Thai Shrimp Green Curry

 

In contrast to Bahrain, the weather here is awful. The bitter dry winds of winter have begun to blow, and the frost in the air is sign that a long and cold winter is ahead. So what else to make but a flavorful, light, mild curry that salutes the good old summer days? This curry has been a favorite of mine ever since my mom made it for me when I last visited. Now I request it all the time. If I had known how simple it was to make myself I made have saved my requests for more challenging dishes! Oh well, there is always next time… 

 

 

You must make this dish, it is so perfect for weeknights when you don’t have a lot of time to get dinner on the table. All the asian spices can be found in major supermarkets. The flavors marry so well together to form a complex fragrant sauce that will have you scooping up seconds and thirds!

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, cut in 8 wedges
• 1 green bell pepper, cut in 8 wedges
• 1 stalk lemongrass, white bulb only
• 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 cups unsweetened coconut milk, 2 (13.5 ounce) cans (or powder reconstituted to same amount)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock 
• 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, deveined and tails removed 
• Sea salt
• 1 lime, juiced
• Fresh Thai basil leaves
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges, for garnish

Directions

Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. Saute the onion andgreen peppers for 3 minutes to soften. Split the piece of lemongrass down the middle and whack it with the flat side of a knife to open the flavor. Add the lemongrass, ginger, currypaste and lime leaves to the skillet and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk andchicken broth. Lay the shrimp in the mixture to poach; add a pinch of salt. Stir together and simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze in the lime juice and shower with basil and cilantro; serve in dinner bowls with lime wedges

Too Much Chocolate Cake

I mean is there really such a thing as too much chocolate?  The title does say it all though… this cake pushes the boundaries of chocolateyness and it is decadent.  This is literally the easiest cake you can throw together.  And it is
DELICIOUS.  This is one of my most repeated recipes especially when I need to make something insanely fast and with all the staple ingredients already at home.  I don’t usually like cooking with cake mix, but this is such a good doctored cake mix recipe that it throws all my elitism out the window.  One of my favorite recipes from Allrecipes, I present to you the deliciously, incredibley moist and chocolatey too much chocolate cake.  The addition of the bag of chocolate chips and chocolate pudding mix is genius!

Too Much Chocolate Cake (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 package devils food cake mix (if you can’t find it, just use dark chocolate)

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups (1 bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate  If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Biscoff Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

We hosted a big neighborhood barbeque and needed a kid friendly, easy dessert to make.  What’s easier then rice krispie treats?  Of course, it’s hard to resist the urge to glam up such a basic dessert, so the following recipe resulted from my much beloved Joy the Baker cookbook, the jar of biscoff spread sitting in my pantry, and my current browned butter kick.  The result is the traditional taste of rice krispie treats with an edge-something kids and adults alike devoured.  Enjoy! Feel free to substitute the biscoff spread with peanut butter as the original recipe calls for if you don’t have any biscoff on hand.

 Ingredients (adapted from Joy the Baker):
1 stick unsalted butter (113g)
1 (10 ounce) bag marshmallows
½ cup biscoff spread (or peanut butter)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups crispy rice cereal

Directions:
Grease an 8-inch baking dish and set aside. In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat until it starts to brown. (Remember how to do it from this post?) Add marshmallows, biscoff spread, and salt.Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until smooth. 

In separate bowl, measure out the rice cereal.  Pour butter mixture over cereal and quickly stir to evenly coat the cereal. Press into pan with wooden spoon.  Let cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Super Easy- No Bake Nutella Cheesecakes

Today is Friday, and do you know what that means? Friday is nutella cookie day at sugar daddies bakery. I know sounds good right? Well I wouldn’t know, you see hubby refused to take me since I’ve had cupcakes practically every day this week and he’s taken it upon himself to make sure I don’t develop diabetes. So in order to satisfy my nutella craving, I invited my friends over and told him I had to whip something up to serve them. These individual no-bake nutella cheescakes are so yummy and come together in less than 10 mins. You probably have all the ingredients on hand, so make these now and thank me later !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 12 Oreo cookies
• 2 Tablespoons butter softened
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 200 grams cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup nutella
• 3  tablespoons plus 1 cup heavy cream

Place the cookies in blender and pulse until they form crumbs. add the butter and the milk. Divide cookie crumbs between 4 serving cups

Whip together cream cheese, nutella, and 3 tablespoons heavy cream. Spoon over cookie crumbs.

Whip the remaining1 cup of heavy cream into soft peaks, spoon over the nutella mixture.

Enjoy!

-M

Honey Chamomile Cupcakes

 

This recipe forever won a way into my heart.  You are going to love me for sharing this with you.  It’s one of my favorite cupcake recipes , and the combination of ingredients is so delicate, unexpected and pleasing.  Don’t be nervous about the tea! It gives such a mild enhancement to the flavor even unadventurous people will like this.  I got this recipe from the Joy the Baker cookbook, the source of many excellent recipes, and I highly advise you try these for any gathering, bridal shower, tea party, breakfast or brunch you have.  In short, try these whenever and wherever and you’ll find them to be a crowd pleaser.  They come together in no time which is such a plus for a dessert.  I made them after my morrocan tagine and curried couscous dinner, and the exotic flavor in the cupcake really worked well with the above.   The cupcakes are infused with delicate chamomile flavor which pairs perfectly with the honey icing on top.  I’d love to experiment with other tea flavors too! They look so pretty, and they taste even better then they look. For maximum effect serve with tea…we had authentic morrocan tea with these…Enjoy!

Honey Chamomile Cupcakes adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook

For the Cupcakes:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons dried chamomile (tea bags)

1/2 cup milk (low fat works fine)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar, taste and add extra 1/2 cup if desired

1 tablespoon honey

about 5 tablespoons heavy cream

pinch of salt

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a cupcake pan with paper or foil liners and set aside.

To make the cakes:  in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pinch of salt, and chamomile leaves.  Mix on medium speed until the mixture is slightly coarse and sandy.  This takes about 5 minutes.

While the mixture beats, in a small bowl, whisk together milk, egg, and vanilla extract.

Pour half of the milk mixture into the flour mixture.  Beat until just incorporated.  Pour in the remaining milk mixture, turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat for 1 minutes, until well blended.

Divide the batter between the prepared cups.  There isn’t a lot of batter so you’ll only fill the cups up half way.  You’ll also need to scrape the bowl for remaining batter.  This recipe doesn’t waste a drop.

Bake the cupcakes for 17 to 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Remove the cupcakes from the pan to cool completely before frosting.

To make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, honey, cream, and salt.  Whisk until smooth.  Use a butter knife to generously spread the frosting atop the cooled cupcakes.  Sprinkle with just a bit of chamomile tea leaves and arrange on a pretty plate.  Cakes will last, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to three days.

Guacamole Salad

 

If you saw the earlier post, you know I made this salad to go along with the Chili Pie.  A great pairing, and this salad would work equally well with many dishes.  It would even be a great light main dish, you could grill some chicken and add it in if you’re the type who needs some form of meat in your salad to call it lunch.  This recipe is really easy, really light and tasty.  Enjoy!

Adapted from Ina Garten

Guacamole Salad:

Ingredients

• 1 small container cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup small diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Directions

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you’re ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.