Vanilla bean sugar cookie bars

I love vanilla.  Especially vanilla bean.  I'll take a scoop of good vanilla ice cream any day over chocolate.  So I was excited to see this recipe.  I made these yesterday and the kids told me that they're so good, I need to make them every day.  I told them that they're crazy, so Josh said he'd settle for once a month.  Ha!  Well, I don't know if they're THAT good, but they are really good.  I was totally going to take a picture of mine with a little Johnny Jump Up flower on it, like this one but the stupid, stupid rabbits ate all of my flowers.  : (  Stupid rabbits.
I didn't buy half & half so I just used milk for the frosting, which worked fine.

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookie Bars with Vanilla Bean Frosting

Yield: About 20 bars

Ingredients

Bars
• 2 1/2 cups (354g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 10 Tbsp (5 oz) unsalted butter, softened slightly*
• 1 cup (215g) granulated sugar
• Seeds of 1 small vanilla bean
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 3 Tbsp sour cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) butter (I like to use 1/4 cup salted and 1/4 cup unsalted)
• Seeds of 1 small vanilla bean
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp half and half

Directions

• For the bars:
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 13" x 9" baking dish, set aside.
• In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt for 20 seconds, set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip together butter, sugar and vanilla bean seeds until pale and fluffy. Stir in egg then egg white. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Slowly add dry mixture and mix just until combined.
• Spray hands with non-stick cooking spray and gently press mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and bars are set, about 15 - 16 minutes. Cool completely, then frost and cut into squares.
• For the frosting:
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter with vanilla bean seeds until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, powdered sugar and half and half and mix until light an fluffy.
• *You want the butter to still be cool, this is so the dough isn't too warm and sticky to work with when pressing into the baking dish.
• Recipe and photo source: Cooking Classy

Pina Colada Chicken Salad

This is so yummy! Of course, I'm a sucker for most things with coconut, so...
I've cut the dressing ingredients in half here, which is what I made, and it still makes like 1 1/2 cups of dressing! So, you could definitely reduce it even more if you want less.

Pina Colada Chicken Salad

• 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup of Italian Bread Crumbs
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 can of pineapple tidbits, (save the pineapple juice)
• 6 cups of spinach 
• Feta Cheese, optional

Dressing:

• 3/4 cups coconut milk
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice (not the pineapple juice from above)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (may sub sour cream)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoons honey

Instructions

1. Whisk together all dressing ingredients, reserving the remaining pineapple juice. Cover and chill until ready to use.
2. Preheat oven to 400 and heavily grease a baking sheet with cooking spray or use a silpat mat.
3. Mix together the  coconut flakes, breadcrumbs and garlic salt.
4. Place your cut chicken pieces in the remaining pineapple juice (you can add a little water if don't have enough juice).  Toss the chicken in the coconut and breadcrumb mixture and coat well.
5. Place coated chicken on baking sheet and spray chicken chunks with cooking spray.
6. Bake 6-8 minutes, then flip them all over and cook on the other side another 6-8 minutes or until cooked through and lightly browned. (The coconut flakes might get dark brown, but that is okay).
7. Place your spinach on your plate and put your chicken tenders, pineapple tidbits, and optional Feta on top. Serve with pina colada dressing.

Adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff

Wow - these got an "excellent" from Jeff, and he's not a huge cherry fan.  I love that these use bing cherries, so it's another way to use them during cherry season.  Yum!

Cherry Muffins

Author: Mary Ellen @ That's My Home

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  18 mins

Total time:  33 mins

Serves: 16

A perfect summer calls for sweet cherry muffins.

Ingredients

• 3½ cups flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup oil
• 1½ cups brown sugar, tightly packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla
• ½ teaspoon. almond extract
• 1¼ cups buttermilk
• 2 cups pitted, quartered, sweet cherries
• coarse sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pit the cherries and cut into quarters.
2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add the oil and brown sugar to a mixing bowl. When thoroughly combined add eggs. Mix well. Add the vanilla and almond extract.
4. Add the buttermilk and stir until combined.
5. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Stir in the cherries.
6. Use a large scoop and put the batter into cupcake tins that are lined with papers almost to the top. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar.
7. Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Turn oven down to 375 degrees. Bake for another 10 - 13 minutes.

Banana Crumb Cake

This is great for dessert or breakfast.  Or both!  I left the nuts out so that my picky people would eat it. The recipe called for self-rising flour for the cake but I just used all-purpose and it was fine, but I added their instructions to make self rising flour, in case you're interested.  I baked mine in loaf pans and it took about 1 hour.   Also, I have no idea where I got this recipe, so if it was from one of you - thanks!  Ha ha!  

Banana Crumb Cake

3 ripe bananas

2 C. sugar

1 stick butter, softened

1 C. milk

2 C. flour*

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 C. chopped nuts (optional)

Crumb Topping:

1 stick butter

1 C. brown sugar (dark or light)

1 C. flour

Preheat oven to 350°.

Spray 2 loaf pans or 2 8x8 pans with cooking spray.  Place the peeled bananas in mixing bowl, add sugar.  Mix until bananas are liquefied.  Add butter, mix until creamed together with banana mixture.  Add all other ingredients and blend well.  

In medium bowl, place all topping ingredients.  Cut together with a fork or pastry blender until well blended.  

Pour 1/4 of batter into each pan, top with 1/4 crumb mixture.  Pour remaing batter over and top with remaining crumb mixture.  

Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

*To make your own self rising flour, simply add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for EACH cup of all purpose flour.  

Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

You should probably make this - it's so delicious!  I cannot tell you how excited I am to have finally found a Thai Satay recipe that tastes like this!  I've tried a few before and they were mostly a lame marinade dipped in a glob of peanut butter.  Ugh.
You should not, however, make this with regular rice.  Just do sticky rice.  The sauce will be over-the-top if you just pour it over a plate of rice.  Instead, make some sticky rice and just ball up a little bit at a time and dip it in the sauce, along with the chicken.  And then keep dipping after the chicken is gone and you only have rice left. :)  Yum.
The sauce recipe makes quite a bit, so next time I'm going to half it and use the rest of the coconut milk for Sticky Rice with Mango.

One last thing... don't sub anything for the fresh ginger and garlic.  It just won't taste the same.

Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

24 wooden skewers

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, pounded to tenderize and cut into 1-inch cubes

MARINADE

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon curry powder

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

PEANUT COCONUT SAUCE (1/2 the recipe and use the rest of the coconut milk for Kaew Neow Ma Muang)

1 can (13.5 ounces) coconut milk, (not fat free or light)

¼ cup peanut butter

¼ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice

2 teaspoons red curry paste

STICKY RICE

long grain glutinous rice (about 2-3 cups)

Soak rice in water for at least three hours (overnight is preferable).  Steam the rice on stove for about 20 minutes, or until tender.

Whisk marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat the cubes well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight.

Thread 6 to 8 chicken cubes onto each skewer. When the grill is ready, cook the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes, turning the skewers over halfway through (cook the skewers on top of a sheet of aluminum foil to prevent drips).

Meanwhile, prepare the peanut coconut sauce: Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Dip chicken and sticky rice in peanut sauce.

** DO NOT SUB REGULAR RICE FOR THE STICKY RICE

Bel-Air Club Sandwich

I made these for dinner last week and they were very tasty! I wasn't sure about the egg but it really works well. I cut back the fat in the original recipe by reducing the amount of cheese, not frying the eggs in oil and I use olive oil mayo because it's much lower in fat and tastes great. I also used a lot less aioli per sandwich than the original recipe calls for and there's still plenty. And, rather than white bread we used Oat & Nut bread which was delish. So the recipe below is my version. And, I took a picture of these sandwiches and seriously cannot find it! Sad!

Heaping 1/3 C mayonnaise
2 tsp minced fresh chives
2 tsp mince fresh parsley
2 tsp mince fresh tarragon (I used a pinch of dried)
Scant 1/8 tsp onion powder
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste


4 eggs
12 slices white bread, crusts removed, lightly toasted
2 oz thinly sliced turkey (about 12 slices)
2 oz thinly sliced smoked ham (about 12 slices)
4 slices Swiss cheese
8 slices bacon, cooked crisp
Tomato, thinly sliced
Romaine lettuce leaves

Combine mayonnaise, chives, parsley, tarragon, onion powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl; set aioli aside. Fry eggs until cooked, seasoning with salt and pepper; set aside.

Assemble sandwiches: Lay three slices of bread and spread each with aioli.  On one slice arrange turkey, ham and Swiss; top with second slice of bread, aioli side up. Top with one egg, 2 slices of bacon, and tomato slices then season with salt and pepper. Top with lettuce and remaining bread slice, aioli side down. Cut in half or fourths using skewers to secure sandwich together. Repeat for other sandwiches.

Serve with french fries.


Makes 4 sandwiches.


Original recipe from Saveur has been tweaked.

Roman Bread Pudding

So, this is not your standard modern-day-over-the-top-delicious dessert.  However, it's still pretty tasty!  Actually, Ava and Jeremy didn't love it, but I reminded Jeremy that he surely wasn't "in the zone" and thinking like an ancient Roman.  He would have loved it if I played the part.

Anyway, we made this as part of our lesson on ancient Romans this week and I thought I would post it in case anyone is planning a culture night or an ancient Rome night.  You never know, right?

Also, I'm not putting amounts because you can really just eyeball everything.

Thick bread (we used French bread and cut it into about 1.5 inch thick slices and then in thirds lengthwise)
milk
olive oil
honey

Heat olive oil in a pan.  Dip the bread in the milk so it's completely covered (you don't have to soak it though) and then fry in olive oil.  Eat warm with honey drizzled on top.