Peanut Butter Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I'm not much of a baker. Not to say that I can't bake well, it's just that I don't bake that often outside the holidays. But the other day, I was in the mood to bake. It's probably because I'm already working on my fall blog ideas. I'm having a great time developing some fun Halloween recipes and organizing my 'go to' fall dishes. I love fall! It's my favorite season. Fall is like Christmas to me but better because it's three months long. Pumpkins, Halloween, Thanksgiving, comfort food, the house smelling of slow cooked meals, hearty soups, roasted root vegetables, cool weather, shorter days, fall leaves and football. I love fall and it makes me feel all warm and squishy inside just thinking about it. I seriously can't wait! 
But...I do realize it's the beginning of summer and I must live in the moment and enjoy the summer months as well. I'm loving the long days, warm evenings, hanging out at the beach, swimming with my kiddos, picnics, play dates, flip flops, shorts and tank tops, grilling and eating all the wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables that are in abundance throughout the summer months. Super fun and delicious food! 
However, I think it's okay to have a little diversion from the summer heat. One that inspires daydreams of cooler weather and comforting foods like this sweet dessert. I threw caution to the wind and baked this early one morning before the day heated up. I'm so glad I did because this pound cake was divine! ...'Save it', 'Pin it', 'Bookmark it' as this is one recipe to try when the weather cools. Peanut Butter Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache! Need I say more? Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Pound Cake (recipe from glimmertwinfan.hubpages.com)

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup peanut butter
5 eggs, room temperature
1 T vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1 cup milk

Chocolate Ganache (below)
Chopped peanuts, for garnish

• Preheat the oven to 325°. Prepare a large tube or bundt pan by greasing and flouring it. Set pan aside. Note: This recipe makes a large cake made with a large tube pan. For average sized bundt/tube pans fill up about 3/4 full. Don't let the extra batter go to waste though, make some muffins or a small loaf.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
• On medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and peanut butter and continue mixing. Add the eggs, one at a time. Wait until one egg is fully mixed in before adding the next one. Add vanilla.
• Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed mixture. Alternate between the flour mixture and the milk, using about a fourth of the ingredient at a time. Always begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix completely.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 - 70 minutes. Start 
  
  checking to see if it is done at 60 minutes using a wooden toothpick. Continue checking every 5 minutes to make sure it does not overcook. When the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Note: When baking in an average-sized bundt/tube pan, fill pan about 3/4 full and then bake at 325 for approximately 55 minutes. Because I had extra batter, I also baked some muffins and they took about 20 minutes to bake.
• Remove from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then remove it from the cake pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
• Dust with powdered sugar or frost as desired.

Chocolate Ganache

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

1 cup heavy cream

Place chocolate pieces into a medium bowl and set aside. Heat cream in small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Watch carefully to ensure you don't scorch the cream. Remove from heat and add hot cream to chocolate, let sit for about 5-10 minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk until fully melted and incorporated. Let cool completely or place in the refrigerator to cool. Pour or ladle over pound cake to coat. Top with chopped peanuts. 

Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Quinoa

What can I say about this dish? Oh...just that this dish was utterly amazing! My husband even loved it. This is the final dish of my three-part tofu excursion and this by far can be categorized as 'saved the best for last'. I am not vegetarian or vegan, but I love veggies and I also love tofu and this dish alone has to be my new favorite way to eat tofu. 
The flavors were so delicious and fresh and like nothing I'd ever tasted. The  extra firm tofu was dry fried and then caramelized with a sweet lime glaze. It was to die for! The quinoa also had lime and a pinch of cinnamon that complemented the sweet lime tofu perfectly. Then, the roasted Baby Bok Choy...pure heaven on a plate. But, don't take my word for it...well maybe you should in this case, but definitely try this super flavorful and wonderful dish. You will be amazed and happy you did.

Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Quinoa (slightly adapted recipe from Vegan Yum Yum)
Serves 4

1 block tofu, extra firm

3 small baby Bok Choy, halved

Sweet Chili Lime Sauce
6 T sugar
6 T soy sauce
3 1/2 T fresh lime juice
zest of one lime
1 t red chili flakes (or 1-2 fresh hot chilies, minced)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T sesame oil (I added this ingredient)
1/2 t salt
8 mint leaves (I used some lemon basil leaves from my garden)

Quinoa
1 cup pre-rinsed Quinoa
zest of half a lime
pinch of cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 3/4 cup chicken broth + 1/4 cup water

Prepare Quinoa:
Put all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat quinoa until water begins to boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium and continue to boil for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off heat and let sit covered for another 10 minutes to finish cooking. Fluff with fork when ready to serve.

Prepare Baby Bok Choy:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut washed baby bok choy in half and place in a roasting pan. Lightly brush bok choy with garlic infused olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for about 15 minutes. 

Prepare Tofu: 
Drain tofu and cut tofu block into 1/2 inch thick slices. Now you will have rectangular slices that you'll cut into two squares by cutting each rectangle in half width-wise. Further cut the squares into small triangles by cutting each square diagonally. Place tofu triangles in a dry non-stick skillet.

Dry fry tofu on medium heat. Pressing down on tofu with a spatula, releases liquid. Fry until tofu is golden and turn over to brown other side. Turn off heat and set tofu aside until ready to serve.







Prepare Sweet Chili Lime Sauce by whisking all ingredients together in a small bowl. 

Bring the skillet with browned tofu back up to temperature. Turn on high heat to heat tofu thoroughly and heat the pan. Add the sweet chili lime sauce to the hot pan, stirring to coat the tofu. Allow the sauce to bubble and the sugar to glaze the tofu. Turn off heat to make sure you don't scorch the sauce but allow it to continue to heat and reduce in the still hot pan. Serve over a bed of quinoa and a side of baby bok choy. Garnish with sesame seeds and lemon basil or mint leaves.

Tofu Bruschetta with Pesto and Smoked Gouda

Welcome to part two of our three-part Tofu exploration. For part two, I was looking to use tofu in something other than Asian cuisine. Luckily, as though the publishers of Cuisine at Home magazine read my mind, I came across their Tofu Margherita Pizza Bites recipe in the May/June 2013 issue.  (I love this magazine...greatest magazine ever!)

I was excited to try it, but I was not that excited about the toppings. I wasn't crazy about the sun-dried tomato pesto (I didn't have any on hand) so I decided to use the tofu preparation and then top it with my own ingredients instead.  

Honestly, my first attempt at this recipe was not a good one. I'd used 'firm' tofu rather than the 'extra firm' tofu as noted in the recipe and the results were disastrous! The 'firm' tofu was just too moist even after an hour of pressing the liquid out. Then, once I put it in the oven to roast, the firm tofu puffed up and curled and then shrank down to the size of a very small pizza slice made for Barbie. Kind of like Shrinky Dinks...remember those? So lesson learned, you must use 'extra firm' tofu. :)

After the roasting misstep, for my second go at it I used the correct ingredient, extra firm tofu. It worked so much better, it actually crisped up nicely. Also, to be extra sure I wouldn't be hosting a party for Ken and Barbie again, I decided not to cut them into triangles and I cut them into rectangular slices. I couldn't call them pizza if they were rectangles so I called this dish Bruschetta instead of pizza. I made my own pesto from some basil I had on hand and topped it with Smoked Gouda and red pepper flakes. Absolutely delicious! 

Tofu Bruschetta with Pesto and Smoked Gouda (recipe inspiration from Cuisine at Home May/June 2013)
Makes 12 

1 pkg extra-firm tofu (10-14oz), thinly sliced
1/2 cup pesto, store bought or prepared fresh (see below)
3/4 cup smoked Gouda, grated
red pepper flakes, to taste


Preparing the Tofu:

Thinly slice tofu into 12 slices. Place a few layers of paper towels on a cutting board, then place the tofu on top of the paper towel lined cutting board. Top the tofu with additional layers of paper towels and a cookie sheet, then weight with cans to press the tofu. Press tofu for 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove cans, baking sheet and towels from tofu. Spray rack with cooking spray and place tofu on rack. 
Use a fork to poke holes into the center of each tofu rectangle to help roasting. The center takes the longest to dry and crisp up, so poking holes in it helps. 
Roast tofu until dry and crisp, about 25-35 minutes, turning the cookie sheet throughout cooking time to ensure even roasting.

While tofu is roasting prepare Pesto.

Pesto: 
1 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a mini food processor and blend well. 

Once tofu is roasted, preheat broiler on high. Assemble Bruschetta by placing 1 tsp of pesto on each tofu crisp. Top with smoked Gouda cheese and broil until the cheese melts. Watch closely as not to burn them. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and serve. 

Click here to see Tofu Part One-Spicy Sesame Tofu 

Spicy Sesame Tofu

I love tofu but I'll admit that my entire home culinary experience with tofu was to cut it up and put it in soup. Tofu is basically an inert ingredient. It doesn't really taste like anything in particular. Depending on what type you get, silken, soft, firm, or extra firm, tofu is basically texture that takes on the flavor of the sauce you put on it. This is not said to discount tofu in any way. In fact, I love tofu and wanted to be able to use it at home in more ways than just soup. I turned my search to Pinterest and found this spicy Sesame Tofu recipe  from the blog called Use Real Butter. I served this as an appetizer but it could also be a great side dish. It's super simple and just plain yummy. Extra firm Tofu is dusted with cornstarch, lightly fried and served with a delicious spicy sauce. How can you go wrong with fried anything, right? The tofu gets crispy on the outside and is still soft but firm on the inside and then you add the spicy sauce, utterly delicious!  This recipe is part 1 of my three-part blog on tofu.  Over the next few days, look out for part 2, a Tofu Bruschetta with Pesto and Smoked Gouda and for the final part, Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Quinoa and Baby Bok Choy. Enjoy!

Sesame Tofu (recipe from Use Real Butter)
Serves 4 as an appetizer

14 oz. extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup cornstarch
frying oil
1-2 T sesame seeds
3-4 green onions, minced

Sauce:
1/3 cup honey
3 T soy sauce
3 T fresh ginger, minced
2 T sesame oil
2 T rice wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 t red chili pepper flakes (1 tsp for medium spice, more for spicy)

Wrap the block of tofu in paper towels and set it on a flat plate or cutting board. Place a heavy plate or flat-bottomed bowl on top of the tofu to squeeze the liquid out. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes. While the tofu is being pressed, stir all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer the sauce on low. Unwrap the tofu block and dry it with more paper towels. Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes and place in a bowl. Dust the tofu with cornstarch and gently toss to coat the cubes. 

Heat an inch of vegetable oil in a deep pan with a candy thermometer clipped to the side to measure the temperature of the oil. When the oil reaches 350°F, fry the tofu cubes in batches (I did mine in 2 batches) until light golden in color. Remove the tofu from the oil and set on paper towels to drain. When all of the tofu is fried, place the cubes in a large bowl. Remove the sauce from the heat and pour half to two-thirds of it over the tofu. Toss to coat the tofu. 

Add the sesame seeds and green onions. Serve immediately with sauce on the side for dipping or pouring over the tofu.

UPCOMING TOFU RECIPES...

Part 2- Tofu Bruschetta with Pesto and Smoked Gouda

Part 3- Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Quinoa and Baby Bok Choy

Potluck Dinner Club

About a year and a half ago I started a dinner club with a small group of friends. Being home with the kids, I felt disconnected from the working world. I missed my friends and being able to meet up with them for dinner or drinks after work. With money tight and children at home, it just wasn't possible to go out to dinner or for an occasional drink with friends. Instead, I took advantage of the fact that I cook every day for my family. I'd had a standing dinner invitation for two of my close friends, Victor and Martha each week. They would come for dinner each Thursday and we would catch up on our lives and eat, laugh and drink wine. The Dinner club came about by accident as an extension of this weekly dinner with Martha and Victor. I'd reconnected via Facebook with my old friends Paul and Maritza and extended an invitation for  them to join us for a Thursday dinner. And...Wow! it was so much fun. I couldn't remember a time we laughed so much...we had so much fun that we talked about doing it again the following week. Everyone insisted that they would bring a dish next time so I didn't have to cook the whole meal. Then we all started talking about what type of food to bring the following week and unknowingly, the Dinner Club was born. 

The dinner club works like this. We meet about once a month and the dinners are themed potluck dinners. (see bottom of post for a list of themes we've had and some upcoming themes for this year) Everyone contributes a dish (Home cooked or purchased) and wine/beer of their choosing to share with the group. To make it easy to communicate with all our 'Dinner Clubbers' as I call us, I set up a group page on Facebook. It allows me to send out invitations and communicate with the group members easily. Everyone sees the communication threads and are able to comment and post what dish they plan to bring. We post pictures of all the awesome dishes and post recipes to share with the group. We have about 30 members to date. Don't panic though, not everyone comes each month. Typically, our dinners are about 12 people but some of our popular dinner clubs get big! Like last year, this year's Cinco de Mayo dinner club was also big! But this year was by far the biggest...we had 27 people for dinner club, 17 adults and 10 kids.  We rented a bouncer for the kiddos and set up outdoor movies to keep them happily entertained.

As you can see from the blog photo at the top, our house is not big so all the adults huddle around the dining room table with a folding table extension and plastic lawn chairs and we sit and eat together. (It's cozy.) I love that we are all seated at the table together rather than standing around or sitting scattered about to eat. Sitting down at a table makes it special and allows everyone to talk and share their stories so everyone can hear and be a part of the conversations. It's like a family get-together...it gets loud with laughter and conversations and most importantly, it's always fun.

It makes for a wonderful night out with our friends for not a lot of money and the kids get to have fun too. Much better than spending a fortune at a restaurant for dinner and a bottle of wine and then add a sitter to the tab, it gets expensive. 

If you ask me what makes this Dinner Club work so well month after month, I would have to say it works well because of all our friend's enthusiasm and continued support of these dinners. Every month, I am amazed at how excited everyone is to come. Reading the posts and comments on our Group page as they decide what to make for these dinners. I'm always impressed as I watch the headcount rise as the dinner date approaches. I am so thankful for these  friendships and gladly open my house up to spend time with all these amazing people each month. 
Here's a highlight of some of the awesome recipes and dishes shared at our last Cinco de Mayo Dinner Dinner Club. Everything was incredibly delicious! Enjoy!

Shredded Beef Tacos by Kathryn Kong

(adapted from a Penzey’s recipe card)

2-3 lbs boneless beef chuck roast

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp coarse salt

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 15 oz can beef broth

Place all ingredients into crock pot.  Cook on low overnight.  Shred meat and remove any connective tissue/fat that didn’t cook down.  [Optional step: cool to let fat harden on top and then skim off.]  Mix meat back with cooking juices and cook for another hour, tasting and seasoning as needed.

Serve with tortillas, cilantro, onions and lime wedges.

Chicken and Shrimp Enchiladas with Jalapeno Cream Sauce

by Lori Castellon

(slightly adapted...I added chicken to this recipe to extend my shrimp, since the crowd was large... recipe from damndelicious.com)







Mango Avocado and Arugula Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing by Gina Overholt

(recipes from Laylita.com and allrecipes.com)

Cream Cheese and Jalapeno Stuffed Rolls
by Paul Healy

Pillsbury Dinner Rolls (in the tube)
1 cup chopped jalapenos
8oz. Cream Cheese

Roll out dinner roll dough into individual rounds and place 1T of cream cheese and 1 tsp chopped jalapenos to the center of the dough. Fold dough over to enclose and place seam-side down on a cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or according to dinner roll package.

Fried Plantains by Nicole Butterworth


Slice plantains into 1/2 inch rounds and lightly fry in oil. Serve.

Tres Leches Cake by Kathryn Kong
(recipe from thepioneerwoman.com)

Here's the rest of the amazing dishes we had at our Cinco de Mayo Dinner Club. Unfortunately, I did not get the recipes to these dishes below to share with you all but still wanted to share the photos. (If I get the recipes after I post this, I will update the blog to include them.)

Homemade Guacamole by Jaime and Neidin Perez

Nopales Salad by Victor Aguirre

Homemade Guacamole by the Butterworths

Homemade Salsa by Victor Aguirre

Ceviche by Norma Michaelis

Jamaica by Victor Aguirre

Menudo by the Ford-Smith Family

Pozole by the Ford-Smith Family

Lime Cracker Cake by Victor Aguirre

Dinner Club Themes
Potluck themes of past Dinner Clubs: 
Italian Dinner Club, Chinese New Year Dinner Club, Mediterranean night (Greek food), Tapas night (Small Spanish dishes) and Martinis and Appetizers night (This was my husband's birthday).
We also had a Comfort Food night which was our anti-Valentine's Day dinner club. Our menu consisted all foods comforting... Nachos with guacamole, Chili dogs, mac and cheese, fried chicken, strawberries and chocolate cake. It was awesome!! (no salad though :))
Southern Cooking night, St. Patrick's Day (Irish food or something green), Christmas dinner and Make your own Sliders dinner club. And then we had our  Garlic Dinner Club where all dishes highlighted garlic as a main ingredient.   

Our next Dinner Club this weekend will be Cajun/Creole Cooking which is going to be awesome! Some dinner ideas we have in mind for this year are: Caribbean night, Summer BBQ, a Halloween-inspired Dinner and Asian fusion cuisine just to name a few. 

Raw Brussels Sprout Salad with Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette

If you don't know already by reading my salad blogs, I am a salad L-O-V-E-R. I love salads! I can eat salad everyday, anytime of the day, even for breakfast. It's my comfort food. Of course I also like tacos and chili as my comfort foods too, so don't laugh too hard at my uncommon salad fixation. I realize that not too many people would say salad is their comfort food. :)  
Anyway, like most things I cook or prepare in this case, they usually come about by accident and by necessity. Necessity being the mother of invention and all that...So, I wanted to make a salad for dinner the other night and I opened my veggie drawer and found that I had no lettuce or greens to make a salad with. Instead, I had some Brussels sprouts and mushrooms. Not your normal salad ingredients, but I thought I could throw something together and that something turned into this Raw Brussels Sprout Salad. 
The Brussels sprouts, Baby Bella mushrooms and the Gouda are all pretty earthy tasting so I wanted to complement their earthiness with a piquant vinaigrette. I tossed it with my Garlic Balsamic dressing which I usually make with spinach salads but I thought it would work well with this salad, and I was right. The balsamic vinegar pairs well with the Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and smoked Gouda. The crispy onions and pine nuts add the crunchy texture as well as incredible flavor. With all the ingredients chopped small and bite-sized, the Garlic Balsamic dressing coats every inch of the veggies infusing flavor throughout. Super yummy!
This salad turned out so terrific it'll definitely be one of those salads I'll make again and again throughout summer. In fact, I can picture this salad in the fall too. It would be a great salad to serve along side some of my slow cooked fall meals. Hope you give it a try. Enjoy!


Raw Brussels Sprout Salad with Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette
Serves 4

8-10 Brussels Sprouts, thinly sliced (3-4 cups)
1 cup baby Bella mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup smoked Gouda, grated
1/2 cup french fried onions
1/4 cup pine nuts

Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Olive oil
1-2 T Dijon Mustard
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp dried Thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Thinly slice Brussels Sprouts and transfer to a large bowl. Roughly chop mushrooms. Add mushrooms, Crispy Onion pieces, smoked Gouda cheese and pine nuts to prepared Brussels sprouts.

Toss Salad ingredients with about half of the vinaigrette, adding more until you get desired taste. Top with extra cheese and pine nuts and serve.