Simple syrup works, too
  • 1/4 cup Fresh lime juice about 2.5 limes
  • 3 slices Fresh lime for garnish
  • 4 oz Gin Hendrick's or Bombay
  • 3 Old fashioned ice cubes
  • 1 can Lemon flavored sparkling water Use sugar-flavored sparkling water such as San Pellegrino

Instructions
 

  • Dump fresh thyme leaves in a cocktail shaker. Pour boiling hot water over them and cover the cocktail shaker. Steep for five minutes.
  • Combine fresh lime juice, lavender syrup, and gin in a liquid measuring cup. Pour into thyme water once steeping is done.
  • Cover cocktail shaker again and shake, about 20 seconds.
  • Drop an old fashioned ice cube into each low ball glass. Strain cocktail shaker contents evently between the glasses, about 3/4 full. Top each glass off with sparkling water. Garnish with lime slice and a sprig of thyme.
Keyword lavender lime thyme gin sling

Cake Decorating Chocolate Ruffles

by

Chocolate ruffles make excellent cake toppers. They’re elegant, sophisticated, and you don’t have to decorate the top of the cake! It’s a chocolate embodiment of the Elizabethan collar! They add drama and flair, and next time you’re cake decorating, you should consider these chocolate ruffles to impress the birthday party crowd. 

What are chocolate ruffles?

Chocolate ruffles are thin sheets of modeling chocolate that are lightly pleated to create lovely ruffles. Modeling chocolate is made by melting chocolate and adding to it light corn syrup. It quickly forms a soft dough, and after chilling and kneading, becomes easily moldable. Running it through a pasta machine creates thin sheets that are ready for pleating. They harden slightly and can be placed on a frosted cake. 

Necessary equipment for making chocolate ruffles

  • Pasta Maker – I know it’s a very specific appliance, but unfortunately there is no substitute. I use a hand crank pasta maker from Sur la Table, but the KitchenAid pasta maker attachment has always intrigued me! I’m sure it would work just as well.
  • Chopstick – this is what creates the ruffles by sliding it under the sheet and pinching the dough with your fingers. The chopstick makes a very tight ruffle, but you can use a larger diameter tool for a wider ruffle. The handle of a cocktail muddler would work, too. 
  • Bench scraper – for cutting the dough. A kitchen knife works fine as well.
  • Silicone pastry mat (optional) – this helps in case the ruffles stick to the working surface. You can also dust your counter with a bit of cocoa powder if you don’t have a pastry mat. 

Ingredients for making chocolate ruffles

You only need two ingredients: chocolate and corn syrup. It is essential you have the right amount of corn syrup. If it’s under-measured, the dough will be completely unworkable, so spray the liquid measuring cup with non-stick spray and add an extra teaspoon of corn syrup to make sure! 
 
  • 10 oz chocolate 
  • 1/3 cup + 1 tsp light corn syrup
  • Nonstick cooking spray for measuring cup and spoon
  • Cocoa powder for dusting

This cake with chocolate ruffles was a simple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting on the outside and rainbow frosting on the inside. There was so much going on on the inside of the cake that I wanted the outside to be simple and elegant. To hide the crimped ends of the ruffles, I piped some of the rainbow frosting in the center, though I’ve also seen chocolate ruffles coming out the top in other cakes. This was for a kid’s birthday cake, though, so a little color goes a long way! This reminded me of the movie Up. 

Print

Cake Decorating Chocolate Ruffles

Modeling chocolate molded into lovely ruffles to decorate cakes
Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time1 hour
Resting Time1 day
Total Time1 day 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Modeling chocolate ruffles cake decorating
Yield: 12 5" long ruffles

Equipment

  • 1 Pasta maker Hand crank or electric
  • 1 Chopstick
  • 1 Bench scraper

Materials

  • 10 oz Chocolate semi-sweet
  • 1/3 cup Light corn syrup plus 1 tsp
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • Cocoa powder

Instructions

Day 1: Make the modeling chocolate

  • Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt in 30-second increments at half power until completely melted.
  • Spray the measuring cup and teaspoon with nonstick spray. Spray a silicon spatula, too. Measure 1/3 cup and 1 teaspoon of corn syrup. Pour corn syrup into chocolate, ensuring all the corn syrup is transferred to the chocolate using the spatula. Stir with the spatula until a soft ball forms.
  • The chocolate modeling dough will be very soft but still workable. Knead the dough, folding it on itself for 3-4 minutes. Form into a rough square, 1" tall. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: Make the chocolate ruffles

  • Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for 30-60 minutes to soften.
  • Roll dough into a log, about 2" in diameter. Use the bench scraper to cut off an inch off the log and flatten it with your hands. Sprinkle it with cocoa powder and run it through the widest setting on the pasta maker.
  • Continue running the dough through the pasta maker, decreasing the thickness each time until you've reached the desired thickness, about 1/8"-3/16" and the dough has become a sheet of chocolate.
  • Lay the sheet flat on the pastry mat and run the chopstick under the chocolate sheet. Pinch the chocolate above the chopstick to form a ruffle. Pull the chopstick out and run it under the chocolate sheet again, next to the first ruffle. Repeat this process until the entire sheet has been ruffled.
  • Repeat cutting dough off the log until all the dough is used. The chocolate ruffles will keep and harden on the counter as you continue working with the remaining dough. When all the dough has been used and all the ruffles have been formed, allow the ruffles to sit on the counter to harden for about 30 minutes before using for cake decorating.
  • To apply ruffles to the cake, apply a bit of frosting at the underside of the ruffle or at the unexposed end and place on the cake. It will be easy to cut through the ruffles when you're ready to cut the cake if you let the cake sit out for an hour before cutting.

Baker's Theory is selling cakes!

By the way, I am selling my cakes now! Check out the Order page to see my selection. This was a chocolate rainbow cake with chocolate ruffles for a birthday party. 

Blueberry Muffin Scones with Vanilla Bean Glaze

by

Blueberry muffin scones with vanilla bean glaze! Let me be clear, these are definitely scones. But with the cinnamon and vanilla flavors and dried blueberries, they are scones that taste like blueberry muffins. 

Along the same Easter brunch line as the Mediterranean Vegetable Egg White Quiche, I love serving scones at a brunch. Gotta have gluten somewhere in the menu, right? With berries starting to come into season, these are a great choice for serving at Easter brunch (or any brunch, really)! 

I love plating scones and other pastries on an elevated cake plate at brunch parties. It gives the table spread a vertical dimension. These are blueberry scones with vanilla glaze that my mother-in-law made for the very first brunch club. 

Scones come in all sizes. You can have a scone the size of a pizza slice or the petite vanilla bean scones from Starbucks. When I’m serving a spread, I prefer scones on the petite size. I think the guests prefer it, too, because they can have more than one!

Despite cutting them into little 1.5″ wedges, scones always rise enormously in the oven because of the healthy amount of baking powder in them, so even one petite scone can be quite large!

I have used variations of this recipe many times. My favorites include chocolate chip and cranberry-orange. All you have to do is swap out the blueberries and cinnamon with whatever flavors you like. You can even make savory scones, which are essentially biscuits. (I’ve always wanted to try cheddar chive scones…)

You likely have many of the ingredients for making scones, such as flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, milk and/or sour cream, and butter. 

The fillings can get a bit exotic if you like. I prefer dried blueberries over fresh ones since baking fresh blueberries can make the scones a big soggy. I also use vanilla bean paste in the icing because the vanilla flavor is more intense, plus I get a huge kick out of seeing the little black specks of vanilla bean. It’s a pretty little detail.

Adding cinnamon to the recipe is what gives it the blueberry muffin vibe and my heart skips a beat with the fist bite of a crackly icing. It’s so classically breakfast. 

Blueberry Muffin Scones with Vanilla Bean Icing

Alex
Sweet blueberry scones with a delightful hint of blueberry muffin, topped with a delicious ,crackly vanilla bean glaze.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 13 minutes
Resting Time 15 minutes
Total Time 48 minutes
Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 24 Petit Scones

Ingredients
  

Blueberry Muffin Scones

  • 2 cups All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Sea salt
  • 2½ tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 cup Unsalted butter cut in 1/4" cubes
  • 1/4 cup Sour cream
  • 1/4 cup Milk Any fat level is fine
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla bean paste
  • 1 cup Dried blueberries
  • 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp Heavy cream
  • Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Vanilla Bean Glaze

  • 1 cup Powdered sugar
  • 4 tbsp Heavy cream
  • 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
  • pinch salt

Instructions
 

Blueberry Muffin Scones

  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a liquid measuring cup, combine the sour cream, milk, egg, and vanilla. Whisk until well blended. (Hack: If you don't want to measure out the sour cream in a measuring cup, instead drop a healthy dollop of it in the measuring cup and then fill the measuring cup up to 1/2 cup mark with the milk.)
  • In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the cubes of butter.
  • Using your hands (disposable gloves help), squish the butter into the flour mixture, coating the butter in flour. If you prefer, a pastry cutter works to do this well.
  • When the butter is small, crumbly, and pea-size, add the sour cream and milk mixture to the flour and butter mixture. Dump in the dried blueberries and cinnamon.
  • Continue to mix gently with your hands until a rough ball forms. You can add a bit more milk if the dough is dry.
  • Divide dough into four equal balls. Take one ball and flatten it on a clean counter dusted with flour until the dough is about 3/4" tall. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut the disc into six equal wedges. Arrange the wedges on the first half of one of the parchment-lined pans. Repeat for the remaining three balls of dough.
  • Brush the tops of the wedges with heavy cream and sprinkle with demerara sugar. (Sugar in the Raw works fine, too.) Place pans in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 400°F. When oven is ready, bake scones one pan at a time for 13 minutes, turning half way. Allow to cool slightly before glazing. While scones bake, make the glaze.

Vanilla Bean Glaze

  • In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar, cream, vanilla bean extract, and salt. It will be thick but fluid.
  • When scones have cooled slightly (about 20 minutes), you can either spoon the glaze directly on them, or put the glaze in a piping or Ziplock bag and pipe it on the scones.

Notes

These freeze really well, glaze on and all. It's just the two of us at home, and we can't possibly eat 24 scones in a week, so I put half the batch of scones in a gallon freezer Ziplock bag and take them out of the freezer as needed. They thaw in about a 15-20 minutes, but I usually can't wait that long! They seriously can keep for months in the freezer. Perfect for an unexpected brunch or a quick on-the-go breakfast. 
Keyword Blueberry muffin scones

Crustless Mediterranean Egg White Quiche

by

Thinking up recipes for Easter brunch? Look no further! Here’s a crustless, protein-packed Mediterranean veggie egg white quiche! It’s a delicious brunch item you can feel good about dishing up. Both easy and healthy, this comes together in a single, cast iron pan and is packed with good, nutritious ingredients! 

I have been really digging on this recipe for the last few weeks and have some version of it for breakfast with a buttery slice of toast. You can change up the vegetables depending on the season. It’s a great recipe to feed the family on Easter or any other day of the year! 

One stop shop @ Trader Joe's!

I am a huge fan of Trader Joe’s. You could say I’m that person who shows up with recyclable grocery bags every week and clothes-lines the organic produce, but honestly, isn’t that every Trader Joe’s shopper? 

Anyway, everything you need for this recipe can be found at Trader Joe’s, and since I consider them very niche, you will very likely find these items at any grocery store. Here’s your shopping list:

  • 6 oz Spinach
  • 14 oz can Whole Artichoke Hearts
  • 16 oz Liquid Egg Whites
  • Jar of Roasted Red Peppers
  • 8 oz of Small Curd Cottage Cheese
  • At least 3 oz of Mediterranean Herbed Feta Cheese Crumbles
  • A bag of Shredded Swiss Cheese
  • Seasoning of your choice – I like Green Goddess or salt

 

 

The process is so simple! Lightly sautee your vegetables in a tablespoon of olive oil in a seasoned cast iron skilled. (I use a 10″ Lodge cast iron skillet.) Spread the cottage cheese over the veggies, pour the entire liquid egg white carton over it, and sprinkle with the cheeses and seasonings. Bake it at 350F for 50 minutes. That’s it. If you can spend ten minutes sauteeing, you’re 90% there. The oven does the rest.

I usually cut this into six triangles and that’s my breakfast Monday through Saturday. But this looks so pretty and golden with its domed top, you should serve it up for brunch!

Low Calorie, High Protein

I love this recipe because I don’t feel guilty eating a healthy slice of quiche every morning. I enjoy analyzing nutritional macros and calories, so here’s a breakdown of this recipe’s per serving:

  • Carbohydrates: 10.3 g
  • Fats: 6 g
  • Proteins: 18.5 g
  • Calories: 180 kcal
  • Fiber: 2 g

Crustless Mediterranean Egg White Quiche

Alex
Quick and healthy vegetable quiche with wonderfully aromatic Mediterranean flair!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Baking Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine American
Servings 6 people
Calories 180 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 6 oz Baby spinach, raw About 4 cups
  • 14 oz Can of Artichoke Hearts drained (about 8.5 oz) and chopped
  • 10 oz Jar of Roasted Red Bell Peppers drained (about 8 oz) and chopped
  • 1/3 cup Crumbled Feta Mediterranean herbed
  • 1 cup Low-fat Small-curd Cottage Cheese
  • 16 oz Carton of Liquid Egg Whites
  • 1/4 cup Shredded swiss cheese
  • 1/2 tsp Green Goddess Seasoning or salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and place a rack in the center.
  • Heat olive oil in a 10-14" seasoned cast iron skillet. When oil is hot and shimmery, add spinach, chopped artichokes, and chopped bell peppers. Sauté the vegetables for 3-5 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat. Spoon cottage cheese over the vegetables in the skillet, spreading it to cover them. Sprinkle feta crumbles on top.
  • Pour the liquid egg whites over the vegetables and cheeses. Sprinkle with the Swiss cheese and Green Goddess (or other) seasoning.
  • (Carefully!) place the skillet in the oven and bake for 50 minutes. Allow it to cool for about 5-10 minutes before cutting.
  • To reheat from the refrigerator, place a slice on a microwave-safe plate and microwave for 1 minute on full power.

Notes

Feel free to add meat to this recipe! Sometimes I'll fry some prosciutto or bacon in the skillet prior to sautéing the vegetables. 
Other great vegetables to try in this recipe are roasted tomatoes, roasted potatoes, green or caramelized onions, leeks, mushrooms, and broccoli!
Keyword crustless quiche, egg white quiche, gluten free, Mediterranean quiche, vegetable quiche

Puppies & Cakes

by

A few months ago, Jim and I became puppy parents! It has been a wild ride, but little Miss Sophie has been such a joy. We have watched her grow so much and it makes us cry! All the time!

Supervising her and training her has been our constant job, and we have had little time for much else. So my at-home, Sophie-watching activity has been cake decorating. It can be done in many phases so I can step away from it for a few hours to watch her. This is a chocolate orange cake that Sophie had a particular interest in!

Sophie is a breed of dog called a Brittany. Brittanys used to be called Brittany Spaniels, but the spaniel part was dropped in recent years. Spaniels typically flush, which means running through brush to get birds to fly so hunters can shoot at them. Brittanys do not flush; instead, they point, meaning they point at the birds so hunters know where to aim. Thus Brittanys fall under the pointing class instead of the flushing/spaniel class. 

Anyway! We aren’t hunters! We chose this breed because Brittanys are very smart and easy to train dogs. And we love her look! Sophie is a bit unconventional for a Brittany because she does not have a full mask; she only has one eye covered in the classic Brittany orange. We think she looks great!

Sophie has a lot of personality and is extremely smart. We follow the dog trainer YouTube channel by Zak George, and he’s given a lot of really good training tips. So far we have trained Sophie to sit, stay, come, lay down, roll over, stand, spin, and leave it. Our latest training has focused on walking on leash!

Between training sessions and exercising Sophie (she needs A LOT of exercise) I have been learning about and making a lot of layered cakes. This is a 6″ chocolate cake with caramel buttercream and a caramel drip. 

Something I learned about chocolate cakes is that they require a crumb layer of frosting. Chocolate cake kicks up more crumbs than yellow cake when touched, so it needs a light coat of frosting that the crumbs will adhere to. You chill it so the frosting hardens around the crumbs and now you can do the “real” / outer layer of frosting. 

Some handy cake decorating hacks I learned from making this triple chocolate cake were: 
1. To make a drip cake: make chocolate ganache (chocolate to heavy cream ratio is 2:1) and pour into a piping bag. Snip the tip to “draw” scallops around the circumference of the top of the cake. The curved part of the scallop will go on the top of the cake and the ends of the scallops become the drips. Then you can cover the rest of the top of the cake with ganache to cover up your scallops.

2. To create a sprinkles border on your cake: after frosting the cake, place parchment or wax paper around the cake so it sticks. Then cup sprinkles in one hand and gently press them into the exposed part of the cake.

More pictures of puppy life… When we first got Sophie, we were amazed at her super high energy and subsequent (and immediate) ability to pass out. She sleeps about 12 hours every day!

Anyway, back to these fun cakes. Above is a plain 6″ chocolate layer cake with a pretty sea foam green buttercream that I drew in roses and stars and sprayed with edible gold glitter. I like 6″ cakes better than 8 or 9″ because they’re easier to frost and more manageable for a small family to tackle over a few days. A bigger cake tends to stick around past its due date around here! 

Creating a rose with frosting is actually the easiest / beginner skill to master when learning to frost cakes. These cupcakes were made with a big star tip in a simple swirl from inside to the outside. 

The s’mores cake was a treat for my husband’s birthday and I found the recipe on Life, Love, and Sugar’s blog! I highly recommend it!!! The toasted graham cracker layers added SO MUCH oomph. 

What cake decorating troubleshooting questions do you have?! 

Cheesy Baked Beef and Bean Taquitos

by

Hola, amigos, and Happy Cinco de Mayo! Did you know Cinco de Mayo is more popular in the U.S. than in Mexico? And it actually has nothing to do with Mexican Independence Day, which is September 16th. 

Personally, though, I don’t need a reason to make or consume Mexican food. I could eat it every day, even the Fourth of July, because I’m fairly certain that tacos are an essential food group. 

Jim and I like to reminisce on our favorite childhood snacks/appetizers, and we both agreed store-bought, frozen aisle taquitos were high ranking snacks, indeed. I’d also add tater tots and mozzarella sticks. 

What’s great about these taquitos is that they are baked, not fried. No screwing around with a candy thermometer or having your kitchen, clothes, and hair reeking of vegetable oil. You just brush the taquitos with corn oil and bake them for 18 minutes. 

I have a confession, by the way. I was a bit perplexed by the geometry of taquitos when I started my taquito-making venture. Taquito translates to “small taco,” right? But tacos are folded, not rolled. Yet taquitos are always rolled. 

Things got more confusing when I started rolling the taquitos because they ended up being quite large–like the size of a fat Cuban cigar. These were not “small tacos.” They were…regular-sized tacos that were rolled. I have no idea what the Spanish word for that would be. Google says it is “taco normal enrollado,” but ya don’t see that at Costco. 

These are really easy to make. You don’t even have to drain fat, and the beans cook in the same pan as the ground beef. No need to wash in between uses. 

In addition, I made my own taco seasoning blend here which is really helpful if you’re out of taco seasoning mix. This is good because if you realize half way through that, in fact, you don’t want to make taquitos anymore, at least you have a perfectly good pan of taco meat ready to go. Alternatively, if you’d rather just use a taco mix, by all means save yourself from pulling out all the spices at the back of the spice cabinet! 

The setup is really easy for this dish. Fry ground beef, add spices, place in a bowl. Fry beans, add spices, mash beans and spices, add to the same bowl. Add cheese to the bowl and mix it all up. Spoon meat into corn tortillas, roll, place in a baking dish, brush with oil, bake, and eat. Not much to them, really, but gosh they taste like my childhood! Hope you enjoy!

Cheesy BAKED Beef and Bean Taquitos

Just like the frozen food aisle kind but bigger! Great for a party or Cinco de Mayo! Ground beef sauteed in a homemade taco blend combined with refried beans and cheese is stuffed into corn tortillas, brushed with oil, and baked. Crunchy and delicious.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Bake Time 18 minutes
Total Time 43 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 16 taquitos

Ingredients
  

Taco Meat

  • 1½ lbs Ground beef 85/15
  • 1½ tsp Salt
  • ½ tsp Ground cumin
  • ½ tsp Chipotle powder Red cayenne pepper can substitute
  • ½ tsp Garlic powder
  • ½ tsp Onion powder
  • 2 tsp Chili powder
  • ½ tsp Dried oregano
  • ½ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tbsp Tomato paste

Refried Beans

  • 15 oz Cooked pinto beans drained if from a can
  • 3 tbsp Corn oil
  • ¼ tsp Ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp Salt

Assembly

  • 1 cup Shredded Mexican-style cheese
  • 16 Corn tortillas ~6" in diameter
  • Corn oil for brushing

Instructions
 

Taco Meat

  • Place ground beef in a large skillet on medium-high heat. 85/15 Beef should have enough fat where you do not need to add oil. Break apart the meat into small, ground up pieces.
  • Combine salt, cumin, chipotle powder, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, oregano, and turmeric in a small bowl. Sprinkle all of it onto the ground beef. Add in the tomato paste and continue to stir until beef is no longer pink, about 7 minutes.
  • The beef fat will absorb the spices and there should not be anything to drain. Transfer the seasoned beef into a large bowl. Using the same skillet, prepare the refried beans.

Refried Beans

  • In the same skillet used to fry the taco meat, pour in corn oil and heat on medium heat. Dump in cooked pinto beans and mash to a paste with a fork. Sprinkle in salt and cumin and stir, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to the same bowl as the taco meat.

Assembly

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F / 205°C. Brush a 9" x 13" pan with corn oil.
  • Add cheese to the bowl of beef and beans and combine thoroughly with your hands or a spatula.
  • Take 2 tbsp of the filling and spread it onto a tortilla along the diameter. Roll the tortilla up around the filling and place in the pan. Repeat for remaining tortillas. Brush with more corn oil and bake for 18 minutes. Serve with salsa.
Keyword Cheesy Baked Beef and Bean Taquitos

Liked this? Try these!

Shredded Turkey Bacon Alfredo Sliders

by

Shredded turkey, creamy alfredo sauce, crisp bacon, and King’s Hawaiian rolls. Can it get any better than this? No. No, it cannot. This is sandwich nirvana.

Last Saturday was the Kentucky Derby. There is a hotel called The Brown close to Churchill Downs that invented a sandwich called the Hot Brown that is consumed on Derby Day, and it was the inspiration for these sliders, which do not need to wait for the first Saturday in May to be gobbled up.

It starts with slow-cooking turkey to the point where it shreds. Then you reduce the liquid the turkey cooked in and add it to a creamy alfredo sauce. Spread it on some buns, top it with cheese and bacon, bake until golden brown, throw on the top bun and FEAST.

Jim and Joe were pretty psyched about these sliders. I was, too, as two of these little sammies went perfectly well with my cucumber mint splash. 

I appreciate any recipe that involves slow cooking. Sure, I indulge an occasional putzy recipe, but I don’t always like to hand-hold my pots and pans. It’s nice to have a meal that involves throwing stuff in a pot and walking away for a few hours. Low maintenance. 

There is some assembly required for these sliders, but it’s really manageable. And as always, so much easier when Jim and Joe do the dishes 🙂 

Turkey Bacon Alfredo Sliders

Fondly known as Hot Browns as made famous by the Brown Hotel and always served on and around the Kentucky Derby. Slow cooked, shredded turkey in a creamy Parmesan garlic sauce on a bun topped with bacon and more cheese. Baked to golden cheesiness.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Bake Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course, Sandwich
Cuisine American
Servings 24 mini sliders

Ingredients
  

Shredded turkey

  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • 4 Shallots sliced
  • 2 lbs Boneless turkey breast
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Better than Bullion Chicken Base
  • 1 cup Water

Alfredo sauce

  • 4 tbsp Salted butter
  • 1 tbsp All-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • ¼ tsp Garlic powder
  • ½ cup Half & half
  • ¼ cup Milk
  • 5 oz Grated Parmesan cheese

Assembly

  • 24 King's Hawaiian Rolls
  • Olive oil for brushing
  • Shaved Parmesan cheese for topping
  • 10 slices Bacon

Instructions
 

Shredded turkey

  • In a medium pot drizzle olive oil and drop the shallots in it. Place the turkey breasts on top of the shallots, sprinkle with salt, spoon the chicken base over the breasts, pour in water, and cover. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 3 hours.
  • Remove the breasts from the pot and shred the meat in a large bowl. Boil the remaining juices in the pot until reduced by about half. Pour over the shredded turkey.

Alfredo sauce

  • In a medium saucepan melt butter on medium heat, whisking constantly. When hot and foaming, add in flour, salt, and garlic powder. A light paste will form. Continue whisking for a minute.
  • Pour in half and half, milk, and cheese. Continue whisking until sauces thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Pour sauce over shredded turkey. Toss to combine.

Assembly

  • Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Brush a 9" x 13" pan with olive oil.
  • Break buns apart into groups of two for serving ease. Slice buns lengthwise (like a hamburger) and place the bottom buns in the pan, reserving the top buns.
  • Spread shredded turkey over the buns in the pan. Top with shaved Parmesan cheese. Bake for 12 minutes or until cheese becomes golden.
  • While baking the sandwiches, fry bacon slices. Retrieve the sandwiches from the oven and distribute bacon slices over them. Place the top buns on the bacon slices and brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle flakey salt and parsley over the buns, if desired. Then turn on the broiler and broil for one minute. Serve.
Keyword Turkey Bacon Alfredo Sliders

Try these recipes, too!

Garlicky Lentils with Bacon and Sautéed Greens on Rice

by

My friend Maddie recently got her bloodwork done and it revealed that her body is intolerant to A LOT of foods. Like onions and tomatoes and cheese! CHEESE!? I felt so sad on her behalf. Fortunately she is focusing on the foods in the green column that she can eat and  that her body will not reject. 

She also challenged me to come up with a recipe for the foods on her green-light list. It was no easy task. Onions, butter, and cheese are practically food groups in their own right to me. But as I studied the list (which also omitted broccoli and Brussels sprouts to my severe displeasure) I thought of a comfort food I reach for often. Lentils and rice!

Lentils are a SUPER food. They’re high in fiber and protein and low in fat and calories, too. Plus you can literally slow cook them in water and salt and they’ll taste great. There’s not much to them.  

These little seedy legumes also work fantastically well with pork. Lentil soups are often made with a pork bone or leftover ham. Miraculously, pork had stayed on Maddie’s green list and the recipe was shaping up. 

Since onions were out, I decided to go heavy on the garlic for some alum element. The fat rendered from the bacon would easily carry great garlicky flavor into the lentils and greens. I love frying garlic until it’s golden brown and almost burned–it has a caramelized flavor at that point. 

This recipe actually reminds me of my Filipino grandma who would make me a breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, and garlic fried rice fried in bacon grease. Something about bacon with rice just works. Add to it that pork and lentils work and the friend of my friend is my…friend? 

All you need to know is this is a really delicious dish, AND it’s healthy, AND it accommodates insanely restrictive diets! Thank you, Maddie, for the fun challenge! I think I’ll take another look at that list and see what else we can come up with 🙂

Garlicky Lentils with Bacon and Sautéed Greens

Alex
A very rustic and homestyle dish, surprisingly accommodating for dietary restrictions. Tender green lentils with garlic and greens sautéed in bacon fat.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 3

Equipment

  • Cast iron skillet

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup Green lentils dried
  • 2 cups Water
  • ½ heaping tsp Salt
  • 1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 slices Bacon chopped
  • 5 cloves Garlic sliced thinly
  • 2 cups Kale or spinach
  • 2 cups Cooked rice Jasmine

Instructions
 

Lentils

  • Combine lentils, water, olive oil, and salt in a medium pot on high heat. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer. Cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Bacon, garlic, and greens

  • In a cast iron skillet on medium heat, fry chopped bacon until golden and crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
  • In the same skillet, fry garlic slices in the bacon grease on medium-low heat and transfer it as it turns golden brown into the simmering pot of lentils. Stir and re-cover the lentil pot after all garlic has been transferred.
  • In the remaining bacon grease in the cast iron skillet, sauté the kale or spinach and add a pinch of salt.

Assembly

  • Once lentils have cooked for an hour and are tender, top with bacon pieces and arrange sautéed greens around the circumference of the pot. Serve straight from the pot with rice.
Keyword Garlicky Lentils with Bacon and Sautéed Greens

Liked that? Try these.