Pecan Molasses Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze

My dear old Granny’s birthday is coming up! I knew I had to send her something… it took me a while to figure out what to make her. First I though of chocolate, then coffee, then it hit me right on the head it’s gonna be BOURBON! I’ll admit this cake is sinful as hell but oh so good, and the only reason I know is because the first cake turned into a disaster and it was deemed unsendable to Granny. Not a disaster taste-wise, but appearance wise. When I flipped the bundt cake over, half came out and the top part of the cake stayed in the pan, and I tried to salvage the other half but it became sort of a big crumbly mess. Lesson learned. Now I’m going to explain the bundt cake making rules to you.

1) Butter and flour the pan. (I PAMed the first one) – if you try to mix PAM and flour it becomes a giant goopy mess- so butter it is

2) When cake comes of oven- put on wire rack, air needs to circulate around the entire cake so the bottom doesn’t become moist laden with steam

3) After about 15 minutes- take a sharp knife and go around edge and make sure nothing is sticking too much. Then put plate on top of cake and FLIP and pray to cake gods that it turns out ok!

The good news is that my dad ate the ugly cake for breakfast and dessert and I gave about half of it to my friends to relief my dad of some the cholesterol. And I made another big mistake; I used SCOTCH instead of bourbon. I looked in our liquor cabinet and didn’t see anything that said bourbon, but I knew bourbon is a type of whiskey… so I smelled the whiskey that we had and thought it smelled similar to bourbon. Boy was I wrong, now I know scotch ¹ bourbon, but it still turned out SO GOOD with scotch, this cake would taste good with any liquor as a matter of fact.

So messing up this cake was a blessing in disguise, we got to sample the Pecan Molasses Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze and god forbid I could not send Granny her birthday cake made with Scotch!  Happy Birthday Granny, I love you!   

Green Chili

Hey all! It’s sooo nice to be back in N.C., I’ve been catching up with old friends and really thought I had forgotten how to be social. In NY my social life was zilch and spent my evenings watching TV (sad really), but now I’m making up for it for sure thank god. I’m also making up on my cooking and baking… much more fun to cook for family and friends than just myself! I’ve cooked several things already, but this is the best thing I’ve made yet. With the Super bowl coming up so soon, what’s more appropriate than chili?! I am hoping that one of the teams in the Super bowl wears the colors green…. and do I know who has what color… most definitely not. Anyhow, I’m not normally a fan of chili, but this rocked my boat.

Green Chili (can serve 4 people)
-1 onion
-1 lb ground beef (I used lean)
-3-4 cloves garlic chopped
-6 tomatillos
-4 poblanos
-2 jalapenos
-1 Tb cumin
-1 Tb honey
-1 tsp. Salt
-1 small can black beans (rinsed)

Preheat oven to 450° Put tomatillos, poblanos, jalapenos on baking sheet and roast until brown in spots. Watch poblanos and turn a couple of times.

While the vegetables are roasting in oven, chop up the onion. Sauté the onion until translucent; add the meat and cook all the way, add 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic.

Peel the poblanos. Blend up the tomatillos, poblanos, and jalapenos in blender until salsa consistency. Add to meat mixture. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cumin, honey, salt, and black beans.

Top with sharp cheddar and sliced avocados.

This recipe is pretty darn easy. After culinary school, I think people expected me to be whipping up rabbit or lamb chops. But no I still like to use good ol hamburger meat… Try this for dinner soon or a Super bowl party!

Grain with Seasonal Vegetables and Cilantro Dressing

Last night, we had a winter storm warning and was supposed to snow all night and throughout the day today.  I was expecting to wake up with a couple of feet of snow, but thankfully when I opened my window I saw it only had snowed about 8 inches.  I don’t want to get snowed in the city!  I only have six more days in NYC, so with food I am just trying to use up everything I’ve already got. 

I don’t really know what to name this dish, because I have made many versions of this dish.  I’m going to name it Grain with Seasonal Vegetables and Cilantro Dressing.  I often crave it because it is sooo good; it is definitely the cilantro dressing that makes it!  If I know I will have a busy week ahead of me, I will make a batch of this, and leftovers are perfect for packing for lunches or dinner. 

This time I used wheat berries, because that’s what I had on hand.  Wheat berries have an incredibly hearty texture and is very filling.  Wheat berries are a great source of protein and dietary fiber, so if you have never tried this grain, I encourage you to do so!  I have made this dish using brown rice and quinoa, both resulting in delicious dishes as well. 

Grain with Seasonal Vegetables and Cilantro Dressing

1)      Cook about 1 cup (dried) of grain (wheat berries, brown rice, or quinoa) according to the package instructions.

2)      Roast favorite seasonal veggies in oven with olive oil and salt at 400° until nicely caramelized - For this dish I used red onion, sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. 

3)      Make cilantro dressing- In blender, blend about 1 heaping cup of cilantro (almost an entire bunch), 2 cloves garlic, 1 lemon juiced, ½ tsp salt, and 1 TB honey.  Blend and slowly add about ¼ cup olive oil until resembles a dressing.  Taste! Add more seasoning or lemon if needed. 

4)      Toss together the grain, vegetables, and cilantro dressing, and reserved chopped cilantro in a large bowl. 

5)      Optional: Top with toasted walnuts if desired. 

Maple- Glazed Salmon

Maple- Glazed Salmon with sauteed kale on the side

Exciting news! I’m moving back to N.C.; I can’t wait to see green again, drive my car, and do laundry in my own house…all the things that are the pain in the ass parts about living in NYC. The first 7 months (while in culinary school and working) was such an exciting and new time, but for the past non-busy 2 months I have been dreaming about being back in Raleigh. I would fantasize about having dinner and wine parties with good friends, which I haven’t been able to do for so long! A few days ago my desire to move back just became overwhelming that I just decided to go for it. I mean it’s not like I have a job here yet…. Thank goodness because the only jobs I got interviews for had such long commutes (one was over a 2 hr commute one way)!

Anyways, I’ve never been more thrilled to move back

home to be near friends and family!

Now for dreaming about future dinner parties in Raleigh, this dish was the one that sparked it. This is so easy and non fussy and would be perfect for a dinner party. Now salmon isn’t particularly cheap, so I’d recommend it be for a small group unless you got oodles of money. I got this from The Raw Food Diet Detox book by Natalia Rose, which has some healthy recipes. The recipes in Natalia’s book stress the use of all-natural ingredients. I made her recipe with a few modifications, so here is my version.

Maple Glazed Salmon (Serves 4)
1 cup soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic (coarsely chopped)
2 TB ginger (coarsely chopped)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 fresh salmon fillets

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a blender. Marinate fish in maple mixture for 1 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 450° and bake fish for about 8-10 minutes. Time is never accurate with fish! The only way to tell if the salmon is ready is if it flakes easily with a fork.

While the salmon is in the oven, pour the marinade in a small saucepan and boil over medium heat until it is slightly reduced. Be careful and watch the sauce, it can easily burn! Use the reduced marinade as the sauce for the salmon and sautéed veggies on the side if you would like!

The reduced sauce for this dish is yuuuum! This dish would also taste phenomenal with a side of brown rice and it’d soak up the wonderful sauce. I hope everyone gets to try this; it’s a great quick recipe to have on hand.

Banana Caramel Milkshake

Am I becoming vegan?? Or just a plain health freak. Actually neither really but this so called “dessert” probably makes me seem like one. I suppose this is a really good thing because it is my New Year’s resolution to eat healthier and eat less sugar (as it is every single year).   I saw a recipe for a banana caramel milkshake that looked so decadent and soo sinful that I decided to attempt a healthy version.... I put these in a blender:

1 cup almond milk (I use the Pacific brand- Vanilla unsweetened) > can sub skim milk or soy milk

1 banana
2 large dried dates (if they are small use 4) and chop them up into quarters)
Dash of cinnamon

A handful or two of ice

I blended this for about 3 minutes till all the dates were integrated. And the verdit: EXTREMELY SUCESSFUL! This was delicious and would make a great dessert! I’m about to make myself a banana caramel shake even though it’s snowing like crazy outside.



A bird covered in snow perched on my window



Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Caper Sauce

If someone asked me my favorite squash, I’d have a hard time choosing between butternut squash and spaghetti squash. I love spaghetti squash so much that once when I had a vegetable garden about ten years ago I grew spaghetti squash (I was actually a good gardener in my middle school days). The squashes grew pretty well from my memory; it seemed like a squash would never come and right before I gave up on the squash plant, squash came! The squash flowers blossomed and then I had several baby squashes in my vegetable patch. I was so excited, and I was out there watering my veggies everyday, I could have possibly drowned some of the plants…

Just for this blog, I decided to look up the nutritional info of spaghetti squash. It turns out its 40 calories per cup, has several vitamins and minerals, very good for prostate health (men eat up!), has good amount of beta carotene and potassium, and lots of other nutritional benefits. I remember during the Atkins craze, spaghetti squash went along with the craze because people substituted it for pasta noodles. I’m by no means low carb, but if I am feeling like I should have a low carb meal (aka after I’ve had a huuuuge NY bagel for breakfast laden with cream cheese) then I might have a really light supper and treat the spaghetti squash like my pasta.

This is super simple and you can mix anything you want with spaghetti squash; sometimes I just like it with butter, salt, and pepper. During the Atkins craze that I was speaking of earlier, people put Alfredo sauce on their spaghetti squash (not a fan). I really enjoy tomato based sauces on spaghetti squash, because squash is squash and can be a bit bland, and the tomato’s acidity goes perfect.

I just used what I had on hand and I encourage you to do the same. First, just preheat the oven to 350° and slice the squash in half. I just lay the two halves in a baking pan and put some water on the bottom (steam really helps) and cover with aluminum foil. The squash is done maybe after 30 minutes, but the true test is when you stick a knife in the squash and it gives no resistance.

For the sauce, I just used:
-½ onion (chopped)

-Shallot (chopped)

-2 TB capers (I think this absolutely makes the sauce)

-3 cloves garlic (minced)

-28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (favorite brand is San Marzano, more expensive but worth it!)

-pinch of crushed red pepper

-salt and black pepper

-Optional: chopped basil, parmesan cheese

Caramelize onions and shallot in olive oil over med-low heat until translucent. Add the capers and garlic. Chop up the tomatoes (I just squeezed tomatoes with my hands, but be careful juice can squirt all over kitchen and you). Add the chopped tomatoes and all the remaining juice in can. Reduce mixture until there is almost no moisture left. Add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. I added chopped basil on top because I had it on hand.

Spaghetti Squash topped with Tomato Caper Sauce