Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I was excited to make these rolls. It's originally from Alton Brown and I like his simple, minimal-effort, yummy recipes. I have been planning on making them since November. I originally wanted to serve them for breakfast on Thanksgiving, but with all the other cooking I was doing, these got pushed aside. The recipe has been sitting on the kitchen counter ever since, just calling out to be made. Finally, made them. All I have to say is wow. These are beyond incredible. So much better than Cinnabon, because they aren’t as sugary and they don’t give you an instant cavity.

It’s nice to be able to control the amount of sweetness. I added walnuts for additional fat, omega 3s, and slight crunch. Mr. Surly approved as well. He also liked that they weren’t too sugary-sweet and you could put as much (or as little) icing on as desired. I will definitely be making these again. It wasn’t a lot of work, just be sure to plan ahead to give the rolls time to rise overnight.

A Very Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is having a nice, relaxing holiday with friends and family. I'm still up north, and will be for awhile longer, soaking in some much needed time with my family. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful Christmas, as well.

Because I'm so excited about it, I just have to share the amazing gift Mr.Surly got me this year.



Ever since I became serious about cooking a little over a year ago, I knew I eventually needed to upgrade my cookware. For months, I just wasn’t sure which line to go with. After researching my options I finally decided I wanted the All Clad d5 line, which is exclusive to Williams Sonoma. (FYI: After discussing the differences with a sales associate, she informed me that the Copper Core line and the d5 brushed stainless lines will lose their finish if washed in a dishwasher. She suggested the d5 stainless line if I plan on putting them in the dishwasher). I put together a wish list months ago and showed it to Mr. Surly. He suggested we get married already so we could get this stuff for free, as wedding gifts. But I don’t want to get married until I’m healthy again. I cannot deal with the stress of planning out a wedding when I’m barely able to function. So we’ve agreed to wait until I’m less medicated, basically back to (almost) normal to get married. My doctor doubts I will ever be totally free of stomach problems and his goal is to get me back to a functioning level. I’m still holding out hope that they will find the cause of this and I will one day get back to my normal, healthy physical state. Then I can deal with planning a wedding.

Ah, but I digress, back to the cookware.

We exchanged gifts before we flew up north so we wouldn't need to lug them on the plane to unwrap just to return with them a week later. I was surprised and thrilled when Mr. Surly presented me with three gorgeous items for Christmas. I think that he got them to motivate me back into the kitchen and make some food since I have been pretty lazy recently. I’ve been making meals that require little to no work, and I know he’s longing for a change in my measly, sparse menu. Well, he certainly has inspired me; I can’t wait to get back home and put these guys to use. But I still have a few more days to enjoy being sous chef. Looks like I better bask in the rest because once I arrive home I feel like I’ll be spending a lot of time getting to know my new cookware.



What was your favorite gift this year?

A Lovely Cookie

My brother-in-law received these cookies as a Christmas gift this year. One of his friends invested in this cookie company a couple years ago, and I guess they are doing well. So my brother-in-law brought them to share. When I saw a bag full of chocolaty goodness, I admit I was pretty excited to dig in.

First, I had to weigh out all my options as there was a variety from which to choose. I apologive about the crappy photos, I didn’t bring my dSLR camera with me. No room for it with all my sweaters, thermals, and Christmas gifts.

I love chocolate and peanut butter, so I tried on of the peanut butter Lovely Oh’s.


It was basically an oreo with peanut butter filling (does Oreo/Nabisco even make that?), then dipped in dark chocolate. Now, I’m not a fan of oreos, never was. When I was little I liked to open them and maybe lick some crème, but I’d leave the cookies for someone else to eat. Therefore, these lovely oh’s weren’t my favorite.

Undeterred, I moved on to the Mint Lovely Oh’s.


Again, like a mint filled double stuff oreo dipped in dark chocolate. Better than the peanut butter, but still, to me, just ok.



By this point, I assumed the plain lovely oh’s were just like chocolate dipped oreos, so I skipped those and I moved on to the giant cookies.

First up, this dark chocolate fudge was calling out to me. It was baked and rolled in sugar and tasted marvelous.


I only ate half, since I had another flavor to try, the Triple Chocolate mint.



I wasn't really a fan of this mint cookie. Something tasted "off," like there was alcohol in the extract that overpowered the mint flavor. I couldn't even finish half of this cookie. Instead, I went back for more of the yummy chocolate fudge one.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me that they are vegan, gluten free, certified organic, yada yada. I just like that they aren’t too sugary sweet, nor overly processed tasting. And they are free of high fructose corn syrup, which is a huge plus.



I doubt I would order them online for myself; I’d rather try to find a local place that sells similar items, if I were going to buy them at all. I would rather just make cookies myself. But, they would make a nice gift for someone with a gluten-intolerance (or celiac disease), vegan, or someone else who is into this kind of baked good. They remind me of those cookies they send when you sign up for an annual VegNews subscription (and the kind they also sell at Nordstrom’s coffee bar); I can’t remember the name.

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Not a paid advertisement. Liz Lovely has no idea who I am nor that I wrote a post about her delicious products.

Macadamia Fudge

I love chocolate but I’m not a big fan of fudge. I think it’s because I feel like eating fudge is a waste of calories; I’d rather just eat a square of dark chocolate.

I don’t have a go-to fudge recipe since I don’t eat it so I started looking around for recipes. I admit I was nervous, especially after all the trouble I had last week with the mint recipe. Most of the simple and easy recipes called for a jar of marshmallow fluff or mini marshmallows. I detest marshmallows and marshmallow fluff; way too sweet and sugary for my taste. I found it difficult to find an easy fudge recipe that did not include this stuff. I learned in my recipe research that fudge gets its smooth consistency from careful temperature monitoring. For people who don’t want to fiddle around with a candy thermometer to maintain the perfect fudge cooking temperature, marshmallow fluff is the secret to smoothness. So what about people, like me, who don’t want to deal with a candy thermometer nor add a jar of marshmallow fluff?

There had to be a recipe out there for me so I kept searching for a fudge that sounded appealing. I finally settled on this marshmallow fluff-free recipe. It turned out to be pretty good, a bit on the sweet side, but still good. Using evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed milk might cut down on the sweetness factor. I ended up making a full batch and froze some. Though, at the rate that Mr. Surly is eating them up, the frozen ones might not last much longer.

Tonight I head north to the city of Brotherly Love for the next week and a half to be with family for Christmas. I envision myself snuggled up on the couch, watching movies while being attended to by worried, loving family members. It will be wonderful to be coddled and made much of. Though I’m not looking forward to cold temps and snow.

I'm Blushing

Thanks to Claire of Claire Cooks for passing on this award to me. I'm deeply flattered. If you haven't made Claire's Lemon Cranberry Muffins, you must do so immediately. Her post haunted me for days until I finally had to make them; they are divine.

*To accept this award, there are 4 rules:*
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself
3. Pass the award on to bloggers you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic.
4. Contact the bloggers you picked and let them know about the award.

7 Things about me:
1) I am a germaphobe
2) I have always hated the smell, and taste, of bacon
3) I was an anatomy lab teaching assistant for two years during college
4) I cannot touch raw meat of any kind, nor can I eat meat off of a bone
5) I love to clean (see 1)
6) I am a perfectionist
7) I like to watch Jeopardy! and do the daily crossword puzzle


I'm passing this award on to Amy of Serve at Once and Meg of Cooking.In.College

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

My favorite ingredients strike again; I just love the combination of apples and cranberries. And this fall I’m definitely satiating my craving for them. For Thanksgiving I like to make two different kinds of stuffing, regular (onions, celery, bread and spices) and this apple cranberry version. Last year, Mr. Surly was a bit skeptical of the apple version but this year he was all about it. I have made a couple batches since Thanksgiving of this deliciousness.

When I make stuffing I don’t follow a recipe. I just throw everything together in ratios I like and bake it. I love stuffing. I also love how easy it is to make. Below is the general recipe I use.

Peppermint (Penguin) Patties

This week I really struggled for some reason. I picked out a chocolate mint candy recipe. But when I tried to make it, this is what I ended up with:



Fail.

This was supposed to be mint candy squares. But it failed to set up for me, even after hours in the fridge. Obviously, I left out something vitally important, I'm just not sure what. Oh well. I still haven’t decided what to do with it, maybe try to salvage it into mint truffles.

My second attempt was a recipe for peppermint patties. Things went well until I decided to add food coloring to make the filling a festive green color. After rummaging around the kitchen, I finally found my food coloring. I proceed to combine the red and blue dyes to achieve a jolly green hue. Did you catch that? Red and blue. As I mixed the colors, I was confused because I was getting purple not green. I thought my mistake was that I had too much blue, I needed to add more red. Nope, still not green. I go to grab the back of the box to see what I was doing wrong. I felt like an idiot when I realized that red+blue=purple and I should have done blue+yellow. And the real kicker is that I had a bottle of green food coloring in the box; I didn’t even need to mix colors. Here I am, the daughter of an artist/art teacher mother, and I couldn’t even remember the basic color wheel. I practically grew up in my mom's art studio. How embarrassing.

I do have an excuse, though. My GI doctor enrolled me in a clinical trial and the new medication I’m on is really affecting my mind. I thought I was crazy before, that was nothing compared to this. It’s a struggle for me to focus my mind on things. Perhaps this is why my first attempt at a minty dessert was a total disaster. Luckily, I’m only on this drug for 8 weeks. Then I can return to my original, slightly confused, state.

Finally, I attempted my third try at a mint treat; a new peppermint patty recipe that was simple; just a few ingredients. Third time’s the charm, right? Not quite for me. I wouldn’t call it a complete success, but at least this time it was my results were a bit more visually appealing. I used mini cookie cutters to make bite-sized mints. I haven’t had a peppermint pattie in years and found these surprisingly refreshing. I just wish they looked better. Oh well, maybe I’ll have better luck next week's treat.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

Since I don’t have a recipe ready to post today, let’s play a game. Yesterday, I did a load of laundry and, as I hung up the clean clothing in the closet, I noticed something disturbing. See if you can figure it out.

Here is a partial glimpse of our closet. Can you identify what’s wrong?



Look closely. Here’s a hint: this is the middle of our closet.



Do you see it?

Give up yet?

Let’s check out the clothes.



That's right, Mr. Surly has officially taken over more than half of our closet. I thought the female was automatically guaranteed to have all the closet space. When did his side invade, and overtake, part of mine? More importantly, how did I allow this to happen?

The only answer I have is that, since I’ve been sick, I don’t get out very much which means I rarely open the closet. I spend almost every day in comfy loungeware/pajamas. Yesterday was the first time I noticed that my side of the closet was diminishing. This is just the middle of our closet, each side extends out further, so you can imagine the vast amount of clothing Mr. Surly has acquired.

Is there any way I can reclaim my half, or is this space gone for good?

Homemade Muesli

Anyone who knows me (or has been reading my blog) knows that, because of my GI issues, I'm obsessed about what ingredients go into my food. I tend to avoid processed and packaged foods because I must ensure nothing that will cause me abdominal pain/distress passes through my lips. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this museli in my recipe stash while looking for holiday cookie recipes. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of making my own cereal sooner. I adapted this recipe from a one a high school friend shared with me many years ago. Her mom made it and I always thought it was delicious.

I love it because, in addition to being delectable, it's easy to make and you get control the ratio of ingredients. Love walnuts? Add a cup instead of ¾ c. Not sold on raisins? Decrease the amount to 1/3 c . Add or change up the spices. Add coconut, mini chocolate chips, dried cranberries. I could go on and on. Think of this recipe as more like a guideline; it’s open to interpretation. The result will be a healthy, homemade cereal of all your favorite things.

I love almonds and walnuts; I tend to add a lot of them so I can get more of the healthy fat my body needs. I wanted to add coconut, but I didn’t this time because Mr. Surly doesn’t like coconut. But next time I’m going to make a batch with coconut. I haven’t decided whether I want to add it to the oats and toast it, or add it at the end with the dates and raisins.

This would be a fantastic, healthy addition to your holiday goodie boxes to balance out all the sugary treats. I promise the recipients will thank you and beg for the recipe.

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

I was thrilled when Claire asked me to be a part of her and Taylor's Merry Mondays. I was very excited to see cranberries were the first featured ingredient. I love cranberries and have made lots of delicious dishes including them recently.

I have been trying to plan out my holiday treats, and the options are endless. She didn’t specify whether we were suppose to make sweets or savories with the week’s ingredient. I’m assuming a dessert/treat since it’s holiday baking time. I had half a bag of cranberries left over from Thanksgiving that I hadn’t decided what to do with. While flipping through this year’s Cook’s Illustrated holiday baking magazine I saw this recipe for cranberry upside down cake. I’ve never made, nor eaten an upside down cake. I’m not sure why, I guess they never appealed to me very much. I thought it would be fun to try something new. I didn’t want a big 9” cake, since I knew the two of us wouldn’t be able to eat it, so I halved the recipe.

I tried a piece as soon as it was slightly cooled, and it was okay. However, when I went to have a piece a day later, it was so much better. (I had it sitting, covered, at room temp). I also added a (generous) dollop of whipped cream. Yum, this was a tasty, different kind of dessert, more tart than sweet. Which is perfect for the holiday season when I'm usually overloaded on sweet treats. I wish I had thought to put a splash of bourbon in the cranberry topping, that would also have taken it up a notch. Why is it that bourbon makes everything taste better? Also, I split this up between two pans, and that made the cake a bit too thin in my opinion. So next time I’ll just keep in all in one 4½ inch pan.

Roasted Sweet Potato Balls

Another dish I wanted to make for Thanksgiving was some kind of sweet potato appetizer. Not one that included lots of sugar and marshmallows. My body isn’t absorbing fat, so lots of excess sugar and fat makes me feel nauseous and sick. I prefer to sneak good fats into my diet to try to trick my body into absorbing it. So far it hasn’t worked; my body is too smart. But I’ll keep trying. Since I need the fat and calories, I use butter to grease my dish, otherwise I would just use non-stick olive oil or canola spray.

Anyway, back to the sweet potato balls. I didn’t follow any recipe, I just made it up as I went along. I think they turned out really well. I love bite-sized things, and these were perfect. I made these up on wed and popped them in the oven on thurs right before serving our appetizers. Simple and low key, just how I like things. Oh and they are healthy, too. If you’re not a fan of nuts the walnuts can be omitted. I added a lot of walnuts since they contain a lot of “good fat.”

I have other scrumptious recipes from our thanksgiving dinner, but I have no idea when I’ll get around to posting them. The medicine I’m on is really kicking my ass, leaving me really tired, drained and way behind in my posting. I’m really hoping my posts are at least somewhat coherent and my recipe instructions make sense.

Pumpkin Bourbon French Toast

Another tasty treat inspired by Mr. Bobby Flay.

For Thanksgiving I wanted to have something more than just my boring oatmeal and Mr. Surly’s fruit smoothie for breakfast. I love french toast and found myself with ½ can of pumpkin that needed used. I decided to make some pumpkin flavored french toast. It turned out to be so delicious. I cooked up the whole loaf of bread, knowing that we wouldn’t eat it all at once. It was nice to have enough breakfast for 2 days. Just pop a couple slices in the microwave or oven the next morning for a no hassle, quick breakfast.