100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know

While my mom was in town this weekend I decided to try out some of the recipes from my new cookbook.  While at Barnes & Noble the other day, I picked up a copy of 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know.  It was put together by the editors of Glamour magazine using recipes gathered over the years for busy women who want to cook healthily and cook well, but may not have the time or the budget to do just that.  

Tonight my mom and I tried out several recipes, including the following:

Style on a Budget White Sangria (Forgive the Tupperware!)

No-Fail Kale Salad (No joke, that is the center of the Purple Kale that I used for decoration)

Bikini Season Baked Salmon 

Gingery Green Beans

Get Over Him Berry Parfait

As you can see, a lot of the dishes have cute names.  The cookbook is famous for including a recipe for Engagement Chicken which is supposedly responsible for 70+ engagements!  Now I will probably not be utilizing that recipe any time soon - but there are tons of great recipes inside as well as some cute stories from Engagement Chicken success stories.

Throughout this week I hope to share with you the recipes for the above dishes.  I was really excited with how well it all turned out and how quickly it came together as well.

Because I knew you...I have been changed for good.

This weekend my mom came to Lincoln to spend some quality time and so we could take a little side trip to Omaha on Saturday.  While in O-town, we met up with my Uncle Tom and his girlfriend Jennifer for dinner at The Grey Plume at Midtown Crossing, followed by the Broadway musical Wicked at The Orpheum!

First for the meal!  Midtown Crossing was finished just after I moved from the Omaha area so now every time I go back and have the opportunity, I try to check out one of the new restaurants in that area.  This time we chose The Grey Plume which is a restaurant that bases their menu on seasonally-available foods and strives to utilize locally grown produce and livestock.  It is a smaller restaurant so it is a more intimate setting than a lot of places in the area.  The food was phenomenal!  We had great wine and a great cheese and meat plate to start and then I had an amazing Dungeness Crab Angnolotti which is a delicious crab ravioli with vegetables and a lemon jelly.  So great!

The menu for the night

Dungeness Crab Angnolotti

After dinner we made it over to The Orpheum to see Wicked. I have always wanted to see this show and I was not disappointed!  It was amazing! A wonderful story and exceptional performances by all of the cast, musicians, and crew.  What a great evening!!  

 

Wine + Chocolate = One Happy Girl

This weekend my good friend Kristin and I attended an event at a shop here in town called Chocolatier Blue.  Check out their website to learn more about them, but basically their main locations are in California, but the Chocolatier is actually originally from Lincoln and recently opened a location here!

This weekend they hosted a series of classes (Beer & Chocolate pairing even!) and we attended Friday night's Wine & Chocolate Pairing class.

We were given 4 different kinds of wine and 12 - yes 12! - different chocolates, 3 for each type of wine. They dispelled the myth that dark chocolate and a deep red wine are a good combination (who knew?) and presented us with mainly sweet dessert wines.  

As for the chocolates, they are works of art!!  They range in flavors and they change by the season. I've featured some of our favorites below.  

Butterscotch and Orange Julius - the Orange Julius was one of my favorites and definitely one that worked well with the wine.  

Top - Ants on a Log - Peanut butter, celery, and raisins - sounds strange but was really good!

Passion fruit caramel & Cherry cordial

One that we didn't get a picture of is the Grapefruit with Rosemary, it was A-MAZING!! 

And if this many chocolates and wine weren't enough....

There were GIFT BAGS!!  And the class was only $25! 

It was an amazing start to the weekend which ended up being beautiful weather-wise and overall just fantastic! I even fit in some summer shopping (necessities of course!) and picked up a new cookbook so I have even more recipes to share.  

I don't know about all of you but it seems like the summer is filling up already and I think I can already say that it's going to be one for the books.  Can't wait to see what the next few months will hold! :)

Hi, My name is Amy, and I'm a Chocoholic

Anyone who knows me knows that I am addicted to chocolate, which is kind of ironic since when I was really little I actually went through a period of time where I wasn't medically allowed to have it.  How I survived that time I have NO idea!

One of my favorite things is a double chocolate cookie - chocolate batter with chocolate chips.  One of my other favorite desserts is brownies of any kind.  So when I saw this recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker for Better Than Brownie Cookies - how could I resist??  

Now whether they are actually BETTER than brownies, I think that's probably subjective, but they are definitely oh so good.  I've added some notes on what i will do differently next time too! Try to get the cookies done in as few batches as possible, as the melted chocolate/butter mixture solidifies, the batter/dough gets VERY thick and harder to place on the pan.

Also - recipe is not complete without a big glass of cold milk!!  :) 

Courtesy of: Brown Eyed Baker

Better Than Brownies Cookies

Makes 24 large cookies

2 2/3 Cups (about 16 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, chopped - I used Bakers

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 eggs

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. - I used unlined sheets and they turned out fine.  

2.  Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. (I've never done this before, but I tried it and its not too difficult and melts much nicer than in the microwave)

3.  In the meantime, stir together the eggs, vanilla, and sugar in a medium bowl, set aside.  

4.  In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. 

5.  Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir to combine well.  Slowly add the dry ingredients, folding them into the batter.  Once all of the flour is incorporated, stir in the chocolate chips.  

6.  Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough (a medium cookie scoop's worth) onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside.  Like brownies, do not overbake!  leave to cool completely on the baking sheets.  

Catching up

Hey friends!

We have some catching up to do don't we?

My friends Melissa and Molly came into town from Omaha so that Molly could run the Lincoln Half Marathon on Sunday, May 1st.  She finished beautifully in 1:52!! Melissa and I were proud to cheer her on along with my cousin Jamie who finished the half in just over 2 hours! They were both so inspiring that I decided to run the half next year!  Yikes!  That will definitely be something I will keep you posted as I train, but let's be honest here. Right now I'm lucky if I can run around the block.

Releasing the foodie on the city of Lincoln!  So I am a total foodie, I will try anything once, so I've wanted to post restaurant reviews here.  Unfortunately I tend to forget to take any pictures of the food before I dig in!  I'll work on that, promise.  But I can tell you a couple places that have been absolutely amazing!  El Toro is a great kind of hole in the wall Mexican place with amazing food and to.die.for margaritas!! The same family that owns it owns several other Mexican restaurants in town, all with equally great food I've heard!

I also took in a Lincoln staple, The Oven.  Excellent Indian food, so good!  I had Tandoori shrimp which was amazing and just the right portion.  Both places were introduced to me by good friend Kristin who has been a fabulous tour guide since I moved to town.

The city is full of great restaurants, coffee shops (LOVE The Mill!), bars, etc. I'm so excited to try them all out and definitely have a list of places to check off!

This weekend is full of errands unfortunately, but weather permitting I'm hoping to check out one of the two farmer's markets in town this weekend.

Also, I ask you all to raise a glass tonight to the MU HMI Class of 2011 who are graduating tonight!! I so enjoyed spending my second year of grad school with these people and am so excited for them!!