Leek-y Chicken with Cous Cous

I first made this recipe several years ago, while in college.  It was a hit.  Now that it's back on my radar, I'll definitely be making it more often.

This is a Rachael Ray recipe, and can be found here.

You'll need:

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tbs butter
1 1/2 cups cous cous
1/4 cup golden raisins, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt and pepper, to taste
2 medium leeks, cut into half-moons and cleaned well
1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth

Heat the chicken broth and butter in a medium sauce pan.  After bringing it to a boil, add the cous cous and raisins.  Remove the pan from the heat, stir, and put the lid on.  Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the chicken.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook through, turning occasionally.

Once the chicken is cooked through, add the leeks and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add the wine (or chicken broth) and allow it to cook down by half (3-4 minutes).

Fluff the cous cous with a fork, and spoon it onto a plate.  Top with the chicken and leeks.

There you have it.  An easy, quick, pretty healthy dinner.

{Homemade Christmas Gifts!} - Part 1 - Hot Chocolate Mix

Here's the first installment of posts showcasing homemade gifts that are just perfect for giving away during the winter holiday season!


I know I've shown you homemade hot chocolate before, but this recipe makes much larger quantities.  And really, I think that this one is actually better!  After much searching, I found this recipe from The Brown Eyed Baker.

You'll need:

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (or white chocolate, chopped)
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.

Working in 2 batches, pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the white chocolate is ground up pretty finely.  

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

To make the hot chocolate: Add your desired amount of mix to a mug and stir in 1 cup of hot milk (almond milk works well here, too!).  Enjoy! 

Since I'm giving these as gifts, I also plan to add a little fabric and ribbon to dress them up a bit.

Classic Snickerdoodle Cookies

I was at home for the end of rifle season this past weekend, and my mom and I decided to squeeze in a little baking.  We made some snickerdoodles, one of my mom's favorites.

You'll need:

Cookies
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt

Topping
2 tbs sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through salt).  Separately, mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.  Set both aside.

Cream the shortening and sugar together.  Add the eggs and mix well.  

Little by little, mix in the dry ingredients to the wet.  

In walnut-sized balls, roll the dough through the sugar and cinnamon topping.  Place on cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before removing the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.  Enjoy!

Birthday Brownies!

I'm calling these "birthday brownies" because Sean requested them for his birthday last month.  The recipe yields thinner, chewy brownies.  And since it makes 2 pans, it's a perfect recipe for sharing with others.  Or for just hogging out and eating both pans yourself.  Your call.

I found this recipe on the blog Awkward Kitchenette.

You'll need:

1 1/4 cups butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the melted butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Stir in the vanilla extract and eggs.  Mix until combined.  

Mix in the cocoa powder.

Stir in the flour until just combined.  This will be a little difficult, since the batter is super thick.

Pour the batter, evenly, into two, greased, 9 inch round pans.  Bake 18-20 minutes.

Tammy's Cranberry Sauce

I got this recipe from my mom, Tammy.  Hence the name.  She makes it every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Since Sean and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving in southern Maryland with his sister and her husband, instead of heading home, I wanted to bring a little bit of home along with me.  

This recipe is so easy to make, requires not much more effort than opening a can of cranberry sauce, and is way better than just the canned stuff alone.

You'll need:

3 oz. box raspberry Jello
1 cup hot water
1 lb. can whole berry cranberry sauce
8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Dissolve the Jello in the hot water.  Add the cranberry sauce and stir well.  Add the other ingredients and mix well.  

Pour into a jello mold (or any other container) and chill for several hours.

Voila!  Cranberry sauce!

White Cheddar Corn Soup

This recipe was found on the blog Amanda's Cookin'.  I have modified it slightly.

You'll need:

1 1/2 tbs butter
1 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
5 cups frozen corn kernels
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp each: salt, black pepper, dried thyme leaves
1/4 cup milk, or heavy cream
2 cups sharp white cheddar cheese


Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Saute the onion and bell pepper for about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for an additional 2 minutes or so.

Add the broth, corn, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and dried thyme.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf.  Blend with an immersion blender until it has reached your desired consistency.  Alternately, blend it in an actual blender, but do so in batches.

Add the milk or cream.  Stir in the cheese until fully melted.  Eat!

Baltimorean Tour de Pizza - Part 1

You like pizza.  I like pizza.  Let's take a tour of some of Baltimore's finest pizza-serving establishments.  Without further ado, let's embark on the first leg of The Baltimorean Tour de Pizza!

Stop #1: Joe Squared

I visited the Powerplant location with my friend Emily, rather than the one up in Station North, since the Powerplant is closer to where we both live and neither of us had our cars that day.

We shared an order of hot wings.  I have to say, Joe Squared has the best wings of any place that I've tried in Baltimore.  They're not the same as what you can find in the Pittsburgh area, but they're pretty darn good.

I had the crab and avocado risotto.  Their risottos are awesome, and you can order a half size (what I got) if you feel like it.  They have some interesting and creative flavor combinations, too.

She enjoyed the quattro formaggio pizza.  Always an excellent choice.

We split an order of the Maker's Mark Bourbon Pecan ice cream.  To quote Emily, this ice cream was "hella good".  The perfect way to describe it.  I'm already on the lookout for recipes so that I can make something like this at home.

Stop #2: Home Slyce

The next stop was Home Slyce Pizza Bar on Charles Street with Sean and our friend Melissa.  

Sean and I split a cheese pizza, which was tasty.

And Melissa got a slyce.  Which looks like a boat of pizza.  Deeeeelicious.

This place is relatively new to Mt. Vernon, though we've been there before and have ordered takeout a few times.  Good stuff.

Rounding out our initial leg of the Tour de Pizza was a trip to...

Stop #3: Iggie's Pizza

Stop #3 on the tour brought us to Iggie's Pizza, one of our favorites.  Sean's sister and her husband (Devon and Joe) came up to Bmore and took Sean and me out to lunch for Sean's birthday.  We had never taken them to Iggie's, so we figured this would be a good time to go.

They now have Diet Coke in glass bottles!  Maybe not the most exciting thing in the world, but Joe sure was excited.

Devon and Joe ordered the Seis Formaggi, which, as the title implies, is a 7 cheese pizza.  It's the first time I've seen it on the menu, and it was very good.

Sean and I ordered our old standby, the Salsiccia.  Yum.

You really can't go wrong with Iggie's.  If you are a guest of ours, and we have never taken you here, that situation needs to be rectified.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed eating at each of my pizza destinations, after hitting all 3 places up in the span of ~36 hours, I feel like I need to go on a detox diet.  

Even so, I plan to continue my pizza odyssey by revisiting some tried and true favorites as well as by exploring some new places.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know! =)