Sleet and Blondies

So, we had a bit of a crazy winter storm blow through here last night.  It never dropped below freezing, but the sleet was enough to make evening activities canceled.  I was pumped to have an extra night at home to chill and relax.  But, this is what happens when I get an extra night at home... and it's sleeting and freezing outside...

I bake.

I baked some blondies and took the remaining ones to work today.  Really it was the whole pan minus two-- one for me and one for my roommate.

Little did I know how big of a hit they would be at work.  I've taken goodies there, and my co-workers enjoy them.  But, I've never seen anything go so fast.  I really didn't know what was going on, but by 9 am more than half of these guys were gone out of the break room.

A little later, I was talking to someone and learned that the weekly doughnuts and muffins were being cut, and today was the first day for there to be no doughnuts or muffins to be enjoyed.  The weekly goodies were gone leaving all my doughnut and muffin dependent co-workers without breakfast.  Today the blow was softened by the blondies (thank goodness!  CPAs don't need to starve during busy season!).  I've never had so many 'thank you for bringing the _______' emails than I did today.

Here's the recipe.  It's from my good friend, Eliza.  Take these to work, and you will be a hero.

Blondies

2/3 cup melted butter
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 2/3 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or if you are me, you'll add a few more!)

Blend together the butter and brown sugar.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Then add the dry ingredients, mixing well.  Finally, add in the chopped nuts and chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes in a 9x13 inch pan.  The blondies will be gooey in the middle-- bake longer to avoid the need for a spoon. :)

This Weekend

Well, I'm sure many of you are thinking about or have possibly even started working on your taxes.  Props to you.  I, on the other hand, have not.  Who wants to think about that after doing everyone else's all day, anyway?

What I do like to think about after work is fun new recipes.  Busy season also makes me think a lot about chocolate; we'll discuss that later.  I've also been craving Italian recently.  Maybe it's comforting after a long day's work or something.  So, in an attempt to satisfy the craving, I purchased a spaghetti squash just planning to enjoy it with my spaghetti sauce.  But, I found a recipe that was a fun and delicious new way to enjoy some spaghetti squash.  The original recipe is found here.  I made a few additions, and it was totally yummy.  I added some caramelized onion and mozzarella cheese.  If you like spaghetti squash, you should definitely try it.

Then, as we all know, baking is therapeutic.  So, I baked some chocolate muffins.  I've been seeing this recipe on Pinterest that looked like something that I would totally enjoy.  So, to satisfy my need to bake, experiment, and eat some chocolate, I made these.

They were hardly cool before I dug in.  It's definitely a keeper recipe!  Here's the original.

I'll be having these for breakfast this week, what will you be having?

Homemade Salsa

Apparently, people must think that I like cookbooks.  Ok, they know I love them, really.  I say this because I got not just one, but three for Christmas.

Here's one that I got from my brother and sister-in-law.  They are forever promoting spicy Mexican food and will take random trips to Albuquerque to purchase roasted green chiles.  

It's a cookbook for salsa and tacos from the Santa Fe School of Cooking.  There are some delicious looking recipes in here for traditional salsa, as well as mango, pineapple and other yummy varieties that I am sure I will be testing out sooner or later.  They said that they would help me out with finding some of the ingredients, which I am certain I will need since they don't sell some of these crazy chiles here in Arkansas.  But, since they are 1,500 miles away, it could be a challenge.  Oh, well.  Enough on that.

I was inspired by this new book to make some homemade salsa for a potluck that I have this week.  I've never made it before, but think I have been converted to a homemade salsa only girl.

I didn't follow the recipe in the book exactly, since, well, the chili that it called for was $3.50 each, and it needed two.  So, I went for the chipotle chili in adobo sauce, which has a yummy spicy and smokey flavor. It's buried under the cilantro above.

I dumped it all in my food processor and pulsed it about 15 times to get it all combined while still leaving some chunks.

It made so much.  I love it!  I mean this stuff was so good that my friend and I kept eating it even after having a full dinner.  It was hard to stop.  Now I want to figure out how to seal these jars so that I can store it in my pantry.  I mean I could eat it all, but I don't need the tortilla chips...

So, I have picked up a habit of not always measuring ingredients out and the same recipe may not taste the same from one time to the next.  Experimental cooking, perhaps?  I try to be good and write it down if I really like something, but it doesn't always happen.  But, I was excited about this one and so I did write it down, and I'll share it with you!

Fresh Salsa

2 large cans of whole tomatoes, drained (1 lbs. 12 oz size)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Half of a small red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon cumin

The juice of 1 lime

Half a small bunch of cilantro

1 chipotle pepper with a bit of the adobo sauce (start with a little and add more according to your taste)

Place all ingredients in the food processor.  Pulse about 15 times until mixed, but still chunky.  Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to let the flavors meld.