This recipe is rich and delicious comfort food, not for the dieters.... But for once in a while it's totally worth it.  It's so good.  This is from the Pioneer Woman website, which I love.  Her recipes are great, and she's so entertaining!  I love her humor.  Anyway, I only altered it slightly because I wanted to make this slightly "lighter", haha, which is funny to say when we're talking about a pasta recipe with bacon and cream and cheese.... so there's nothing light about it really, except that I wanted to remove some of the pancetta grease from the pan before cooking the leeks.  Otherwise it's pretty much the same idea. 

You'll Need:
10 oz bowtie pasta
1/2-3/4 lb pancetta, chopped small (or you can slice it large as in my picture, and break it up after cooking when it's crispy - I hate cutting pancetta!)
3-5 leeks, cleaned well and sliced into small pcs (5 thin leeks or 3 fat leeks)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
1/2 cup white or red wine (I used red because that's all I had, Pioneer Woman uses white)
1/2 cup heavy cream
Fresh Parmesan to sprinkle on top
S & P to taste

To Make:

Start pasta water.  Cook pasta til al dente, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, and drain the pasta.  

While waiting for pasta water to boil, cook pancetta on medium heat in a large frying pan or deep pot to avoid grease splatter (if you have a metal splatter shield that helps avoid mess/burn).  

Toss so all sides cook til crispy brown looking.  Dry on paper towels and set aside.  

Wipe pan almost clean with paper towels, leaving at most a tablespoon of grease in the pan.  Add leaks, olive oil and butter, and cook 5 minutes or so.   Add wine and stir, scrape down the pot to get all the flavors incorporated.  Cook for another minute, then turn heat off and add cream.     

Keep pan on burner, just turn the heat off while you stir in the cream.   Add cooked pasta and pancetta to the pan with leeks and toss to coat everything.  If it seems dry, you can add a little of the reserved pasta water. 

Serve with fresh grated parmesan on top - Mmmm.  This dish tastes good room temp too.   

This recipes makes a nice small batch of 12 cupcakes - and they are super moist and delish.  I highly recommend this cake recipe - it's downsized and slightly altered from Beatty's chocolate cake on the food network.  So good.  The icing is my own mixture with a titch of cream cheese added to the usual butter.  It just gives it great flavor without being a total cream cheesey icing (more for carrot and pumpkin cakes).  I don't know...I'm a huge fan!

For the cupcakes:
1 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or buttermilk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup hot coffee

For the icing:
6 Tbsp butter, softened to room temp
2 oz cream cheese, softened to room temp (1/4 of a regular package)
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp milk or half and half
1 1/2 -2 cups confectioners sugar

To make:
Prepare a 12-cupcake pan either by greasing it or lining it with cupcake papers.  Preheat oven to 350.  

Toss together your flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.  

Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and then add to the dry, mixing just until dry ingredients are incorporated.  

Divide your batter among the 12 cupcake cups, filling them 2/3- 3/4 full (batter will rise and overflow if they are too full).  You may get a few extra cupcakes out of the batter. 

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool slightly in the pan and then completely on a wire rack.

For the icing:
Beat butter and cream cheese for about 3 minutes in a mixer until smooth.  Add milk, vanilla and 1 cup of confectioners sugar and beat well, scrape sides and then beat again.  Add more sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until you've reached a smooth and creamy but spreadable consistency. 

Enjoy!

This bread is A M A Z I N G.  All hail King Arthur.  Seriously.  I grew up loving Pepperidge Farm Oatmeal bread and this tastes so similar, except it is better cause you can eat it warm out of the oven!  The recipe is from King Arthur Flour, and since I am new to baking bread, I didn't mess with the recipe at all.  

You will need:
3 cups unbleached bread flour (preferably King Arthur Flour brand)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 Tbs salted butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs brown sugar or honey (I have made it both ways and both taste wonderful)
2 tsp instant yeast (or 1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in the lukewarm milk)
1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk (I used whole once and 2% once, both tasted the same)

How to make it:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, kneading with the dough hook for 5 minutes.

Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it to rest for 1 hour.  

On a lightly oiled surface, and shape the dough into a log. Place the log in a lightly greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, lightly cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise for  90 minutes.  

During the last 30 minutes of rising, preheat your oven to 350F.  Bake for 35-40 min or until a thermometer reads 190 degrees when inserted to the center of the loaf.   If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.


IMPORTANT - be sure to eat at least one piece while the bread is warm.  Slap on some butter and enjoy!  It's soooo wonderful!

I made some summery cole slaw the other day to go with baked beans and Emily's pulled pork sandwiches - so good.  I normally would add just a titch of horseradish to give it a little zing but my Remy would have said "It's too picy" so I held off and tried to be happy that she even eats cole slaw.

You will need:
1.5 Tbs vinegar (cider or white)
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt (more to taste) 
black pepper
1/2 cup mayo
2 carrots, shredded
8 cups loosely packed, shredded or thin sliced cabbage
1/2 tsp celery seed

To make:
Toss together your carrots and cabbage together in a large bowl.  Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and then pour over cabbage mixture.  Toss to coat thoroughly and refridgerate until ready to eat.  Makes about 10 servings.

My husband and I eat ice cream out of the Ben & Jerry's pints at least a couple nights a week (a naughty habit that started during my first pregnancy, but "baby wanted it".  And he had sympathy cravings...which all led to a lot of exercise later).  I don't make my own ice cream often because B & J's just does it so right.  But if I was to think outside the carton, this is a pretty damn good combination that Ben & Jerry should really consider.  It's my rendition of a dessert we love from our favorite restaurant in Jersey City.  It's an ice cream sundae called German Chocolate Cake because of the ingredients, but minus the cake.  I guess we could just call it German Chocolate... 

For two good size servings, you'll need:

A pint of your favorite chocolate ice cream  (we like Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry's)

For Toasted Coconut & Nuts:
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/4 cup total of combination of chopped walnuts and almonds (I used sliced almonds)


In small frying pan, let the nuts cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium, then add coconut (since this cooks faster).  You want to cook until nuts and coconut are just looking toasty light brown.  Remove from heat and let cook in a bowl set aside.

For Whipped Cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream 
1 tsp sugar (powdered or white granular sugar)


Pour heavy cream in kitchen-aide mixer and add 1 tsp sugar (powdered or white granular sugar works) and whip about 5 min or so with wire whisk attachment until soft peaks form.  

For Butterscotch Sauce:
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt

NOTE: Usually I'm all for subbing but in this case, don't sub anything or you may sacrifice the thick sticky texture that makes this sauce great.  I have made it a few times with salted butter, 1/2 & 1/2 instead of heavy cream, and light brown sugar, but it just isn't the same. 

Combine ALL ingredients above in small/medium sauce pot on medium heat and bring to a slow boil.  Let boil for about 5 minutes and then let it cool on stove til you are ready to load on top of your sundae.  Pour the remains in an airtight container and store in the fridge.  (3-4 days I'd say, but I have not tested this)

To assemble, top a few scoops of chocolate ice cream with your homemade whipped cream, butterscotch sauce, and toasted coconut/nuts and "guten appetit!" 

My husband absolutely loves the Banana Nut Bran Muffins that Mandy gave me the recipe to a while back.  But in an effort to get rid of some buttermilk I had in the fridge I looked around for a new banana bran muffin recipe that required buttermilk and here is what I came up with.  They are different than the last banana muffin recipe and still really good, especially when grilled or toasted and the chocolate chips get all gooey and melted - yum!

You will need:
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 ripe bananas, smashed
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

To make:

Pre-heat your oven to 400F and line your muffin tin with paper/tin cups.

Mix eggs and sugar in a bowl, and then add bananas, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and then bran.

In a separate bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Slowly add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry and fold until just combined.

Next, stir in the chocolate chips, being careful to not over-mix so you don't get rubbery muffins.  

Bake the muffins at 400 until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container for up to a week (not-so-fresh muffins still taste awesome when toasted or grilled!).