Candied Pecan Berry Salad with Cream Cheese and Poppy Seed Dressing

Or, if Candied Pecan Berry Salad with Cream Cheese and Poppy Seed Dressing seems like a mouthful, you can just call it The Salad That's so Good You'll Save it for Dessert. There. That knocked off a whole word.

Seriously though, it has to be a pretty good salad for Yammie to post it. I mean, I am not a salad person. Mixed greens with assorted vegetables and Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing? Just looking at it would burn my eyeballs out and turn my tastebuds to ashes.

But this salad, with it's beautiful rainbow of colors, it's homemade poppy seed dressing, it's crunchy candied nuts, and it's endless variations to imagine up, is a salad even the staunchest of carnivores will graze upon with pleasure.

 

Candied Pecan Berry Salad with Cream Cheese and Poppy Seed Dressing

Other variations on this salad: You can use any combination of nuts, fruit, and cheese that you want. Sometimes I use mandarin oranges and cashews, sometimes I use apples and walnuts, you could use soft goat cheese, blue cheese, or feta cheese instead of cream cheese, you could add chicken or bacon, just be creative!

1 cup pecans
1/4 cup  brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
kosher salt
Romaine lettuce 8 oz. (I used two really small stalks)
Sliced strawberries, about a cup
Blueberries, about 1/2 pint
About 1/4 of a big red onion
4 oz. cream cheese
Poppyseed Dressing (recipe below)

Grease a piece of parchment or wax paper and set aside. In a large pan (I use non-stick) combine the pecans, brown sugar, and butter. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until the sugar is pretty much melted into a syrup (it doesn't have to be completely melted if you don't want it to be). Spread onto prepared parchment paper and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the salad.
Cut up the lettuce, onion, and cream cheese. To cut the cream cheese into chunks, you'll want to use a big, sharp knife and wet it between slices. If you're having trouble, you can always just pull it into chunks.
Layer the lettuce, berries, nuts, onion, and cream cheese. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.

For the Dressing:

1/2 cup light olive oil
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar (I usually use apple cider vinegar, but you can also use white vinegar)
1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard

Whisk well.

Recipe Credit: I think I got this recipe from my aunt, but I'm not sure. Either way, it's a family tradition. :)

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Thai Peanut Chex Mix

I don't know what's up with me and Asian food lately. First it's a candy bento box, then it's sushi made with seafood salad, and now it's Thai Chex mix. Only the most authentic dishes will do.

Kidding.

The inspiration for this Chex mix is this awesome Thai Peanut sauce that one of my real life gluten free friends introduced me to (HI SARAH). I'm sorry I disgraced it's glutenfreeness by adding pretzels, but you could add gluten free pretzels if you want.
You'd also have to leave out the wasabi peas if you want it to be gluten free, unless you can find some gluten free ones. Wasabi peas are pretty much peas that are dried or something and coated with wasabi, so they're kind of spicy and horseradishy. Pretty awesome.

I also added these shoestring potato sticks. I had never seen a shoestring potato stick before this adventure, but somehow they found their way into the grocery cart and ended up in the Chex mix. They have a mind of their own, I tell ya.



Stay tuned for another fun Chex Mix I'm making for Tablespoon.com in a few weeks. It's gonna be awesome.

Note: I made mine in the oven, but you could probably make it in the microwave if you want. Just throw it in there for about 5 minutes and stir it every minute or so. Let me know how it turns out if you do it that way!

Thai Peanut Chex Mix

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup Thai peanut sauce

1 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups corn chex

3 cups rice chex

2 cups shoestring potato sticks

2 cups pretzels

1 1/2 cup peanuts (I used cocktail)

1 1/2 cups wasabi peas

Preheat oven to 250ºF. In a large bowl, stir together the butter, peanut sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Toss the remaining ingredients to coat. Pour the mixture onto a large baking sheet. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Let it cool for about 15 minutes before sealing in an airtight container.

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Aunt Pat's Banana Cake With Caramel Frosting

Today I'm here to tell you a story of what happens when I attempt to actually follow a recipe. 

And no, this fluffy pillow of caramel banana heaven is not the only thing that happens. Unfortunately.



See, I have this recipe from my great aunt Pat. I was going to be really cool and follow the recipe with only a couple of minor adjustments. When I was done mixing the batter, I was like, "Okay, so this didn't make much, but maybe it will quadruple in size in the oven."

When I got done baking I was like, "Okay guys, there is something seriously wrong with this cake. It looks really freaky."

But no matter, on to the frosting. So I was digging around in the cupboards for the sugar and I was like, "Where did I put that sugar? I mean, I just used it for the.... for the... for the..."

So it was then that I realized I had not in fact used the sugar for the cake.

I was so distraught that I immediately smashed the sugarless cake in a furious and maniacal frenzy.

No matter. While the new cake baked, I whipped up some caramel for the frosting. 

The second cake came out looking like a dream come true so I drizzled on my beauteous caramel frosting.

Then I sprinkled on some toasted walnuts just for the heck of it and called it a success. 

So I guess the moral of this story is that sugar is important. But we already knew that.

Aunt Pat's Banana Cake With Caramel Frosting

For Aunt Pat's Banana Cake:
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas (3 to 4 very ripe bananas)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease a 9x13 inch pan and dust with flour.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Mix in the butter until incorporated.
Mix together the egg, bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla and add to the flour mixture, stirring just until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For my Caramel Frosting:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Combine the sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan on the stove. Cook over medium high heat until caramel colored. Add the heavy cream and 1/4 cup of butter (half of the stick). Add the salt and vanilla.  Cool to room temperature.
In a stand mixer, beat the caramel in a stand mixer. Cut the remaining 1/4 cup butter into cubes and beat in until combined. Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk and beat well. It should be thick and smooth (add more milk or powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached). Drizzle the frosting over the cake. Don't try to spread it, it will just stir up crumbs from the cake. Try to drizzle it pretty evenly over the cake and it should slowly spread together. Sprinkle with some toasted walnuts if you want.

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Homemade Sushi: The California Roll {No Raw Fish!}

You guys, this may shock you, but I have never gotten sushi at a restaurant before. Noperee. I've never had a single lick of raw fish and I hope I never will.

My sister, Nemo, on the other hand is quite the sushi aficionado and has agreed to do this totally awesome tutorial on how to make your very own sushi. The cool part is that there is no raw fish involved. Even I will sing from rooftops with joy when offered one of these babies.



A typical California roll uses crab meat, but to make it easier, cheaper, and dare I say... deliciouser (back off spell check) we used this yummalicious seafood and shrimp salad from Sam's Club. It does have imitation crab in it so we can still call it a California roll.

And don't worry about the term "imitation crab". You can set your thoughts of ground chicken toes and pureed cow tongues aside. It's just real fish, somehow made to look and taste like crab. It's seriously delicious I tell you.

You will also need some sushi rice for this adventure. Don't try to use any other kind of rice because it won't be sticky enough. You're also going to add some vinegar and sugar to your rice to make it even stickier (and yummier).

Really, if it was up to me, we would only ever get sushi rice. I'm not typically a huge fan of rice, but this stuff is awesome. 

The next thing you're going to need is some sushi nori. Don't freak out, but this is actually dried sheets of seaweed. I know, sounds weird, but, well... it's awesome. It's really mild and doesn't taste fishy like you'd expect.

You are also going to need some avocado slices. I trust you all know how to get the pit out of an avocado. Just slice it in half, then slam a big daddy knife into the pit...

And twist it right out. 

You should also get some wasabi for the side. It comes as a powder and you just add a little water to make a kind of paste. It's really strong and horseradishy and deeeelish. A spoonful of that will clear out your sinuses in a jiffy.



Okay, so now that you've got all your stuff, it's time to get rollin'.

Place your nori on your bamboo sushi mat (oh yeah, you need one of those too) and cover a little more than half with some rice. 



Nemo requests that I excuse her "skeleton fingers". They look alive enough to me though.

Pile on your avocado and seafood salad. You can also add some long slices of cucumber to your California roll, but we sadly did not think of this.

Another thing about California rolls is that a lot of people roll them inside out so the rice is on the outside, but we prefer the nori on the outside. If you do want the rice on the outside, you'll probably want to cover your bamboo mat with some plastic wrap to keep the rice from sticking to it.

Ours was obviously a little overfilled, but who cares! The more the merrier.

Pinch your log nice and tight and then roll it the rest of the way.

You can roll it back and forth a few times to make sure it's nice and even.

Now you're going to slice it with a nice sharp knife. 

And there you have it. Beautiful, plump, little sushis.

Put a little smear of wasabi on the side (that was my little artistic contribution of the day) and a dish of soy sauce.

We also made some with shrimp ones since the seafood salad has gluten and dairy in it (curses). You can check it out on the other blog.

Homemade Sushi {California Roll}

1 1/2 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
About 4 sheets of nori
1 avocado, cut into long thin slices and tossed with a little lemon juice to prevent browning
Cucumber, cut into long thin slices 
Seafood and shrimp salad or crab meat (maybe about a cup)
Wasabi and soy sauce for serving 

Bring the rice and water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and stir in the vinegar, sugar, and salt.

Lay a sheet of nori on your mat. Place some rice onto about 2/3 of the nori and press with damp fingers until about 1/2 inch thick. Line a thin strip of seafood along with some avocado and cucumber in the middle of the rice.

Using your mat, roll into a log and seal tightly. Cut with a serrated knife. Repeat with more nori until you're out of rice. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce

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May the Fourth Be With You Party Ideas

Okay, so here's the deal. We had a Star Wars party a few weeks ago. I took some photos. I wasn't going to post them because I thought I might scare you away with my nerdiness. Then I thought, what the heck! This is my blog and I'll post whatever I want! I mean, you've already seen me riding taun-tauns. It doesn't get much dorkier than that.

Besides, May the Fourth is coming up which everyone knows is basically a national holiday. I mean, Wikipedia even acknowledges it, so that means it MUST be real.

Luckily for all my fellow Star Wars enthusiasts out there, I did snap some photos for posterity's sake.

First of all, we have this lovely Millennium Falcon cake. My sister Nemo made it. All you need is one round layer of cake and in a 10 inch loaf pan. Use one the round layer for the body of the ship. Cut the loaf layer diagonally for the prong thingies. You'll have two triangles then. You can cut the tips off (that's where the bullets come out). Cut the opposite end so that it fits onto the circular body of the ship. You can also make a cockpit, but I think Nemo forgot. Then frost the whole thing with a layer of light grey frosting and pipe on the details with some darker grey frosting (we use these colors). 

You may not have been previously acquainted with my rare and wonderful talent of photoshopping. Please feast your eyes...

Next is this stunning platter of lightsabers.

Melt some white chocolate, add desired shade of food coloring, dip pretzels and set on parchment paper to dry. You can also attach some cinnamon candies with some extra white chocolate for the button. 



Wooh-wee! Here's a prize. Not only an elegant weapon, but again, some most elegant photoshopping!

Now, some delicious carbonite bars.

They're pretty much buckeyes made in this awesome Han Solo Silicone Tray. You know you need it.

I made some with white chocolate and some with semi-sweet and they're all stuffed with buckeye filling. 

This next picture I'm quite embarrassed of. As I told you, I was only snapping these for posterity's sake, and by the time the pizza was ready, there was really not enough light left for any decent photographer to think of taking a photo. Good thing I'm not any decent photographer.



We just cut one pepperoni into a death star and the rest into TIE fighters. How delicious.

Speaking of TIE fighters, here is an excellent appetizer made by my sister, Piggie. 



Simply take some wheat thins (these are garden vegetable flavored or whatever it's called) and some chunks of cheddar cheese and glue them together with cream cheese. So easy a jawa could do it.

And of course, no Star Wars party is complete without some bantha milk. Of course, anyone can put a couple drops of blue food coloring in some milk, but if you really want to impress your friends, you'll have to buy these glasses.

(Ignore the fact that I disobeyed warning on the package and washed poor Luke Skywalker in the dishwasher... that poor "R" will forever be chipped above his head)

 Well, I hope you enjoyed that little voyage into the real of Star Wars geekdom. Now you can follow on Facebook and Twitter to make your journey to the dark side complete.

Homemade Chocolate Covered Coconut Marshmallows

Confession: I actually made these before Christmas and saved them to post on a rainy day. Today is a rainy day. As was yesterday. As was the day before. And the day before. And the day before. And the day before.

Oh yeah, and the day before that too.

Not that I mind the rain. I suppose it's a good omen for my herb garden. You know, the one one I'm hypothetically going to plant. Someday.
 

Seriously though, this summer I am going to have the biggest, baddest herb garden you've ever seen. My sister, Piggie, already planted like a billion seeds for the vegetable garden. I have pretty high expectations for that veggie garden because Piggie is really into it this year. In fact, she's actually kind of obsessed with it. I mean, last night she had a nightmare that they died because they stayed up too late. Apparently they were under the bad influence of an unruly venus flytrap.

But enough about vegetables. There are more important things at hand. Namely soft, pillowy coconut flavored marshmallows covered in melted chocolate and dipped in big, fat flakes of toasted coconut. Even my Mom who hates marshmallows was converted.

We start out with a somewhat freaky looking combination of gelatin, vanilla and coconut extract, salt, and coconut milk.

While that sits and gets freakier for a while, you're going to cook up some sugar to the soft ball stage which is 238ºF.

It's called the soft ball stage because if you dunk a spoonful in ice water to cool it, you'll be able to form it into a soft ball.

Voila.

Now it's time to pour it into that freaky looking gelatin mixture I was telling you about.

After beating for about 10 minutes, it will be fluffy and white and very sticky. I used the whisk attachment on my immersion blender since I'm way to lazy to get out the big mixer (seriously, you have to get one... it's a life saver).

Dump into a greased square pan.

I dusted the top with powdered sugar while they set.

After they set for about an hour you can chop them up and dip them in chocolate and coconut. The end.

Homemade Coconut Marshmallows 

2 packets (4 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1/4 cup coconut milk 

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup corn syrup

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the gelatin, extracts, coconut milk, and salt. Let this rest while you cook the sugar.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over about medium high heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches 238ºF. 

Pour the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture as you beat it. Beat for about 10 minutes. Pour into greased 8x8 inch pan (it will be very sticky, so don't worry about scraping the bowl unless you want spiderwebs of marshmallow all over your life). Allow to set until firm (maybe about an hour or something). Cut into squares (or cut with small cookie cutters) and toss in a little more powdered sugar. Dip in melted chocolate and toasted coconut if you want.

 

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