Fudgy Chocolate Yogurt Brownies

Today I had my first Parent/Teacher Conference.  I'm new to this, but the correct protocol is to show up with brownies, right?  To bribe them to say nice things about your kid?  Cool, then I either did this right or embarrassed myself tremendously by acting like Reese Witherspoon in Election.  Listen, people always ask me, what do you do with all of those baked goods, Siri??  And this is the answer.  I give them away, all of the time.  I find any reason to bake.  Teacher conference, cable guy coming, mailman's birthday.  (JK I don't know my mailman's birthday LOL.)  (Totally going to ask him.)

On this particular morning I was inspired by an entire tub of vanilla yogurt I bought and haven't touched.  I hate for things to go bad, so I googled "vanilla yogurt bake" and I found this recipe for Fudgy Chocolate Yogurt Brownies.  I had never heard of adding flavored yogurt to a baked good and I was intrigued.  The result?  A brownie that needs a serious glass of milk and one that I CANNOT stop eating.  So moist, so chocolaty, a slight tang from the yogurt - they are absurdly good.

p.s. If you're an iPhone user, I recently jumped on the bandwagon and joined Vine.  It's a video site, and I'm going to use it strictly for food.  Follow me on this culinary journey, why don't you.
(Search for "Siri Pinter" because that's my name.)      

Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara

If I see Spaghetti Carbonara on a menu, I'm probably going to order it.  Is it even possible to say no to pasta, eggs, bacon and cheese all wrapped up into one absurdly tasty dish?!  Nope, not if your name is Siri (insert stupid 'iPhone robot-eating pasta' joke here).  However.  Ugh, I hate 'howevers'.  HOWEVER, it's not very figure friendly.  Which has never stopped me in the past, however, I thought I would try making a healthier version at home.  Whole wheat spaghetti, one egg, milk instead of cream, pancetta instead of bacon and the addition of peas or edamame beans.  It worked!  It tricked me!  It was a friend to my figure!  Best part, my son gobbled it up.  "Bacon pasta" we called it, because why not.  And here's a picture of said "bacon" because, why not?    

Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara

(Serves 2-4)

Printable Recipe

8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti

1 T olive oil

4 oz. finely diced pancetta (some markets sell it like this)

1 egg

1/4 cup lowfat milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 cup frozen peas or soy beans

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add pancetta.  Cook until crisp.  Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towel-lined plate.  Clean out oil from skillet, but you will use the same skillet later so do not put away.  

Bring large pot of water to boil for pasta.  Once boiling, add a generous amount of salt and pasta.  Cook until al dente.  

While pasta is boiling, combine egg, milk and Parmesan in a bowl.  Whisk to combine, then place in skillet.  

Once pasta is cooked, drain and add immediately to egg mixture in skillet.  Toss to combine over low heat.  Add peas or soy beans, and toss until warmed.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot, with more Parmesan cheese, of course.  

Strawberry Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Confession: Katy Perry gave me a box of cake mix.

Another confession: That's not true at all.

One more confession: It's sort of true.  The radio station Carson works at got a bag of Katy Perry promotional stuff, like pink glittery beach balls and strawberry cake mix.  Get it?  Pink stuff.  She's girly.  (I don't know.)  And one day I was at the station and I took it, because it was just sitting there, and cake mix shouldn't sit at radio stations.  So you see?  Katy Perry gave me a box of cake mix.

This was a loooooooong time ago, and the cake mix just sat in my pantry.  Because what does one do with strawberry cake mix?  And then I saw these cookies.  Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies?!  WTF?!  Yes.  Yes, they needed to be made.  Made them, I did (said Yoda).  And you know what made them outstanding?  Strawberry cake mix.  Thanks Katy Perry, you're a firework.      

Soft Boiled Egg

Let's talk about the movie Silver Linings Playbook for a second.  Have you seen it?  It's great, with really incredible characters.  One of my favorites is the mom, this sweet lady surrounded by neurotic men.  Every Sunday she makes something called "Crabby Snacks and Homemades."  Crabby Snacks I can sort of envision but what the heck is a "Homemade"??  I don't think I even want to know, I love it. I want to be that mom.  I want my kids to RUN home for Homemades, at any age.  I want to be famous for them.  I want their spouses one day to feel inferior because they can't make them quite like me.  

Ok that might be a little evil.  I swear I'll make a nice mother-in-law.  But it would bring me pure (evil) joy to be able to pass down certain tricks, like Homemades, or like this perfectly soft-boiled egg.  I can't take credit for figuring it out, this blog can.  I'm telling you, it's easy.  And once you've finished, if you don't immediately break it apart over avocado toast, you're a mental person.  Just like in the movie.

(Also, remember Avocado and Egg Pizza?)     

Just a couple of cookies.

I have been known to bake an entire batch of cookies from scratch at 8pm (midnight in my world) just because I want one cookie.  That's clinically insane behavior.  But, as you should know, when you get a craving for a freshly baked cookie, you have to do something about it.  Otherwise you'll go to bed and have dreams about drowning in a pool of chocolate chips which seems heavenly only you're not allowed to eat even one instead you inhale them through your nose so you can't breath and also there are worms and also you're wearing a scrunchy.  

Nightmare stuff.  

This is why I was so excited to find a recipe via A Cup of Jo for just TWO chocolate chip cookies.  Just TWO!  I actually stretched it and made three, but you get the idea.  The batter comes together in minutes, one bowl, one spoon.  Easy enough for your almost-four-year-old to help with.  Almost 4!  

Black and White Banana Loaf

I get pretty excited when I notice my bananas have ripened past the point of eating.  As I'm sure you know, that means it's time to bake!  And just when I think I've made every banana recipe known to man, google and the Internet come through for me.  Oh Internet, you're so Googly.  I found this recipe, which sounded awesome, and it was.  Perfectly moist, somewhere between a bread and a cake in consistency, intense banana (with a hint of rum) flavor and swirled with rich chocolate.  I used 2 bananas and buttermilk instead of whole milk, because I had it.  Wouldn't change a thing.   

Fried Brown Rice

I know what you're going to say.  "What the (swear word) woman, did the stomach flu murder your food blog??"  Almost, almost it did.  While the bug lasted only 24 hours (thank god), it took a few days for me to think about food like I usually do... which is all of the time.  3 days passed before I woke up to my familiar rumbling tummy and happy hungry dance... a totally normal occurrence.  But by then I was out of town, so I apologize for leaving you high and dry with scones for a week and some change.  

I'm back!  Let's move on!
  

When you're not exactly thinking about food, you ask your son to choose what's for dinner instead, and when your son is obsessed with Benihana, the answer will be fried rice.  I found a child-friendly recipe and tweaked it slightly (by adding carrots and peas).  Jack helped me make it ("mama, it needs a teensy weensy eensy sheensy more soy sauce") and then helped me eat it.  It was delicious and healthy... a great way to sneak in veggies.  Add shredded chicken and it's a meal in itself.  Go go Power Rangers!  I don't know.        

Fried Brown Rice
(Serves 4)
Printable Recipe

1 cup brown rice (I used basmati)
1 3/4 cup water
2 T vegetable oil, divided
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 T soy sauce, or to taste
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

Place rice and water in pot and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until rice is cooked.  Remove from heat.  In a large skillet or wok, heat 1 T of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.  Add carrots and onions and saute for a few minutes.  Add rice and toss with veggies, cook for another minute or so.

Create a well in the rice and add the other T of oil.  Add eggs and stir with spatula to scramble.  Toss with rice.  Stir in soy sauce.  Add peas and cook until warmed.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

Right as I have the nerve to toot my own horn about a silly posting streak, I go and get the stomach flu.  I was all set to wake up early on Monday, drink my coffee, munch on this scone and write this post... but life had other plans for me AND I WILL SPARE YOU THE DETAILS.  So, sadly, I was out of commission yesterday, and wasn't even able to get an after-shot of these delicious and decadent scones (recipe here).  At least, I imagine they were delicious and decadent because that's what happens when you combine chocolate and peanut butter, right?  The truth is, I didn't even get to try one because something evil was destroying me from the inside.  I sent them to work with Carson because I knew there they would be loved, there they would find a normal tummy to live in.  

Is this sort of gross, this post?  Sorry.  Hope you're healthy.  

my Star Wars helper...

I swear, when they came out of the oven they were all golden brown and lovely.

Meyer Lemonade

Well folks, I did it, I made it one full week of posting something everyday.  I get a cookie, right?  As my reward??  Or maybe this little brownie I found in my pantry for breakfast?  Ok good.  My daughter is now 4 months old and this is the first time since her birth that I managed to post everyday!  I am proud, and I am in real life eating a brownie as I type this.  A reader - a fellow mother of two - asked me yesterday how I find time and/or energy to cook or bake and the answer is I don't, most of the time.  But lately, I tend to wake up when Carson leaves the house for his radio show, at 5:30am, and while the house is quiet (if you have kids - I HIGHLY recommend waking up before them if possible - at least once a week), I can do crazy things like make muffins or drink coffee and watch THE NEWS or peruse J Crew online.  Or, make a batch of fresh lemonade with those lemons growing out of my eyeballs.  I saw this lemonade on A Cup of Jo over the summer and have been meaning to try it out since - the addition of honey to the simple syrup sounded so appealing (and it is).  So what that it's winter - vodka and lemonade is not a seasonal drink, if you ask me.    

Meyer Lemon Muffins with Lemon Glaze

My thumb is not green.  Not even a little bit.  In fact, my thumb has red gel nail polish from before Christmas that NEEDS TO BE REMOVED.  Anyway, no green thumb... I murder plants.  It always seems like such a good idea... ooo, I'll plant an herb garden or, ooo, I'll buy and care for this basil plant, or ooo, how hard can it be to grow tomatoes.  And then weeks or months go by and I remember things that grow need water.  Fail.  However, in Southern California, it's pretty impossible to screw up a lemon tree.  We have a Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree in our backyard, and apparently it's thriving with or without my help... 

So I picked some, and yes my Christmas tree is still up.  SOMEONE COME AND TAKE IT DOWN.

I decided to make muffins - a somewhat healthier alternative to lemon bars or cookies.  I think?  I suppose when you dredge each muffin in a lemony, sugary glaze all "health" is thrown out the window.  Once again, sorry if you've made resolutions (but these are worth it).  

Meyer Lemon Muffins with Lemon Glaze

(Makes 12 muffins)

Slightly adapted from Let Them Eat Cake

Printable Recipe

Muffins:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 T lemon zest

2 eggs

3/4 cup greek yogurt

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

Glaze: 

3 (or more) T lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a mixer until smooth and fluffy.  Add vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest and mix until combined.  Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well incorporated.  Add greek yogurt and mix until just combined.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined, do not over-mix (this will result in a dense muffin).  Place in muffin tins lined with paper (or greased).  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden on top.  

While baking, whisk together ingredients for glaze.  It will be slightly thick, which is ok because it will melt slightly over your warm muffins.  Once baked, let muffins cool for a few minutes before spooning glaze over.  Serve warm or at room temp.  

Roasted Chicken Tacos

I'm going to tell you something about myself, are you ready?  I make this meal probably once a week.  Oh, you think that was a really boring piece of information?  Fine, I will tell you something else about myself.  The other day I ordered two "sodos" at Subway and found that accidental made-up word so funny and embarrassing that I proceeded to laugh hysterically at myself and could barely pay the guy.  Now THAT was some information. 

As I was saying, I make this once a week.  Because it combines two of my favorite things: the absurdly easy and tasty Susie's French Chicken with tacos.  And I don't like to brag (or I do), but I make a mean taco.  It's all about the proper toppings.  Try the following out the next time you make a taco and tell me it isn't magic in your mouth: tomatoes, avocados, roasted garlic, lettuce, queso fresco and a drizzle of Chipotle Cholula.  And don't forget to lightly grill your tortillas (I flip mine using tongs over the gas stove until grill marks form) because it makes a WORLD of difference.   

As for the poultry, follow the recipe for Susie's French Chicken and once it's done and has rested for 15 minutes, shred and toss in the bubbling juice at the bottom of the pot. 

Homemade Chex Mix

Was your New Year's Resolution to stop snacking?  Then quick, go away, close your eyes, throw water on your computer screen (or don't), ESCAPE!  ESCAPE!  ESCAPE!  

You still here?  Good, you're my real friends.  Because only my real friends would want to enjoy the most delicious snack known to man, even if it is HIGHLY addicting.  It's very easy to throw together and a fun activity for kids as well.  Jack threw on his new Star Wars apron and stirred away (then proceeded to do the dishes, per his request, not kidding).  Also a great football-play-offs-watching snack, even if the Vikings are out : (  

I followed this recipe, and only used peanuts because that's what I had.  Mmm, snacks.        

Stuffing with Wild Rice and Bacon

OH MY GOD HELLO IT'S NICE TO SEE YOU!  WOW IT HAS BEEN AWHILE, HAS IT NOT??  WHY AM I SHOUTING IN YOUR FACES!

Let's move past all the pleasantries, mainly because it took me 4 tries to spell the word "pleasantry."  I'm going to assume you're all sick of seeing Santa at The Grove when you visit my site, so I declare No More Christmas!!  Um, except the real title of this recipe is called "Christmas Stuffing with Bacon."  No matter!  It doesn't have to be all merry and bright for you to enjoy this dish, in fact, it can be very unmerry and dark indeed.  But if you are feeling like that, this dish is sure to cheer you up.  I mean, it's delicious, and warm, and hearty, and perfect for a wintery dinner party.  If you want to omit the bacon, then it's super healthy too!  

But don't omit the bacon, because then you'll really feel unmerry and dark...

Click here for the recipe, make a big batch, and eat leftovers for days...