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I will never understand my husband.

July 26, 2010 By

I love my Hubby. Dearly. He’s my best friend. My rock. He keeps me sane when I go crazy (which is often). He sticks around even when I decide to redecorate a room at 11:oopm at night. Or when I go into a dressing room with fifty dresses and decide I don’t like any of them. Or watch Real Housewives of New Jersey. Or New York. Or Orange County. He’s pretty awesome.

But sometimes I REALLY don’t understand him. And the number one disagreement in our marriage? I LUUUURVE Peanut Butter. He doesn’t. Seriously. How can someone born and bred in the United States NOT like peanut butter?!?  I’m pretty sure it’s un-American. I’m frankly surprised they even let him in the military with his hatred of Peanut Butter. The man likes peanuts. Just not peanut butter! And definitely not peanut butter with chocolate. He shuns desserts  like these Squirrel Bars or these Peanut Butter Brownie cups and yes, even these Muddy Buddies. I just don’t get it.

Because of this marital difference, my friends are the happy recipients of many peanut butter/ chocolate desserts. This Sunday, my friend Tess hosted a baby shower for my friend Leighanne–this fabulous lady right here:

LOVE her! Leighanne is a fellow peanut butter/ chocolate lover. So I did what any good friend would do..I made her this guy:

This is Martha Stewart’s Peanut Butter tart. And boy was it YUMMY.  I even bought a special tart pan for the occasion (which I’m very excited to use for many other tarts in the future!):

And my favorite part of making this dessert? Shaving the chocolate with a vegetable peeler to make these little garnishes:

Aren’t they fun? These would be a such great addition to all sorts of delicious desserts! So there you have it…I guess my hubby just doesn’t know what he’s missing!

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Crepes!

June 3, 2010 By

My hubby had some friends over to drink beer, watch basketball, and play video games–or as I call it…”a playdate”.  So my sister and I decided to make crepes!  Yummy!  Never made crepes before? They’re sooooo easy!

Just throw together in a bowl:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 tablespoon of oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together until VERY smooth. Drop approx. 2 tablespoons onto warm skillet and swirl around until it’s evenly distributed.

Cook until golden on one side…you can flip them or not…your call!  Fill will mushrooms, cheese, strawberries, nutella, bananas…the possibilites are endless!  We did four combos:

1. Strawberries with chocolate syrup

2. Sugar and lemon

3. Nutella

4. Nutella and strawberries.

Yum!!!

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As American as apple pie.

April 15, 2010 By

My favorite apple pie recipe is the old faithful from Joy of Cooking.  And I have a confession to make.  I always use store-bought pie crust.  I made a pie crust from scratch once, but the next time, I needed a shortcut, so I bought one at the store (the rolled ones, not the ones already in the pans). I couldn’t really tell the difference between the two, so I’ve never gone back!  I’m a firm believer in making things from scratch when you can really tell the difference.  But I also believe in taking shortcuts when you CAN’T tell the difference!

So without further ado, my favorite Apple Pie.

Ingredients

  • 5-6 large apples (not, my hubby ate some of my apples, so this pie only had 4 apples)
  • 3/4 cup of sugar
  • 2-3 tbs all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 2 tbs unsalted butter
  • 1 store bought piecrust (two for top/bottom) or your favorite homemade crust

Directions

Slice up apples

Toss apples with sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt.  Let stand for 15 minutes, stirring several times.

Lay out pie crust in a pie pan.

Fill pie crust with the apple filling. Dot the filling with butter.

Vent the top crust.

Lay the top crust on the pie and crimp the edges.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Slip a baking sheet under the pie, reduce to 350 degrees and bake until the fruit feels just tender, 30-45 minutes more.  Cool and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

April 7, 2010 By

When I think of my favorite foods two things come to mind: chocolate and peanut butter.  And this recipe is near-divine because it combines the two!  AND it’s super easy.  ”I have company coming in an hour” easy.  These sorts of recipes are what I call “Brownie Boosters”…little extras you can add to boxed brownies for a quick, easy dessert with a little character.  Have I built them up enough for you?  Okay, good.  Drum-roll, please.

Ingredients

  • 1 box of Brownie Mix prepared (or homemade if you’re an overachiever)
  • 1 bag peanut butter chips
  • 1 bag chocolate chips
  • 1 cup or so of peanut butter

Directions

  1. Make a standard brownie receipe or if you want the shortcut, make a box brownie mix batter (don’t worry, this is what I ususally do…I won’t judge).
  2. Mix in 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
  3. Pour mixture into 12 unlined, greased muffin cups.
  4. Bake 15-18 minutues at 350 degrees.
  5. Once you take the brownies out of the oven, heat 1/2 cup of peanut butter in the microwave until melted.  Using a pastry bag, inject a little bit of the melted peanut butter into the center of each brownie cup.  Sprinkle with a few more peanut butter and chocolate chips.
  6. Let cool completely before removing from cups.

And you’ll be left with these:

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