Chocolate Peanut Butter "Fudge"

I have to use quotation marks so that the fudge lobby doesn't lose their shite; technically fudge is a very specifically made dish involving temperature management and crystallization and all of that. This is chocolate and peanut butter in a creamy square! Yay!

You will need:

8 oz semisweet chocolate (I use Chipits)*
2 oz unsweetened chocolate *
8 oz peanut butter (not natural)
1 can condensed milk (not evaporated)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt

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Of course I weigh it!

*Chocolate notes: you can use whatever you like, but if you are going to use semisweet chocolate chips, I recommend Chipits. They are the only brand I have found that melts evenly and doesn't try to hold it's shape.  Seriously, I have a 10 lb box of another brand and I won't use them because they melt funny. Also, unsweetened and dark are not the same thing. If you want to use dark chocolate in this recipe, switch out some of the semisweet. Last note: I don't use milk chocolate hardly ever, but if you like something crazy sweet, fill your boots!

Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil and grease.

Melt the chocolates, peanut butter and condensed milk at a very low heat.

Stirring to break up those blocks of unsweetened chocolate

Equipment note: I have lost many a spatula edge to condensed milk cans; this is the absolutely perfect tool to get all that sweet sweet goodness out:

Small spoon spatula

Not great for a lot of other things, amazing for condensed milk cans

When all is melted together, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.

This would be a really good time to add in a cup of peanuts, if you have some. All I have is honey-roasted right now and I think the crunchy covering might detract from the simple peanut flavour I am looking for.

Anyway, this mixture will be like a large cohesive chocolately lump right now, pour it into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Ready for fridge!

Refrigerate for a few hours until hard, flip oot onto a cutting board.

You can cut to whatever size you like, but I like the 64 piece configuration. Like zo:

Into 4

Then 8's

Then 16

32's

64!

I like that method because you only have to eyeball each piece into halves.

Neeeeeeaaaar...

Far!

Enjoy!

Crockpot Beef

I would call this crockpot roast beef, but that would be misleading, as there is no roasting involved. Just simmering. In wine. Yay! Even though I am home today, I have to cook this roast I took out a couple three days ago. I was planning to do a vegetarian dish later, but this will satisfy even the meatiest of meatatarians.

You will need:

2.5 - 3 lbs cheap roast. I am using a good cut that was on sale
1/2 c all purpose flour, for dredging
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 large Spanish (aka red, purple) onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
1 1/2 c baby-cut carrots, cut in half, or 2 large carrots cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 c white wine
1 Tbsp tomato paste

To lightly smash garlic, use your biggest knife, lay the garlic underneath it and whack it gently with the heel of your hand

Spread the flour on a dinner plate, salt and pepper your roast and dredge in the flour.

Um, fairly self-explanatory

I also like to use pie pans for dipping and breading, but since not much action is required, a dinner plate is poifect.

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (like old faithful here) at medium high, brown each side (including the top and bottom), about 5 minutes per side. NOTE: when browning, always wait until the meat comes easily off the pan before turning. If it is sticking, it's not done browning yet. Leave it!

Patience, grasshopper

Place the browned roast in the crockpot, dump the onions in the heated pan and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and saute for one more minute. Just one!

The onions and garlic into the slowcooker on top of the meat, pour the wine into the hot pan. Boil for 2 minutes, until it doesn't smell quite so wine-y, scraping up all the good bits on the bottom of the pan.

I love flat spoons for this

Put the carrots in the crockpot and pour the wine from the pan on top of everything.

Ready!

Cook for 6-8 hours on the lowest setting. Stir in the tomato paste and let cook for another 10 minutes.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

This is my husband's birthday cake, and what I generally make for most birthday parties. Since all we have here is gross disgusting weather (snow! whattt? I just stocked up on pastels!) I think it will be a baking week. Cheesecakes get a bad rap because they can be tricky, but there are a couple of things you can do to make it easier on yourself. Just remember, making a good cheesecake is as much an art as a science.

First tip: lay all of your ingredients first thing in the morning. You want them all to be room temperature.

A Tale of Two Sides

Tonight we had my in-laws over; I decided to make baked salmon, you know, because it had been almost a whole WEEK, and I really wanted to make curried basmati rice as the side. However, as my in-laws have what I call Traditional (note the capital "T") tastes, I figured I'd better cover my bases with some roasted potatoes as well.

Zee roasted potatoes

And the curried basmati rice

I will start with the potatoes, as those need some oven time while you mess with the other.

You will need:

5 or 6 medium red-skinned  potatoes, adjust for how many people you are feeding. I used 6smallish ones for 4 adults
1/4 c olive oil, not EVOO (sorry, Rachel)
1/2 tsp coarse salt (like kosher or sea salt)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp coarsely cracked pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a 9 x 13 (or so) rectangular pan with parchment paper.

Scrub your potatoes really well and cut off any eyes or bad bits. Cut into one inch cubes (you know, APPROXimately, don't get out a ruler or anything. Just try to make most of them similar in size) and put in a largish bowl. Pour on the olive oil, then sprinkle with the herbs, salt and pepper.

Sprinkles!!

Give it a good stir with a sturdy heat-resistant spatula.

Spatulas warm my ARC heart

Pour into the prepared pan, scraping leftover oil on top of the potatoes.

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, stirring with your handy-dandy heat-resistant spatula every 15 minutes. Once you see browning on more than one side, poke one with a knife.

Done!

Closer...

Lovely for brekkie too

You can change up the herbs, maybe make it more of a greek potato with some lemon and oregano, experiment! This is my go-to for breakfast potatoes as well as my guest-y potato, because I can leave the skins on without offending anyone. Because I don't ever peel potatoes. The skin is where all the good stuff is, silly!


And now for the Curried Basmati Rice:

You will need:

1 tsp butter
2 onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, say orange
1/2 bell pepper, different colour, like say yellow!
1 c brown basmati rice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (I am using a commercial blend because mine is a leetle spicy and I don't know if that's how these in-laws roll. You can use whichever you like.)

I decided not to grate the onions, so ignore that

I haven't used this recipe in a while, mostly because it calls for white rice and I don't have any. On principal. Okay, I MIGHT have some arborio hidden away, but that's for risotto and that wouldn't help anyway. I have tried just a straight-up switch, increasing the cooking time to account for the brown rice's longer cooking requirement, but nooo beuno. The rice was hard and the peppers were way overcooked.

So we are going to try this: wash the rice and put it in a pan, just barely covering with water.

Just barely.

Bring to a boil, covered, then turn it off and leave alone. Prep your veggies by chopping your onions and peppers.

So pretty

 I always do my initial bell pepper prep under running water, because it is easier to get rid of the seeds. I also made my onions quite a bit smaller than my peppers, but that's only so that my husband thinks that he can see all the healthy stuff and pick around it. Shhhhhhhh

It's like a flag!

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan and cook the onions and peppers for 3-4 minutes, until soft.

Soft is not an insult to veggies, only a description

Check your rice. All the water should be absorbed, pour off any leftover. That can be a pain, use a sieve as necessary. Add the rice to the dish, 1 1/2 c water, the salt and the curry powder. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Don't open it.

Hard rice

Stir potatoes!

After the 20 minutes, check the rice to ensure tenderness.


Serve!

Tenderoni rice! Yay!

Faaarrrrr

Near!!

It turned out they ate both! So it was all to the good.

Steve's Chocolate Pound Cake

This is a chocolate loaf that I used to make whenever my friend Justina's husband was coming to a party. It's not too sweet but very moist. I am going to try something a little different and make individual loaves; I have an issue with this cake being a little toooo moist, if you know what I mean. That sounds creepy; I just mean it it easy to undercook and then harshly overcook. Here's to mini-loaves!!

Eaaaaat meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

You will need:

3 oz semisweet chocolate (I use Chipits chocolate chips cause I'm lazy like that and they melt well)
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c butter (UNsalted, of course)
1 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat an over to 325 degrees, grease up an 8-pack mini-loaf pan or a 9x5 regular loaf pan. Melt the chocolate over low heat, set aside. Measure all of your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt) together in a medium bowl or largish measuring cup (less dishes!!), stir with a fork until well mixed.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter until it is all smooth, add in the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy. It will actually lighten in colour, so give it a bit.

Lighter! Trust moi!

Beat in the eggs very well, just one at a time, then the vanilla and then melted chocolate. Dump all the flour in at once and only mix until it is all moistened. Pour into the pan(s).

Bake for 50 minutes for a full loaf and 40 for individual sized loaves; you want a clean cake tester before you pull them. Cool for 10 minutes on the rack before you invert for complete cooling.

They are terrific with fresh whipped cream, or ice cream or all by itself.

For Justina for Steve!