Friday, April 12, 2013

New Favorite Recipes

I have been whipping up cookies and cakes left and right lately. They are pretty darn good but not so good for the waistline when you eat a bunch, with ice cream, every night before bed.

I don't hate it. But I should work on limiting myself, for sure.

This week I tried a few different recipes. Two of which were good, that I'll definitely make again and a third, not so much. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm pretty darn awesome when it comes to making cookies. It's also helpful when I need a little bargaining power with Papa Bear.

Here you are friends!

Braised Chicken and Artichokes - Williams Sonoma Blog (Pinterest find)

I don't know how I pulled this off but this was SO good. The last time I tried braising, I burnt the shit out of everything in the pot. Papa Bear was not impressed and we ordered in a pizza. I don't know where I got the courage to try again but I'm sure glad that I did.

This is pretty darn easy to make. I don't have a huge pot, so I could only fit two chicken breasts and one drumstick. It was plenty for us though. I also cheated a bit and used canned artichokes instead of buying fresh. Artichokes scare me. I don't even know how I'd begin trying to make one of those. Just be sure you drain the chokes and squirt fresh lemon juice all over them. I served it with rice and it was delish. Papa Bear liked it, which is saying something.

Hummingbird Cake - Boulder Locavore Blog (Pinterest find)

Thiiiiiiisssss is probably not my favorite. It was good but not great. I thought Papa Bear would like it because it has pineapple and banana but he hated it. It wasn't necessarily because it was bad, he just hates cake. Which I totally thought I could overcome with the bananas but failed. Miserably.

He affectionately calls it "sand cake".

I should have followed my gut and shortened the instructed baking time. It honestly was a little on the overcooked side. Still edible but not too moist. Never, ever cook anything for as long as it says. Especially cookies.

This recipe also makes a HUGE cake. I've had two slices, Grace ate a quarter off the counter and we still have half of a cake left.

Did you notice how I mentioned Grace doing something bad and didn't curse? That's because I've come to expect she's going to mess with me. Sad day.

Anyway, I wouldn't make this one unless you are hosting a party and everyone loves cream cheese frosting and carrot cake.

That's the other thing. I don't have one of those counter mixer things, only a hand mixer and that son of a bitchin frosting was a nightmare to make. It was just too much to mix at once. My other mistake was trying to bake this damn cake and make the braised chicken. Stupidly ambitious.

And my absolute favorite this week, possibly this month.

Oatmeal Whoopie Pies - Pioneer Woman

These suckers taste EXACTLY like the Little Debbie's you can buy in the store. They are so friggen good. You know a cookie is going to be delicious when you seriously consider eating the entire bowl of dough instead of baking them.


This was really, really easy to make. Don't cook them for the entire nine minutes and you probably can cut the cream filling recipe in half. Unless you really like the middle, then I advise making it as directed. I threw out about half. I tried filling #2 but if you're feeling lazy, I bet filling #1 would be just as good.

Enjoy!


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