5 Courses to Celebrate 5 Years

August, 3rd: Bri and I had a really great year.  One year ago, we moved into our apartment and celebrated our 4-year anniversary.  Now, we have been living together for a year and are on year 5 of our relationship!  It has been really great and I am so appreciative for all the amazing times we have experienced together.  To celebrate year 5, I thought it would be cute to cook dinner together and have 5 courses in honor of 5 years.  We shared this amazing meal and watched a movie and it was a quiet and lovely anniversary.

Zucchini Soup

Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

Whole Wheat Gnocchi with Feta and Peas in a Brown Butter Balsamic Sauce

Toasty Parmesan Tomatoes

Creme Brûlée Cupcakes

Creme Brûlée Cupcakes

Creme Brûlée Cupcakes
(adapted from Cooking Classy)

Ingredients:
Pastry Cream Frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup skim milk
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp cornstarch
8 tbsp sugar, divided
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Cupcake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 + 2 tbsp sugar
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup skim milk

Directions:
1. To make the pastry cream, in a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk, 6 tbsp sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Heat over medium heat until you just start to see bubbles.  Turn heat to medium-low.  While cream is warming up, in a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 2 tbsp of sugar and the cornstarch.  (Save 2 of the egg whites for the cupcake batter).  When cream mixture is warm, take about 1/2 cup and slowly pour it into the egg mixture while whisking.  Continue to whisk and pour the egg mixture into the cream mixture.  Whisk until cream thickens.  Turn off heat and whisk in the 1 tbsp of butter.  Pour pastry cream into a bowl and cover with saran wrap so that the saran wrap is pressed against the pastry cream.  Cool in fridge for 2-3 hours.
2. To make the cupcake batter, in a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  IN a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg whites and egg, one at a time, until well combined.  Measure out the milk in a liquid measure cup and stir the vanilla into the milk.  Alternate adding the flour and milk to the butter/sugar starting with the flour and ending with the flour.  Beat until just combined.  Divide batter into 6 jumbo or 12 regular cupcake wells.  Bake at 350 for about 23 minutes.  Let cool completely.
3. To assemble cupcakes, spread the pastry cream over the tops of the cupcakes.  Sprinkle sugar on top and, using a kitchen torch, burn the sugar until it just starts to brown and harden.

Enjoy :)

Roast Your Own Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I have been very busy with school and I am loving every minute of it.  This past week I started to teach triangle similarity and how to write proofs and it was fun to see the kids really getting it.  In fact, in honor of Halloween, I had a relay planned where students had to complete so many problems correctly in order to earn their halloween candy.  I think this is sort of ridiculous, but offering candy as a reward made those kids work harder than ever.  It was great to see them really working hard and really doing great work!  It was a fun halloween and a great way to celebrate the holiday with math!

Speaking of Halloween, I also roasted my own pumpkin for the first time!  I ended up with enough pumpkin puree from my pie pumpkin to make pumpkin creme brûlée and a pumpkin pie.  Then I also roasted the seeds to have as a snack!  Here is my recipe for pumpkin creme brûlée.  It was absolutely delicious.

Roast Your Own Pumpkin Creme Brulee
(adapted from Food Network)

Ingredients
1 pie pumpkin
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a few pinches nutmeg
1 pinch cloves
1 pinch ginger
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup puree
extra sugar for the topping

Directions:
1. To roast the pumpkin: cut the thing in half, take the seeds out, and place both halves face down on a baking sheet, cover in foil and place in the oven at 350 for 90 minutes.  When done and cool, scoop out the pumpkin and puree in the food processor.  Place in container and place in fridge until ready to use.

2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
3. In a medium saucepan, place the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.  Place over medium heat until just simmering.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks with the sugar.  Slowly incorporate the cream mixture and then whisk in the pumpkin.  Pour into ramekins and place ramekins into a 13 by 9 inch pan.  Fill the pan with water until about halfway up the ramekins.  Place in oven and let cook for about 40 minutes.  Mixture should wobble, but be firm around the sides.  Wrap each ramekin in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.
5.  When ready to serve, take out the ramekins, sprinkle sugar over the tops and toast with a small kitchen torch.

Enjoy :)

Oh, and hear are a few gems from my little halloween celebration :).  Lauren and I were cereal box characters, Caryn was rocking the guess who costume, and Brian went with an old favorite: Batman!

Restaurant Week: Sardine

My first restaurant of restaurant week was Sardine. I went with my bestie, Tamara and we had an amazing time!  So, this is how it works: each person pays $25.  This gets you an appetizer, entree, and dessert.  This is how Tamara and I worked it: we each got something different, and tried it all! We make a pretty fantastic team! I am excited to share our dining experience with you!  This last semester of college is going to be a lot of exploring Madison and since I LOVE food, I'm going to share some great restaurant experiences.

We started off with the fabulous house wine for our drink and then shared two different salads as our appetizers.  Both were light, fresh, and delicious.  I ordered the Mixed Green and Bibb Lettuce Salad which came with shaved shallots, crispy chickpeas, beets and a sieved egg in a champagne tarragon vinaigrette.  Tamara got the Apple Endive Salad which had toasted walnuts, blue cheese, crispy squash and a black current vinaigrette.  

Following our starters, we enjoyed the salmon and chicken as our main dish.  The salmon came with french lentils, sautéed spinach, and portobello mushrooms in a tomato and beurre blanc...can we just look at that sentence in awe...The chicken was stuffed with gruyere and leeks and serviced with bacon, lardons, roasted carrots, turnips, new potatoes, and brussel sprouts in a riesling sauce.     My goodness everything was amazing.

As if dinner and appetizers weren't enough, we then got our desserts! Gianduja Crunch Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache and Vanilla Creme Brûlée!  We left totally stuffed and crazy happy. We sang at the top of our lungs in the car in the way home and then went out on a Sunday since it was a long weekend!

It was such a fun night!

Foodie Friends Friday: Growing Up Gabel and Shared Joy

This week, Foodie Friends Friday is back with a DOUBLE party!  This week you can win prizes from Growing Up Gabel and Shared Joy.  You can win a headband or earrings from Jennifer at Shared Joh and a knitted dishtowel from Camille at Growing Up Gabel!!!   Just follow the rules and link up your recipes! Also, host favorites will be featured on Daily Dish!  This week I'm linking up some of my favorite dessert ideas for Valentine's Day: Creme Brulee for Two, Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread, and White Chocolate Raspberry Heart Cheesecake!

Last Foodie Friends Friday was sponsored by Stacy and here were the winners:

And, of course, here were your top 3 voted and clicked recipes!

Most Clicked:

1. Pecan Pie Oatmeal

2. Wild Blueberry Turnovers

3. Creamy Jalapeño Chicken Enchiladas

Voted Top 3:

1. Apple Pie Bars

2. Ravioli

3. Gnocchi

Enter below and you might be a lucky winner!!

But first, here are this week's co-hosts:

Foodie Friends Friday http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com

Tracy at Busy Vegetarian Mom http://www.busyvegetarianmom.com

Robyn's View http://www.robynsview.com

Marlys at This and That  http://marlys-thisandthat.blogspot.com/

Lois at  Walking on Sunshine http://walkingonsunshinerecipes.com

Michelle at  From Calculus to Cupcakes http://www.fromcalculustocupcakes.com

Cynthia at Feeding Big  http://www.feedingbig.com

Jodie at Binomial Baker http://www.binomialbaker.blogspot.com

R Dawn at Spatulas on Parade http://www.spatulasonparade.blogspot.com

Angie at A lil Country Sugar http://www.alilcountrysugar.blogspot.com

Kelly at http://www.adornedwell.blogspot.com/

Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings: : http://www.cindysrecipesandwritings.com 

Joanne at Winelady Cooks: http://www.wineladycooks.blogspot.com

Marlene at Nosh My Way: http://www.noshmyway.com

Jutta at Hungry Little Girl: http://www.hungrylittlegirl.com/

Erika at Chef Picky Kid: http://www.chefpickykid.com/

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Creme Brûlée for Two

Today I have to get a TB test...yuck! I am really scared so I think I am going to go for a run first to calm my nerves.  Also, I really need to work out because I haven't in days and I am going out to dinner tonight at an amazing Italian restaurant with my friend, Tamara.  I am afraid that if I get the TB test first, I will pass out and then be unable to run.  If I run first, I can totally pass out and then comfort myself with amazing food.  That is much more of a winning situation.  This whole passing out thing is pretty standard for me.  I basically turn white as a ghost every time I have to get blood drawn, shots make me queasy, and even getting my ears pierced for the first time made me faint.  It's pretty pathetic.  I have been improving of late so hopefully today will go well!

I found a lovely recipe for Creme Brulee for Two over at Dishing the Divine.  Creme Brulee is one of Bri's favorite desserts and so it seemed appropriate to make it to go along with our little home cooked meal while he was visiting.

Creme Brulee is the best.  It is the perfect combination of sweet, creamy, rich, and delicious   However, you don't feel that full after because it's not dense like cake, brownies, or cookies.  Plus, it is fancy.  It just looks fancy.  All that caramelized sugar on top and the fact that it is French.  I love it.  And, it is so simple because of how few ingredients you use to make it! We had everything on hand except for the cream.  We were able to prepare it in 15 minutes before I had to run off to work and Bri monitored the baking/cooling process from there.  Then, we invested in a cheap kitchen torch to finish them off with the caramelized top.  That torch worked terribly and now I am looking into purchasing a nicer one.  I mean, I am going to need one ASAP if I am going to make creme brulee all the time, which I will.

Creme Brulee

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup + 2 tsp sugar
3 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300.  

2.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

3. In a saucepan, combine the cream and 1/4 cup of sugar.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and let cool for 15 minutes.  

4.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until broken up.  Slowly stir in the eggs to the cooled cream mixture.  Divide mixture among two 6 oz. ramekins.  Place the ramekins in a baking dish.

5.  Carefully, pour the boiling water into the baking dish until it reaches about 2/3 up the sides of the ramekins.  Make sure not to get water into the ramekins.  Place the pan in the oven for 50-55 minutes or until creme brulee is only slightly wobbly.  Let cool for two hours and then place in the fridge to chill for 4 hours.  

6.  Sprinkle 1 tsp of sugar over each ramekin and caramelize with a kitchen torch.  Place back in fridge for 30 minutes to set. 

Enjoy :)