Homemade Vanilla Pudding with Lemon Zest

For some reason, tonight I was craving pudding. I hardly ever eat pudding, so it was a shock to even myself that I made this. I just looked up a very simple recipe online and went with it. It only took minutes and it tastes really good! The texture is a big lumpy, so I would run it though a sieve or food processor if it was for anyone but myself (: I grated fresh lemon zest over the top & covered the hot pudding with a thin slice of lemon, hoping for the lemon to be absorbed through the warm pudding. It was inexpensive, quick & easy and will impress your next dinner guest (:

ingredients:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter








directions:
1. add milk to saucepan over medium heat. heat milk until scalding (bubbles forming around the edges)
2. mix sugar, cornstarch & salt together in a small bowl.
3. once milk is bubbling around the edges, add the sugar/cornstarch/salt mixture and whisk until dissolved.
4. continue to cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. remove from heat and stir in vanilla & butter.
6. pour pudding into dishes and chill. serve when cooled (:

There are many easy variations to this pudding....the options are endless. Be creative and try this EASY recipe (:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (:

Baking always comes out of boredom for me. Week 2 of spring break is proving to be equally, if not more, boring than week one. Since my birthday is tomorrow, I wanted to make something to give to people on my special day and to share (: They were super simple & took under an hour.

cupcake ingredients:
1 box devils food cake mix (plus ingredients to make cake mix)
1 bag mini reeses cups
cupcake liners

cupcake directions:
1. make cake mix according to box directions.
2. spoon batter into cupcake liners.
3. place one peanut butter cup in each cupcake, lightly on top of the batter. they will sink while baking.
4. bake cupcakes according to box directions.
5. remove from oven, place on cooling rack.
6. decorate with peanut butter frosting (recipe below) and peanut butter cup pieces. Enjoy!

peanut butter frosting:
mix 5 tablespoons butter (room temp), 1 cup smooth peanut butter, 1 cup powdered sugar & 3/4 tsp vanilla until smooth. place in pastry bag or plastic bag & pipe onto cupcakes. Enjoy!

Potato Gnocchi with Pesto Cream Sauce (:

Now that I'm out of my no-cooking rut, I decided that today was going to be a day full of cooking. And for some reason, I felt like gnocchi. Surprisingly simple to make, gnocchi are potato dumplings made with potato, flour, salt & egg yolks. They are light and fluffy (well, if you make them right) and taste delicious either boiled or pan-fried. I paired my gnocchi tonight with a pesto cream sauce that was super simple and quick to make and store-bought, bake-at-home garlic bread. Mmmm!

gnocchi ingredients:

2 lbs russet potatoes

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 egg yolks, beaten

1/2 cup grated parmigiana reggiano cheese

1 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

pinch of kosher salt

gnocchi directions:

1. Poke the potatoes with a fork & place in 400 F oven for 45 minutes or until fork tender.

2. Cut open potatoes to help cool. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop potato from skin. 

3. Pass potatoes through a ricer, or mash and fluff with fork in large bowl. 

4. Add about a cup of flour, the beaten egg yolks, a pinch of salt, the grated cheese and parsley. Mix by hand until dough starts to form. Add more flour as needed. The dough should be soft and pliable, but not sticky. (Be careful not to over mix the dough, the gnocchi will come out gummy)

5. Once the dough is smooth, make into a dough ball, cover with plastic, and place in fridge until firm (about 30 min)

6. Take chilled dough out of the fridge. Break off the dough into six pieces and roll into logs about 1 inch thick. Cut one inch pieces of the dough off the log. Press the gnocchi with the back of a fork to create indents. 

7. Boil gnocchi in batches of 20-25 in salted water until they float (2-3 minutes).

8. Once floating, remove gnocchi with slotted spoon. 

9. Serve with pesto cream sauce (recipe below) & enjoy!

pesto cream sauce

This was a very simple sauce. All you have to do is:

1. heat up a half pint of heavy whipping cream and a half cup of milk in a saucepan.

2. melt 2 tbsp butter in another saucepan

3: add 3 cloves minced garlic into the butter & cook for one minute

4. add 1 tbsp flour to the butter and garlic, cook until rue is slightly caramel colored.

5. add hot cream/milk mixture & whisk. bring to boil, then simmer for two minutes. 

6. stir in 1/2 cup grated parmigiana reggiano cheese & one small jar pesto sauce. salt & pepper to taste.

Hope you all find time to make this very easy recipe. You can serve the gnocchi with any sauce, or freeze it and cook it later! Enjoy (:

Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies!

Perhaps my favorite combination of all time-peanut butter & chocolate-combine in these simple and easy brownies.  Mmmmmm.

Recipe adapted from:

 http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/02/17/peanut-butter-cup-crunch-brownie-bars/

Yield: 24 brownies | Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 batch of your favorite brownie recipe for a 9×13-inch pan 

½ cup salted peanuts

8 Reese’s peanut butter cups, chopped

1½ cups milk chocolate chips

1½ cups creamy peanut butter

½ tablespoon unsalted butter

1½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

directions:

1. prepare a brownie mix in a 13x9 pan. I used betty crocker chewy brownie family size. bake according to package directions.

2. 5 minutes before brownies are done, take brownies out & sprinkle chopped reeses cups over the top. return to oven. take out when done.

3. melt chocolate chips, peanut butter & butter in small saucepan. remove from heat and stir in rice cereal. pour over top of brownies.

4. place in fridge for 2 hours. cut, store in plastic containers for up to a week.

 I didn't want to wait two hours, so I didn't. It was still warm and gooey. I could really taste the peanut butter...it was pretty damn good. (: