Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 425

Tuesday Things.

1. Definitely thought my world had imploded over the weekend when I put in my contacts… only to realize I had not taken the previous pair of contacts out of my eyes. It took me over five minutes to figure out what was happening.

2. How totally awesome is this caramel corn and rice krispie treat mix?! SO making it.

3. Our area is involved in the weirdo weather with it being, like, 70 degrees in December and I’m trying not to meltdown because this is the ONLY month that I really love snow and cold. I don’t want it after January 1st. You know this means it’s going to snow until April.

4. We had the most massive gingerbread house fail on Thursday night. We used the same kit we’ve used in the past (no I could never bake my own, ever ever) and it was a disaster with a capital D. Threw it out after ten minutes. That’s never happened before.

5. How not to miss your life. Love this.

6. Um, first up, and most importantly, we must discuss the fabulousness that is Joshua Jackson and his very Pacey Witter-esque behavior on The Affair on Sunday. I love to love him! And are they turning me against Allison now? Because it kinda feels like it. Also, I want more Helen. And Homeland! HOW are they going to wrap this up next week? It’s way too much. I would like to get to a point though where it’s not always a complete shock that Carrie is right about something and no one else believes her.

7. So we have a jacuzzi-like bathtub with jets. And let me just say that I’ve NEVER been a bath person, but I’ve been slightly converted over the last year – it is seriously relaxing. BUT. My major issue is that I’m scared to death that something is going to come out of the jets when I’m sitting in the tub. What exactly? I’ll give you a list that is not limited to these things: spiders, snakes, ants, mice (?), leeches, eels, spiders, wasps, birds and spiders. And sneak up on me in the bath. Tell me: is this a possibility?

8. I always always want to know more about Leo.

9. P.S. if you are local and need a Christmas give for a foodie lover, I’m teaching a meal prep class in early January.

10. P.P.S. giving away FIVE copies of Seriously Delish over on instagram! Get it get it.

Cheesy Bucatini Pie with Mini Meatballs.

Oh hello! I made you a pie. A pie of pasta. Can we still be friends?

Just trust me on this one.

I know you’re wondering who I am and where the pasta-hating Jessica went.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical.

Eddie was skeptical.

Max was probably skeptical but just happy I wasn’t putting something green on his high chair tray. 

Something weird and wacky is happening, and it’s not only that I’ve committed to kale salad every single day of the month of December. It’s that I’ve also apparently committed to LIKING tomato sauce based dishes, things of the Italian foods variety (which, if you’ve been following along, you know that is my very least favorite cuisine) and actually wanting to make dishes like this for dinner more than once per week.

WHAAAAAT is happening.

My grandma told me once when I was pretty young (maybe around eight years old?) and coincidentally complaining about not liking spaghetti, that your taste buds can change over time. And I’ve obviously seen that happen with things like brussels sprouts and the aforementioned kale salad, but I reeeeeally never thought it was happen with tomato sauce.

Whoa whoa. Let’s take a timeout to talk about this almost burnt cheesy outside crust.

I’m swooning, doubletime.

If only because I was the one to always eat the burnt, bubbly cheese off of the Stouffer’s mac and cheese the moment it came out of the oven when I was a kid. Burning the heck out of my mouth, but it was worth it.

Please tell me you experienced this delicacy in the 80s or 90s? Dreamboat on the sea of cheese sauce.

In other news, I’m pretty sure that Eddie wants to divorce me because I can’t stop walking around the house singing the entire Pentatonix Christmas album. Except I totally suck at singing it, I can’t do any of the cool voice things they do, and better yet, I don’t even know the words so I just mosey on by him belting out the same line a few (hundred) times or I attempt to emulate their voices by making noises that can only be described as anything BUT singing.

It’s becoming a severe problem and I can’t stop.

In fact, on Friday night I was tossing and turning in bed because I had “Just For Now” spinning in my brain over and over and over again and I couldn’t get it out. The music (that I didn’t necessarily care for at first) is absolutely addictive and most songs give you a major ear worm.

Best for me.

Worst for Eddie.

He’ll get over it.

But back to pasta pie.

This sauce is based on that incredible version with crushed tomatoes by Marcella Hazan and it has… wait for it… brown butter.

Did you just roll your eyes? Am I bastardizing the tomato sauce that is delicious by itself ?In my defense, the sauce calls for a few tablespoons of butter, SO.

I just browned it first.

And if I’m really being honest, my big major huge imperative life or death question right here is HOW COULD YOU NOT. It’s basically common sense.

I’ve seen a pie like this for a few years now, namely in some of my favorite foodie magazines (this one here being inspired by food and wine), and the thought of a an actual SLICE of pasta kind of freaked me once. Even as I was mixing the ingredients and shoving bucatini into a springform pan, I was all no no no this is headed on the crazy train to nowhere.

Then, dumb old me realized that it really is just like eating a bowl of spaghetti. (Which I just spelled “SPEGHATTI” whatiswrongwithme #insertcoveredeyeemojihere)

However, I’d even argue that it’s better than eating a bowl of spaghetti since it’s held together by CHEESE. One cheesey pie of noodles and fontina and provolone and parmesan. And let’s be real: I probably love it so much since the tomato sauce ratio to pasta is quite low.

It’s definitely RICH. Couldn’t really imagine eating more than one slice, but you could probably take that up with Eddie who just ate six slices of cake in one day. Eating his emotions so he won’t yell at me for singing? Most likely.

Cheesy Bucatini Pie with Mini Meatballs

Yield: serves 6+

Total Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

cheesy bucatini pie

1 pound bucatini pasta, cooked according to directions

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

8 ounces fontina cheese, freshly grated

8 ounces provolone cheese, freshly grated

basil leaves for topping

mini meatballs

1 pound lean ground beef

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup romano cheese

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

cheesy bucatini pie

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Butter the inside of a 9-inch springform pan and set it aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, pasta, parmesan, and almost all of the fontina and cheese, reserving a little bit for the top. Place it into the springform pan and cover with remaining cheese. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden and set. If you want the cheese even more bubbly, you can place it under the broiler for a minute or two. Serve with meatballs and sauce.

mini meatballs

In a large bowl, add the beef, egg, oil, cheese, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Mix to combine, gently tossing a few times with your hands. Don’t overmix – it will result in tough meatballs! Form the meat into teaspoon-sized balls, 1/2-inch in diamter, or about that size. It will make about 30 meatballs at that size.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add the olive oil. Place the meatballs in the skillet and brown on all sides, the transfer the meatballs to a bowl. Add the onions to the same skillet and cook until soft. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and italian seasoning. Reduce the heat to low and simmer.

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. Immediately begin whisking. Stir as it bubbles, and after 2 to 3 minutes or so you should see brown bits appear on the bottom of the pan. Continue to whisk for another 30 seconds. Pour the butter into the crushed tomatoes. Cover the large skillet and cook for 15 minutes. Place the meatballs back into the sauce and cook for another 15 or 20 minutes. Serve the sauce and meatballs over the bucatini pie.

[slightly adapted from food and wine]

I’ll leave you with that.

Currently Crushing On.

{via}

Um, hi. I was all prepared to talk about the week, and then I opened the door and a bird flew into our house at 11 o’clock at night. And yes, I know what you’re thinking, it was a bird, NOT a bat. Thank god. But still. I mean I’m shaking in my boots and the bird is gone but my skin is crawling like whoa. It flew in my hair before going in the house, so there’s that.

ANYWAY. How was your week? Besides my late night bird trauma, our week was so, so great. Max turned one yesterday (bawling) and today is his big, ridiculous i’m-a-first-time-mom birthday party. Be sure to follow along on snapchat for sneak peeks behind the scenes! (snapchat = howsweeteats)

I haven’t started baking yet because of Max’s party, but that’s next on the list. ALSO. I cannot stop burning this candle and it’s my signature scent for all of winter, for the rest of my life I’ve decided. It’s SO good. I’m already on my THIRD of the season.

Other cool things this week: I elevated avocado toast over on the pioneer woman and on top of that, Ree named Seriously Delish one of her favorite cookbooks! If you gift it, I’ll love you forever.

internet GOODs:

losing my mind over these jelly doughnuts and i normally don’t even LIKE jelly donuts. but i want to eat thirty of these.

this pomegranate orange champagne punch is everything i want this weekend.

not sure if i have the patience, but if i do, dark chocolate salted caramels are on the menu.

how awesome is this edible gift of butternut squash soup?!

one of my favorite combinations, chocolate mint cream cake. so lovely.

oh my gosh, this white bean risotto with garlicky greens sounds DIVINE.

adorableness is birthday cake cookies. yes it is.

an absolutely stunning winter tabbouleh salad: sign me up.

whoa!! peppermint mochi. give a big old bowl of hot chocolate flavored froyo.

loving on these hazelnut shortbread with ganache sandwiches.

majorly craving some garlic bread bolognese meatball subs. i mean, who isn’t?!

holy flavor – satsuma hazelnut cake! can you even imagine?

slow cooker winter minestrone. it’s 65 degrees but stop it, i want soup.

more please! mint milano cookies. i’d devour the entire batch.

Mini Sprinkle Smash Cake.

For someone’s big one year birthday!

GUYS.

How am I here? What is my life? What was this year?

Today is Max’s first birthday and I am 100% absolutely convinced that the universe is chugging out days more quickly than ever before.

So here’s the thing about a blog. It gives you the ability to look back on every single day and see what you were rambling about. I don’t ever do this because, hello – it’s horrifying. It’s either right in line with or worse than listening to the sound of your own voice on a recording of some sort. I loathe going back and revisiting my work of any kind. I don’t think I’ve read one single thing aside from recipe instructions in my cookbook since turning in the edits to my manuscript. Read my old blog posts? Oh wait, let me go sit on a bed of nails first because that would be more enjoyable.

I just CAN’T.

Do you get me? I know you get me.

BUT. Now I’m a mom and there are all these major life firsts, it’s like living life over again in a weird way. Which is so awesome because seeing all these things for the first time, through Max’s eyes, is wild and crazy and hilarious and adorable. The amount of times my heart wants to explode in a day tops at least twenty, and it’s not because of pizza or bacon.

So. I can go back and read over these last twelve months, especially since I don’t remember one single thing and have mombrain 24/7 now. And yes, I’ve heard all of these reports in the last year saying that mombrain is not a thing, but guess what? THEY’RE WRONG.

I don’t care who they are. But they are wrong.

Shhhhhh.

I have tried insanely hard to keep this place as authentically me over the last 365 days, without running it straight into baby town. It hasn’t been too difficult; in fact, it’s quite similar to how I’ve felt in my every day life. So passionate and obsessed with my baby, so in love with this little chunk, but still so passionate and obsessed with my work too. I didn’t just stop loving what I do or stop caring about it once Max was born. I like a little separation between the two. And I’m constantly trying to figure out how to do both, 500+% as I want to, without missing a beat. Obviously, not wanting to miss a moment of Max, as those are much more special and can’t be repeated. And trying to fit everything into my head which feels like it’s overflowing all the time.

The short of it is, it’s been the best and most wonderful and also most exhausting and craziest year ever.

If you’re into the baby stuff, there is so much more on the baby page itself, and I’ll be sharing over there about his birthday and our yearly favorites and what not. And his party! Which is tomorrow, by the way, and in true psychotic first-time mom fashion, I’ve probably gone way overboard.

Nooooo. Not me.

And that brings me to his smash cake. Eddie and I have been talking about Max’s first birthday for, well… a year. Like since he was born, probably. And we tossed the idea of a theme back and forth, settling on a jungle theme for a few weeks (Max loves giraffes but, um, are giraffes in the jungle?) and then scratching it, never finding something we thought… fit. So we decided on lots of bright colors – red, blue, green, yellow and orange – tons of balloons, party hats and clearly – sprinkles!

This recipe is disguised as a smash cake but it’s actually… the confetti cake recipe from my cookbook, aka, the updated version of my funfetti cupcakes and quite possibly one of the most requested recipes here. The recipe makes twelve cupcakes, which fits perfectly into two small cake pans for a layered smash cake. And that was my plan all along, but then once I saw it, I decided to make even SMALLER mini cakes and do a triple layer version, like this.

Today, Eddie and I are going to sing to Max and have our own little special birthday party on the day he was born, just the three of us. He’ll be all sugared up, just in time for his party tomorrow, where I have the slightly bigger smash cake, the recipe in the two can pans, not cut into tiny circles. Ridiculously excited doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Totally calls for sprinkles, right?!

Mini Sprinkle Smash Cake

Yield: makes 1 smash cake or 12 cupcakes

Total Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg + 1 egg white

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

1/3 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles

vanilla cream frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon whole milk, if needed

1/4 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two mini cake pans - mine were 4 1/2 x 2 inches.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set it aside.

Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat it until creamy. Add the sugar and beat with the butter on high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the egg and egg white, mixing well on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add in the oil and vanilla extract, beating on medium speed for another minute. With the mixer on low speed, add in half of the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk. Add in the other half of the dry ingredients and mix them on medium speed until the batter is combined. Use a large spatula to gently stir in the sprinkles.

Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake until the tops are set, about 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely, then gently turn the cakes out on a piece of parchment paper, using a knife to release the edges if needed. Let cool completely before frosting. To make this little cake like I did, use a 2-inch biscuit cutter to cut rounds (you can definitely get 2 rounds, MAYBE 3 if you line it up just right) out of each cake. Use the leftover cake crumbs for sprinkling!

vanilla cream frosting

Add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed until creamy and combined. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the sugar. Beat until the sugar is incorporated and add vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Beat the frosting on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy and creamy. If the frosting seems too thick, beat in the tablespoon of milk for 1 to 2 minutes until combined. Frost the cakes and top them with additional sprinkles.

[recipe from my cookbook, seriously delish!]

oh and P.S. I’ll be drowning in puddle of tears since now I have a toddler. What?

Super Easy Pepperoni Pizza Puff Pastry!

Now this is how you make friends.

Prep them homemade pizza and deliver it in 25 minutes. I don’t hate it.

Okay. This might sound totally weird, but there is something about the holiday season that screams PIZZA to me. The season makes me crave pizza, and I don’t know if it’s because there are, like, a million and one other flavors happening with cookies and chocolate and peppermint and roast beef and twice baked potatoes, or if it’s even the fact that almost nothing is easier than pizza. You know?

And see, last year I made a killer meat lovers pizza. So it’s not just this year’s me, it’s last year’s me too.  That’s like a whole other person. 

I know.

My unsophisticated palette and pepperoni pizza mesh VERY well. It would be my death row meal, along with my mom’s pot roast, noodles with gravy and mashed potatoes. Classtastic.

This is embarrassingly easy. But I have a point behind it! My absolute favorite local pizza is from Vallozzis. They don’t deliver (it’s a restaurant), but for YEARS we have been going there and sitting in the bar just to order pizza. The crust is insanely flakey and pastry-like. Almost like pie crust, but in my opinion? Wildly better. It is so thin and buttery and again, flakey, that there is nothing else like it.

I actually find making regular pizza dough super easy, especially since I’ve been doing it for years. I’m sure that if I practiced making a pastry pizza dough and got the method down pat, it wouldn’t seem quite as intimidating, but right now it seems like something I’d rather buy than attempt to make myself. And it’s not just regular pie crust, but maybe if that was rolled thin enough, it would work? I dunno. I don’t want to try it right now. Whomp whomp.

Regardless, I tested it out with some frozen puff pastry because, hello, it’s ridiculously easy and oh-so delicious. I kind of sometimes maybe accidentally on purpose bake a little puff pastry just to eat it… alone. Like without any toppings or fillings.

Whyyyyyyyy.

My life is embarrassing.

Look at how fat and puffy that pizza is! I wish it stayed that way, but alas, it deflates once cooled. How dare it?!

At least we have the easiest, flakiest pizza to eat for the next two weeks!

I kind of want to pile it high on a cookie tray. Don’t judge.

Pepperoni Pizza Puff Pastry

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

1 cup tomato or marinara sauce, your favorite

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon dried italian seasoning

1 cup freshly grated fontina cheese

a bunch of pepperoni!

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place the thawed puff pastry on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Spread the tomato sauce evenly over top, leaving a small border at the edges. Sprinkle on the herbs and garlic, evenly between both sheets. Cover with the fontina and mini pepperoni. I found tiny pieces at my grocery store, but you can also cut rounds out of larger pepperoni slices if you have time on your hands. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until super puffed and the cheese is golden. The pastry will look crazy puffed up (like the photo above) but then deflate once out of the oven. Cover with parmesan and cut each pastry into 9 slices. Serve!

The most trashed up puff pastry! Win.

Thin and Chewy Spiced Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter Icing.

Important question!

Chewy cookie?

Or soft cookie?

Or wait, crunchy cookie?

Or no cookie?

Or all the cookies? (duh.)

There are quite a lot of options I suppose, and I’m going to pretend that I didn’t see that third one considering I did quite zee number on some peppermint bark chocolate cookies this past weekend. Whyyyy are they so good??

And how can I remake them? Without having to do, like, a ton of work? Because I’d probably rather pay $25 for ten of them than make them myself. Truth.

They’d probably taste no different if I made them myself, BUT I’m sure I’d think the million dollar ones taste better because #millennial.

(Sidenote: I’ve been noticing some funny millennial behavior from my very not-millennial husband, but I’m just going to see if he actually reads this before breaking the news. He might be sick of me.)

So. I’ve been baking cookies for Christmas for soooo many years, and really love all the ones on my list, that it makes it nearly impossible to find a new cookie that I love oh so much, one that’s delicious enough to include on the cookie tray.

My specialty today does not only include cookies, but also run on sentences in case you’re wondering.

Like everything else that I’m indecisive on, mostly being food, I find that the texture of a cookie depends on the time, place and obviously, my mood. My grandma (not mother lovett, but my paternal one) made these awesome chocolate chip cookies that were almost paper thin. Do you know what I’m talking about? I’ve made similar cookies, but without any rhyme or reason and it drives me batty. Hers were the same ALL the time and it didn’t have anything to do with melted butter.

I need the secrets!

The deal is that while I’m occasionally up for a soft and fluffy cookie, I am always up for a chewy cookie. Always. All the dang time. Forever and ever.

These particular ones are chewy to the MAX. Like oh-so-chewy, super thin, crazy texture, spiced to perfection and then

get this,

drizzled with brown butter icing.

So there’s that.

Just fantastic enough to make it into my annual rotation. And I might even drizzle them with chocolate! And maybe peanut butter. And eat them. Everyday. Of all time.

Thin and Chewy Spiced Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

Yield: makes about 16 cookies

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups loosely packed brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

brown butter icing

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet (or 2) with parchment paper.

Place half of the oats in a food processor and pulse until the oats are chopped up, some flour-like, but some pieces remaining. In a bowl, combine all of the oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and salt. Whisk together.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk, then the vanilla, until smooth and combined. Take a large spoon and stir in the dry ingredients, mixing until a dough forms.

Scoop the dough out using an ice cream scoop (you want about 2 tablespoons of dough) and place on the parchment paper 2 inches apart. I put 6 on a baking sheet - because they will spread! Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden on the edges and thin and chewy. Remove and let cool completely.

brown butter icing

Heat a small saucepan over medium-low heat and add butter. Whisk constantly until melted, then continue to whisk as bubbles form, the butter begins to foam, and eventually brown bits appear in the bottom of the pan. This will take about 5-6 minutes total. As soon as the brown bits appear, remove from heat. I always stir for an additional 30 seconds or so. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Note: if you refrigerate this dough for an hour or so before baking, they won't be QUITE as thin!

In a large bowl combine brown butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Whisk until the mixture comes together then add in 1 tablespoon of milk, continuing to mix. I always stir my glazes for a good 3-4 minutes so they really come together. If it still doesn’t appear glaze-like, add in milk 1/2 tablespoon at a time and mix again. Don’t worry if it becomes too liquidy – just add a tiny bit of powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

[adapted from these giant rainbow cookies]

Okay I’m done for.

Tuesday Things.

1. I wish I was the stylish cool person who could decorate multiple trees every year and do them differently every year, like in wild, holiday colors. Then I also want to be the person who uses all the same decor for nostalgic purposes like my mom did. First world problems.

2. GUYS. Funfetti gingerbread house. Let me repeat: FUNFETTI GINGERBREAD HOUSE. I’m done.

3. Have you seen the pantone colors of the year? Rose quartz?! Serenity?! I die. Both are so gorgeous and I haven’t been this excited since the days of radiant orchid. But p.s. why are there two? I only want one. (But don’t make me choose.) And I like how they are mixing them.

4. Twice in the last week I used the incorrect version of “here” and “hear.” TWICE. I hate myself.

5. What Home Alone would look like if it were set in 2015. YES.

6. Um, dreams do come true: Ryan Gosling on SNL. I can’t take his giggles!

7. The Affair: hello again delicious looking Pacey! I am blown away at how freaking GOOD this show is. I want to write an entire blog about it, gah. My hatred for Noah is unreeeeeeal. Homeland: WTF with Allison, and most importantly, HOW are we going to get Quinn and Carrie together by two more episodes? I mean, that’s what the show is about, right. Also Nashville, I’m so sad how what they are turning Maddie into. Otherwise I have sooo much TV catching up to do, I think we will restart the Leftovers, watch my DVRed episodes of Empire and a bunch of others.

8. As a sidebar, if you live in PA, are you just as horrified by Gus the groundhog and his family in the PA lottery commercials? Watch closely. It’s terrifying. Make it stop.

9. This is seriously my life. Last week once night I was actually googling “how can I feel like time is going slower?!” and tada! how to slow it down.

10. On loving thy neighbor. Soul warming. ADORE this.

Roasted Broccolini, Bacon and Caramelized Shallot Quiche.

Keeeeeeeeesh.

Can’t it just be spelled that way? I think it would be so much happier (along with keeeenwah) and wouldn’t be annoyed every time starbucks got it’s name wrong.

Oh and also, bacon grease potatoes. Yes. They are in this quiche but I didn’t want to make the title ten miles long.

One more also, and perhaps the most important: are you judging me if you think that is ketchup on my quiche?

It’s not! It’s sriracha. Quiche AND sriracha today. Don’t even know me anymore.

Pssssst. Up there. That’s them. The bacon grease potatoes.

Otherwise known as, life itself.

I have a vibrant memory of quiche that runs so deep, I’ve pretty much refused any and all quiche (quiches?) for, let’s say, 25 years. No exaggeration. Maybe even longer! And it’s one of those memories that is so, so old and the event happened when I was so young, that now I wonder if it ACTUALLY happened or if I dreamt it? For instance, I broke my arm as a toddler and I think that I remember it, but the fact of the matter is that I probably have just seen two million pictures of myself as a baby with a cast on my arm. Right? This is kind of like that.

So.

We had this neighbor. Life altering, interesting start to the story, I KNOW. Anyhoo.

She had grandkids who were around the same age as my brothers and me, so we did fun things like play outside before the invention of Nintendo and the internet. I was also chased by a horrifyingly large dog once in that whole playing-outside thing but that’s neither here nor there. One day, we had a playdate at the kids’ house and there were long, steep stone steps up to their house. And their mom served… quiche.

That was definitely a first for me at probably sixish years old – my dad doesn’t care for it, so my mom never made it. I don’t know WHAT I thought that it was, but I just know it was so traumatic to my childhood food brain that ever since? I’ve been like no quiche, no way. Uh uh. Never. It was, suffice to say, NOT good.

Kind of like this story.

But. Then I realized that quiche was made with EGGS. Did I know this? Probably. Did I know it had cheese? Probably. Was I utterly clueless and insane? Most likely. Did I really go off the deep end when I realized that you put… things, for lack of a better work, in quiche? ohmygodyesssss.

I ended up on the quiche train a few years ago because meat and potatoes has a different quiche at brunch every weekend (or, at least they did at one point) but I didn’t get off at a stop until now.

At some point, I tried quiche and decided I loved it – waaaaay after my playdate trauma and sort of after the time that I thought it was cool to wear uggs and denim skirts (like, together), but before I had a kid. So maybe in the last seven years. AND NOW.

I’m in loooooove. As with everything else that I love, I’m all can’t stop won’t stop with every flavor of quiche imaginable.

p.s. don’t let the universe make you feel bad about being 100% obsessed with all the things. Because I am constantly fully devoted to something or completely uninterested and it is what it is.

It should also be noted that while I’m really into quiche right now, I’m not so into fritattas, nor have I ever been. This seems weird since eggs are a staple in my everyday life, but let’s be real. The quiche usually has a flakey crust, and has cream… so why wouldn’t I be all over it?! Plus, tons and tons (and tons and tons) of cheese!

Totally breakfasting for dinner tonight. Only way to do.

Roasted Broccolini, Bacon and Caramelized Shallot Quiche

Yield: serves 6

Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

crust

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoons salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

1/4 cup ice cold water

3/4 cups cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (1 1/2 sticks or 12 tablespoons)

for brushing: 1 egg + a few drops of water, beaten together

filling

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch of broccolini stalks

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 slices bacon, chopped

3/4 cup chopped potato (I used yukon gold)

6 large eggs

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups freshly grated gruyere cheese

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

sriracha for serving

Directions:

crust

Add the flour, sugar and salt to a food processor and pulse just until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vinegar and water. Add the cold butter pieces into the food processor and pulse until small coarse crumbs remain. Sprinkle the water/egg mixture over the flour and pulse again until the dough comes together.

Remove the dough with your hands and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, roll the dough out and place it in a 9-inch tart pan or (deep dish) pie plate.

filling

Heat a skillet over low heat and add the butter. Stir in the shallots and cook until caramelized, stirring often, about 25 minutes or so. Be sure to stir frequently since shallots are thinner than regular onions! Once caramely and golden, stir in the garlic and turn off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the broccoli on the sheet, spread out. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until just starting to char. When the broccolini is finished, reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F. Chop the broccolini once it has cooled a bit.

While the broccolini is roasting, add the bacon to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy, then remove the bacon with a slotted spoon. Place it on a paper towel to drain any excess grease. To the same skillet, add the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are slightly crisp but tender when poked with a fork. Remove the potatoes and place them in a bowl.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Place half of the potatoes, bacon, brocc and shallots into the crust and pour the egg mixture over top. Add the remaining potatoes, bacon, broc and shallots, mixing them in gently. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until golden on top and set in the center. Slice and serve with sriracha!

No more stories, I swear.

Pretzel Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Bark.

I barely have any other words.

Okay, that’s a lie. We all know that I have waaaaay too many words, including way too many of the same words. Maybe Santa will leave a thesaurus in my stocking. But since there isn’t one in my possession yet (lies… everything is on the internet… lies), I will attempt to refrain from shouting OMG, obsessed, freaking amazing and I’m dead.

Because that’s all that is running through my mind with this goodness.

I’m going to be Santa and I’m going to leave this in everyone’s stocking. If I don’t eat it all first, that is.

Just look at that peanut butter STUFFED inside this bark. Is that even real life? I don’t know how I can handle it.

It’s no secret that I’m a salty sweet girl – I’ve been consuming chocolate and salt for as long as I can remember. When I was seven years old, I walked into the kitchen to find my brother eating a stick of butter (yes an actual STICK) and a few years later, my other brother ate all of the SALT in the bottom of the pretzel bag (yeah that did not go over well), so I think it’s safe to say that they are savory guys.

But you could always find me dipping pretzels into the peanut butter jar. Or better yet… dipping chocolate covered pretzels into the peanut butter jar.

Hold up, gonna go do that right this second.

This is clearly why I am absolutely nutso over the Lindt CLASSIC RECIPE Salted Pretzel bar. When this was developed, someone had to be spying on my brain. Because not only do I love the flavor, but the texture! The crunch! The salt! The chocolate. It’s a freaking dream.

So while I’ve done my fair share of chomping on this bar alone, I was craving a recipe build with it. Especially after making my peanut butter pretzel chocolate ice cream this past summer.

Next thing you know I’ll be trying to stuff peanut butter, pretzels and chocolate into tacos.

I hope (not).

Enter: chocolate bark all around. I am a huge, huge, huge fan of bark, not just for the eating purposes (um, hi, of course), but for the gifting purposes! It’s lovely when wrapped up with a sparkly bow and given as a hostess gift. It’s even better when piled on a cooking tray among other flavors of the season. It breaks up the monotony of peanut butter blossoms and sugar cookies and chocolate chips and what not, you know?

That’s the way we do it most often – Eddie building his massive cookie trays (they take at least an hour, it’s an art) and this is so easy to make. Just need enough patience to let the chocolate set.

You may remember that shortly after the birth of this blog, I went through a MAJOR bark phase. Cake batter bark, 4 layer oreo bark, island coconut bark. I made a bunch of barks for gifts that year and let’s just pretend we don’t have to back and read posts from 1825ish days ago. Ooomph.

This bark is made with two of my favorite bars: the Lindt CLASSIC RECIPE Milk Chocolate Classic and – that Lindt CLASSIC RECIPE Salted Pretzel bar, and is another collab with Lindt and their to-die-for chocolate.

It’s a miracle that I could even stop eating the Salted Pretzel bar long enough to melt it down, honestly. And you could totally use darker chocolate, maybe even white chocolate?! to mix it up a bit. In case you’re like me and have a terrible time following instructions.

So how do we do it?!

We have a layer of chocolate – a mixture of with the pretzels and without, a layer of peanut butter – which is almost just like the center of a peanut butter truffle, so fluffy an wonderful and creamy, but sturdy enough to not melted under another another layer of chocolate, and finished with tons of crunchy, salty pretzels and a peanut butter drizzle.

What did I do to deserve this?

Pretzel Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Bark

Yield: makes a bunch! would make about 4-6 gifts worth

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

4 Lindt CLASSIC RECIPE Salted Pretzel bars, chopped

4 Lindt CLASSIC RECIPE Milk Chocolate bars, chopped

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use a "natural" Jif or Skippy, but don't use a more natural one with oil separation)

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

for topping:

1 cup mini pretzel twists, some crushed

1/3 cup peanut butter, melted

Directions:

To make the bottom base of the bark, take two of the chopped pretzel bars and two of the chopped milk chocolate bars (or just have of the chopped mixture, if you've already combined it all) and melt them. You can do so over a double boiler or melt at 50% power in the microwave - if doing that, I melt in 30 second increments stirring well after each until melted. Spread the chocolate on the parchment paper in a big rectangle (or any shape you'd like!) and let it sit until firm, about 1 hour. To speed up the process you can stick it in the fridge, but I don't do that until after the peanut butter layer.

Add the peanut butter, sugar and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Mix well until the sugar is incorporated and the peanut butter is similar to the inside of a PB cup and not meltable. Once the chocolate is firm, gently spread and press the peanut butter on top, leaving a 1-inch border around the outsides. This is when I place the mixture in the fridge, allowing it to firm up for about an hour.

Melt the remaining chopped chocolate. Remove the pan from the fridge and gently spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer, covering the peanut butter and meeting it to the bottom chocolate edge. Sprinkle and place the pretzels on top, along with any additional chocolate pieces you may wish (I chopped up another bar and put pieces on there). Drizzle with the melted peanut butter and let sit until firm, at least one hour. You can stick it in the fridge again if you like! Once ready to eat or set up, break into pieces.

This will keep for about a week at room temp (or longer in the fridge and definitely the freezer)!

I want to peanut butter glue myself into that mess.

[this post is part of a partnership I’m doing with Lindt in 2015. I’ll be sharing a few more recipes over the course of the year and you can read more about my trip here!]

Currently Crushing On.

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Hiiii. I missed one week due to my holiday baking post and I feel like I missed out on so many internet goods! The internet is alive with cookies and… peppermint. Lots and lots of peppermint. Which I’m into, considering I spent quite a pretty penny on peppermint bark and all it’s assorted accessories last night. Even though I’m totally planning on making my own.

How are you? What are you doing this weekend? We shopped ’til we dropped last night – seriously Max is a dream shopper and hangs for HOURS. It’s the best. I crossed a bunch of people off my list, including myself like four times. Whyyyy. I’m the worst. Today we are going on a Christmas house tour and then, it’s full blown party planning mode because SOMEBODY IS TURNING ONE. Whaaaaat.

Over on the How Sweet Eats facebook page, I’m showing you how to make super easy BISCUIT donuts with nutella dip. EEEP!

If you still have shopping to do to, have you seen my gift guides? His + Hers + Stocking Stuffers. I love it! And I also shared some of my favorite holiday music this week along with my favorite holiday movies. And over on the pioneer woman, I shared how to make apple cider syrup. It’s so delicious, it’s drinkable. I mean, not really, but you know.

Oh! And my november beauty favorites, of course. Which I may had added to last night. oops.

Have a fab one!

‘net faves (ew):

adorable homemade heart sugar cubes. i cannot.

i’ve decided that baked gnocchi with mozzarella is going to be our go-to meal this week. maybe… twice?

peppermint bark frozen hot chocolate. i die.

also, this freaking marbled peppermint crunch cake. see, i want everything peppermint chocolate right this instant.

what else on earth could be better than the ultimate meat lovers pizza?

definitely going to be on my cookie tray this year: vegan salted caramel pecan turtles.

this winter crostini! it’s dreamy.

! oomph.

cocktail of the month, i deem you to be cranberry ginger whiskey smash.

whoa whoa whoa – mushroom stuffed cabbage rolls. i’m all over this as a non-sausage lover.

another super easy weeknight din, these roasted delicata squash tacos are so me.

sticky date cinnamon rolls are rivaling my nutella obsession.

how wonderful does this needlepoint pasta in light blue cheese sauce look? the freaking flavor.

i have a serious eggnog obsession at the moment, so eggnog almond scones? i’m all over you.