July 2010 – Page 2 – The Pajama Chef

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Sweet & Spicy Garlic Dip

July 24, 2010July 7, 2014 Sarah

Sweet potato fries are all the rage lately [but is the phrase “all the rage” really all the rage? Or is it way outdated?]. We eat these as a side dish or a snack, and I even eat them as a meal sometimes [just like one of my roomies used to!]. But Ben prefers some meat with his meals… oh boys, whatcha gonna do with them! 🙂 I have seen them on the menu at so many restaurants, chains and local places alike. I’ve ordered them a few places only to be disappointed that they are actual fries–fried in a fryer–not the baked, soft, crispy, sweet potato goodness of these fries. Annnnnd since they are baked, you get all the taste [and health benefits… shhhh!] of sweet potatoes, with the crunchy satisfaction of fries, without all the grease, salt, fat, and other bad stuff. Though traditional fries do taste so good sometimes! Also, for those who are concerned and do not like Thanksgiving sweet potatoes… these bear no resemblance, so have no fear. These are goodies that should make an appearance many times a year!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Sweet & Spicy Garlic Dip

Servings: 2
Time: 60 minutes
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for sweet potatoes

Ingredients:

1/2 pound sweet potatoes, roughly peeled and chopped into 1/4″ sticks or wedges
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive or canola oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place prepared potatoes in a large bowl. Add oil, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray, and then spread potato slices in an even layer across the surface of the pan. Try to keep the slices in a single layer to regulate baking; use a second baking sheet or bake in 2 batches if necessary. Bake potatoes for 30 minutes, using a spatula to flip the fries every 10 minutes. Fries will be done when light brown and crisp to the touch.

Notes:

I often am impatient while cutting the potatoes and end up making the fries larger than 1/4″, so I have to cook them longer, for a total of about 40-50 minutes, so feel free to experiment with your oven and personal preferences. Also, this is just a basic recipe. Sometimes I will add 1/2 teaspoon of basil and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano, or other herbs and/or spices to the fries. Feel free to experiment with your favorite flavors! I do find that I prefer plainer fries with the following dip.

for dip

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup Miracle Whip [I have never tried this with mayonnaise, but imagine the taste would be similar.]
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Mexican-style chili powder [I prefer this one but any should work.]

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients. Adjust spices to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for best taste. Keeps up to one week in the fridge.

Note:

If you are sensitive to spicy foods, use a milder chili powder or reduce amount. This sauce is also excellent in a panini, and I bet it would be good with pita or bagel chips, though I have yet to try it.

Bars, Desserts, Recipes

Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

July 23, 2010October 9, 2015 Sarah

I love brownies. Absolutely love them. Typically though, I’m not the biggest fan of homemade brownies. For some reason, boxed brownies always taste better. However, this recipe has changed my mind. Totally easy, totally worth it. Hardly more effort than mixing up a batch of boxed brownies. And so much tastier…

A layer of rich chocolate + a layer of nutty peanut butter + a topping of chocolate chips = absolutely delicious!

Sweet and salty, with crisp edges and a chewy center.

A practically perfect brownie.

And just as a side note… it is so hot and humid here in Indiana that when I stepped out on the porch to take this picture, the plate, chocolate chips, and my camera lens fogged up with condensation from the humidity. Oh. My. Goodness. Crazy. Yuck. And it was 8 pm. I will survive though, because I just ate Cheerios and brownies for dinner. Excellent choice? Yes, I do believe so!

Please make these now. You will be glad.

Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Servings: 16
Time: 40 minutes
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inspired by my cravings and this, this, and this

Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies | thepajamachef.com

Ingredients:

2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, microwaved for 15-25 seconds to soften
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 ounce good quality bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped [I used Ghiradelli 60% Cacao]
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8″x8″ pan with cooking spray. Mix flour, sugars, baking powder, oil, eggs, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a large bowl. Divide batter into two, spooning half into a medium bowl [this should be a little more than 1 cup measured]. In one bowl, add cocoa and bittersweet chocolate. Stir gently to combine. In the other bowl, whisk in peanut butter with a fork. Spoon chocolate batter into prepared pan, and then add peanut butter batter on top. This batter will be a bit thicker, so feel free to use fork to lightly swirl peanut butter batter on top of chocolate batter. Bake for 18 minutes, then sprinkle milk chocolate chips evenly over the surface of the brownies. Bake for an additional 8-12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool at least 10 minutes before cutting… if you can wait that long! 🙂

Note:

Cook longer if you are not a fan of gooey brownie center. The middle pieces were definitely not cooked all the way through. We like a combination of gooey and crispy, but not everyone does. If you do cook it longer, top with a piece of foil to prevent the top from burning. That just would make for a sad brownie.

Recipes, Sides, Vegetables

Tasty Corn

July 23, 2010July 3, 2014 Sarah

Corn on the cob is one of my favorite summer foods. I mean, I live in Indiana soooo it’s only natural right? However, there is more than corn in Indiana. There’s INDIANA BEACH! Okay… enough. Well, I just love summer corn. It’s so fresh, so sweet, so tasty. This is one of the best ways I have found to prepare corn. I’ve made it several times, and have discovered 2 awesome things about this recipe.

It is so tasty that butter isn’t even needed on it. Just a little pepper… delish! [Though I clearly did put some on in the photo… the butter just makes it better! But is totally not necessary.]
It is so tasty that it can be eaten hot off the stove… or cold. This versatility makes this a great side for cookouts, picnics, school/work lunches, and more.

Tasty Corn

Servings: 2
Time: 15mins
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source unknown

Ingredients:

2 ears fresh shucked corn
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon + 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine [I’ve used both. Use what is on hand!]

Directions:

Place corn in a large pot and add enough water to completely cover corn. Remove corn from pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once water is boiling, add corn, milk, sugar, and butter/margarine. Do NOT add salt. Salt will make this corn bitter, not sweet. Cover the pot and let simmer over low heat for 10-12 minutes, depending on how tender you like your corn. Remove from pot and eat immediately or let cool and refrigerate for later. Corn can be prepared up to a day in advance.

Note:

I usually only make 2-4 ears of corn at a time for us. However, recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, etc. Just adjust ingredients accordingly! 🙂

Cakes, Desserts, Recipes

Butterscotch and Chocolate Yellow Cake

July 21, 2010July 3, 2014 Sarah

Who doesn’t love a homemade birthday cake? Certainly not anyone I know! 🙂 This is a recent occurrence though. When I was growing up, I wasn’t the biggest fan of cake. True story. I would eat a piece at birthday parties and dinner, but I would never request it as a dessert of choice. Some years I asked for a “cake” of cheesecake instead. In fact, 9 times out of 10 I would rather eat fruit than chocolate. However, as I’ve gotten older, my tastes have changed. I still looooove fruit [and am LOVING the summer berries right now!], but I do enjoy cake and other chocolate-ly sweets too! In fact, here I am on my last birthday:

Wowsers. What a flattering photo! 😉 Anywhoooo, now that I like cake, I’m always on the lookout for cake recipes. Mixes in a box are good, but the real good stuff is always homemade [with the exception of brownies. The best brownies I’ve ever had are from a box. Anyone care to remedy that? Just let me know!]. The following recipe is one I made a few months ago for husband’s birthday. It was fairly simple to make and the cake was divine–a delicious mix of buttery yellow cake and sweet chocolate and butterscotch chips, almost like a cookie in cake form. Yum! The frosting was good too, but I might have had better results if my cream cheese hadn’t been funky. Yeah… ugh. This cake was inhaled… so don’t say you weren’t warned. Without further ado…

Butterscotch & Chocolate Yellow Cake

Servings: 12-14
Time: 2hrs
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adapted from OddMom

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup butter, softened [if using unsalted butter, add 1/2 teaspoon salt; otherwise, omit salt]
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for garnishing
1 cup butterscotch chips, plus more for garnishing
cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, gently combine the flour and baking powder. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, thoroughly mixing each in individually. In a liquid measuring cup, add the vanilla tothe milk and whisk until combined. Add half of the milk into the butter mixture, and then add half of the flour mixture. Mix well, and repeat. Using a spatula, fold in the butterscotch and chocolate chips.

Grease and flour [generously, so the cake doesn’t stick–keep a pastry brush on hand to remove flour from a cooled cake prior to frosting it] 2 9″ round cake pans. Using a greased measuring cup, fill the 2 cake pans evenly. One thing I like to do is alternate the pan I am filling up [1 cup of batter in pan A, 1 cup in pan B, etc.] to help ensure that the layers will be equal and not uneven. Cake surgery is not my forté!

Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cake should be golden and springy in the middle. Allow to cool in the pans for about 7 minutes, and then carefully remove to cool completely on wire racks.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the ingredients for the frosting.

Frosting

8 ounces 1/3 less Fat “Neufchâtel” cream cheese [husband loves to say “Neufchâtel!”], softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cocoa

In the bowl of an electric mixer or food processor, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and cocoa and then add in 1/3 cup increments to the butter and cream cheese, beating until creamy.

After cake is cooled, place one layer of the cake on a cake stand or serving platter or plate. Frost the top only, then place the second layer on top of the frosting, forming a cake sandwich. Continue to frost the cake, working from top to bottom until cake is frosted. Garnish with butterscotch and chocolate chips on top.

Serve to a hungry birthday husband [or wife or friend or mom or dad or sister or brother or cat… just kiddin’!], and be the hero of the night!

And if you have to transport the cake across town, then rig up a super cool contraption using blankets, a seatbelt, and a Captain Morgan box in your car to protect the yummyness!

Or use something practical, like oh, a cake carrier. I’d like one… [hint hint!]

Okay, off to dream of cake…and cake carriers…

Appetizers, Recipes

Bite Size Big Thumbs Up Soft Pretzels

July 20, 2010July 3, 2014 Sarah

Some foods have the ability to conjure up different expectations for different folks. I believe that pretzels are one such food. In my youth [as if 25 is soooo old and decrepit], I only ate pretzels that came in a bag. Why? I’m not sure, except to say that my mom sometimes purchased said pretzels [fascinating, I know :)]. And truth be told, I didn’t even really like them… especially after building a log cabin in 5th grade out of cheez-wiz and pretzel rods… blech!

However, my husband is of a different breed. He loves the shopping mall classic: hot, soft pretzels, complete with gooey cheese, spicy marinara, and/or rich frosting for his dipping pleasure. My frugal self gasps at the outrageous prices of those mall establishments, and my desire to keep Ben healthy also cringes at the caloric and fat content of those babies as well. So one day I set out to make a healthier homemade version to take to our small group with others from our church. Ben even helped! We brought home an empty plate, and my husband couldn’t stop “sampling” them… and I even had a few myself! This recipe is great. We served them with nacho cheese sauce, but they are also great plain. Enjoy!

Bite Size Soft Pretzels

Servings: 8-10
Time: 2hrs
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slightly adapted from a Food Network Magazine recipe
Ingredients:

1 cup skim milk
2 1/4 teaspoons [=1 package] active dry yeast
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Crisco for greasing [butter or cooking spray should work too]
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons Kosher salt

Directions:

Warm the milk in a saucepan until it reaches about 110 degrees. A candy thermometer can be used to measure this, or the warm milk can be tested on the inside of the wrist as with a baby bottle. Pour milk into a large bowl and slowly add the yeast. Let the milk and yeast rest for about 2 minutes, then stir in the flour and brown sugar with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons butter, add to the flour mixture. Mix in remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt. Dough should be sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface [we used the counter], and knead dough until it is smooth but still tacky. This should take about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, add to a greased bowl and cover with Saran wrap and a dish towel. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, approximately an hour. My kitchen isn’t the warmest spot, so I left it resting in a sink full of warm water.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. A hot oven is essential for proper baking of these pretzels. After dough has doubled, punch the dough to deflate [Ben enjoyed this part!]. My dough was fine, but if the dough is “tight,” cover and let rest for a few minutes until it relaxes. Divide the dough into 6 pieces so it is easier to work with, and roll and stretch each piece into logs that are approximately 1 inch in diameter. Using your fingers or a butter knife, section off the logs into about five or six pretzels each.

Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow bowl. Dip each pretzel into the mixture, turning on all sides to coat thoroughly. Arrange 2 inches apart on baking sheet, and sprinkle with Kosher salt. Bake until slightly crisp yet still golden, about 10 minutes or so. Pretzels will darken somewhat as they cool.

Serve the pretzels warm or room temperature. For best results, serve within 2 days. If serving the day after, reheat in a 300 degree oven for a few minutes.