Brown Sugar Blondies! Wait...what?

I started my internship earlier this month and I thought I should bring something sweet for the first day. I think that is a southern girl problem....thinking that I must arrive with some food or else I will be banished for good.  Anywho...I made these blondies with chocolate chips and they were a HIT! *applause. applause.* I got the recipe from this gal of Baked Perfection. This is no healthy recipe- shocking, I know. Here is the printable recipe! 

Brown Sugar Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup to 1 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.Melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar and mix well. Cool slightly. Add egg (beaten) and vanilla and blend well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well. Spread in 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Sprinkle 1/3 to 2/3 cup chocolate chips on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

YAY, BUTTA! That's right, a whole stick of butter. 

Flour, sugar, etc. By the way...I love this turquoise bowl. 

Get ready for a blondie!!

I feel somewhat accomplished when I see this.
Kind of like "Yeah...I must have done something to get these dirty dishes." 

Cream Corn Potato Soup...low cal!

One word: easy and delicious. Okay, that was two.  This soup was easy for a couple reasons.  I actually took my moms advice and had all the ingredients ready before hand so I just had to throw 'em all in the pan. Why didn't I do this before? I chopped the onion and potato and measured out the rest of the ingredients, too. I have a ton of this soup left over, but I figure it will get better with time seeing as it has a ton of spices that will soak into the potatoes and such.  Here is the printable version.  It is also called corn chowder.  


1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced- I added yellow and orange for color.  I would add more spice, possibly
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 potato, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 12-ounce can nonfat evaporated milk
Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
You can add some 


 Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan over low heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add celery, bell pepper, garlic and cumin; cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add corn and potatoes, return to a simmer and cook until all the vegetables are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Place cornstarch in a small bowl, slowly add evaporated milk, stirring until smooth. Stir into the soup and return to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Let's be honest. I didn't follow any of the directions for boiling, covering, etc. I like spice, so I added cayenne and pepper to the end soup.  It will be really good, though, for cold nights to come! If you are a fan of the corn cream soup at Chili's (I FREAKING LOVE THAT SOUP), it  has more calories but I do hope to make it soon and post! 

Boys cook? LIke, a real meal?

Seeing as how I was out of money and out of time, I told Kevin and Adam I would make them dinner.  Little did I know...how LITTLE these boys knew about the kitchen. Which was awesome, seriously, because I got to really refine my own cooking skills.  The chosen meal was the Pioneer Woman's Calzone! This is from her recipe book, and I can't find it on her blog! #frustrated.  Here is another blog with it, though. The recipe calls for making your own pizza crust...I kinda skipped that step and just bought a pillsbury crust.  Tasted marvelous.  

Here is the printable version! 

Cowboy Calzone

1/2 lb. breakfast sausage (I used spicy!)

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 – 8 oz. can tomatoes and chilies (Rotel brand)

8 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese

1/2 C grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 C grated Monterey Jack cheese

1 egg, beaten

salt and black pepper

1 recipe pizza crust (1/2 of above recipe)

olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large skillet - I prefer the cast iron as usual- combine the sausage and hamburger with the onion.  Brown and drain off extra grease.  Pour in the tomatoes and chilies. Stir to combine, and cook for 2 minutes on medium.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  While meat is cooling, combine the three cheeses and the egg.  Add a dash of salt and pepper. Add the cooled meat mixture to the cheese mixture and stir to gently combine.  Rub some oil on the pan you plan to cook the calzones on. Spread the pizza crust onto another platter or pan with flour spread on it. This part is really all based on how much dough you want on your calzone. I like a lot of calzone and a medium amount of meat.  So roll the dough onto the floured pan, then put your desired amount of meat onto the dough. Roll like a tootsie roll. No,  but really roll the meat into the calzone like you would roll a crescent roll. Put onto the pan and brush oil onto the top. Pop into the oven until desired brown-ness.  12-15 min is when you should really start to pay attention. 

Kevin, aka, marvelous onion cutter. He didn't even cry!

Mixing the batter for the meat... 

Adam made oreo balls...they were delicious! He was super inent on crushing  

Mixing the ricotta cheese with the meat....FYI, don't eat ricotta cheese by itself. It. is. gross. 

Making the dessert! So proud!

My new favorite drink....gin and tonic with lime. Not just any gin, sapphire gin. 

Kevin approved! 

A knock off of Emeril Lagasse Pasta

Mom's best friend, Melissa Beatty, is the best cook. And the best acupuncturist.  If you've never tried acupuncture and you have headaches, terrible migraines or just endless pain, you should really look into it.  It does NOT hurt. In other news....Melissa made this great pasta one night for a dinner party. IT IS NOM NOM. We had a little dinner get together on Saturday with the Katie's. Or as Mom likes to call them...Katie 1 and Katie 2.  This is labeled an "easy" recipe...which it isn't difficult, it's just not easy. Here it goes...

This is the printable version :) Pasta Recipe!

The recipe is pretty much like Emeril Lagasse's Crawfish and Cream over pasta dish. But with some changes- like chicken instead of crawfish. Don't get me wrong, shrimp or crawfish would be excellent with this.  The biggest ingredient in this whole thing is Emeril's essence which you can probably buy pre-made, but I made it with the below spices.  The seasoning mix is also referred to as bayou blast.  

Emeril's essence recipe:

• 2.5 T paprika
•  2 T salt
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 T black pepper
• 1 T onion powder
•  1 T cayenne pepper
• 1 T dried oregano 
• 1 T dried thyme 

For the dish, you will need: 

• 1 lb chicken
• 1 lb fettuccine
• 2 T olive oil
• 6 T butter
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion- I highly recommend getting the already chopped onions- saves time and tears. :) 
• 2 T minced garline
• 2 t emeril essence- recipe above
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t cayenne 
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream 
• 1 T lemon juice

First, put about two T butter 2 T oil in a pan and put stove on medium.   Put about 1/4 cup or more (just a heaping amount) into a bowl and layer the chicken with the emeril's essence seasoning.  Then put the chicken breasts into the pan, cook until done.  It's a personal decision for how you want the chicken to look- I like mine a medium brown. Put the chicken aside.  Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water until al dente for about 8 minutes. Drain and reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Return pasta to the pot and toss the olive oil and the cooking liquid into the pot.  Cover to keep warm and set aside.  In a large pan- I used my cast iron skillet and it worked perfectly.  Melt the butter over medium high heat.  Add onions, and cook for about 6 minutes.  Add the 2 t of emeril essence, garlic, salt and cayenne, cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until the wine is evaporated.  Add the cream and lemon juice and cook for about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let sit for another 5 mintes, stirring occasionally.  Add the sauce to the pasta. Stir so sauce is covering noodles.  Now, add chicken.  I just cut my cooked chicken into thin strips.  Toss it and you're good to go! 

The spices to make Emeri's Essence 

The goods. 

Once you make the seasoning, you lightly coat the chicken with the seasoning then put it in a skillet.  

Seeing as how you only need 1/4 cup of white wine, this bota box of chardonnay works well. 

NOM! WINNER! 

Schuett gave it a thumbs up! Find her funny blog here!