Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Just so you know, I still fully intend to blog about desserts that are bad for you but oh-so-good for your tastebuds.  Really.  Your tastebuds will thank you for these.

I constantly reaffirm how much I'm not on the "red velvet" bandwagon.  But these brownies are thought-provoking.  As in, "I think I may be in love with these red velvet brownies".

Let's break this situation down:

1. There's cheesecake involved.  Actually, there's cream cheese involved that turns into a cheesecake-like batter.  Gimme.
2. I melted some high quality dark chocolate all up in this piece.  Things went down like that.

3. I'm a sucker for a good swirled dessert.  It could be a simple marble cake that gets me.  In this case, it just happens to be a fudge-y, rich red-and-white brownie.

On a related side note, do you know what I DON'T have in my kitchen?  An 8- or 9-inch square pan.  Exactly the pan that I need to bake brownies.  I guess I just never bake brownies enough for this to be a problem.  For about 3 minutes, I entertained the idea of running to Target to pick up a new pan.  Then I realized I didn't have enough time to do that.  Then I tried to use two loaf pans instead.  Um, these will make thin brownies.  Thin brownies are no bueno.  Finally, I ended up using an 8 x 10 inch casserole dish.  So maybe I should have asked for a brownie pan for Christmas.  Only need to wait 360-something more days for it to come...

Candy Cane Vodka

This year, a few friends of mine decided to set up a Secret Santa exchange.  We got really into it and it ended up being more than awesome.  As I was deciding which gifts to give, Tracy from Shutterbean got all up in my face.  You know what she did?  She showed me how to make Candy Cane Vodka.  I was beside myself.

I'm not typically a fan of vodka.  Did you know that?  Probably not.  But I do make certain exceptions.  The first is for Strawberry Infused Vodka.  The second is for this Candy Cane Vodka.  I love the way it looks so pink and pretty.  It also tastes amazingly peppermint-y.  And it's hella strong.  Yeah, I said "hella".

Anywaysssss, I got super excited about this.  I knew I had to make this goodness for my Secret Santa and also the other ladies in the exchange.  Because why not share all this wealth?  I picked up some containers from Michael's (which, by the way, is the death trap for all things Christmas-y) and got to work.

Honey Greek Yogurt with Pomegranates & Pistachios

 

Dessert for breakfast is where it's at.  I know this because I just experienced this fact this morning.  In fact, I may also experience this again tomorrow morning.  That's just how I roll.

I'm deeply involved in an illicit affair with yogurt, honey, and pomegranates.  Seriously.  I can't get enough of them.  I am writing this as I sit with a tub of pomegranate arils on my stomach.  I am force feeding them into my face with a spoon.  Things are getting real rough around here, people.  Real rough.  So I decided to roll all this fun stuff together.  Adding some pistachios ain't so bad either.  Oh yeah.  Make this happen.

I wish I could say I was clever enough to think of this all by myself, but I'm not.  I totally "borrowed" this recipe from Gina over at Skinny Desserts.  Let's be honest.  We could all use a low-calorie dessert/breakfast in these overindulgent times.  However, I still want something scrumptious.  And this is that.

Greek Chicken Stew with Cauliflower

I'm sick, y'all.  At least I was sick when I decided to make this dish.  Now, I'm on the recovery bandwagon.

One of the overarching reasons I decided to go with a chicken stew this week is that I was really feeling run down by the flu.  The flu! After years of only experiencing colds during the winter months, the flu bug finally bit me.  And it bit hard! I was incapable of making it to work for two whole days this week, and that's never happened in the 6 years I've had this job.  I could barely even make it to the next room.  It was bad.  So a few days after I was able to move around freely, I conjured up this beauty.

I really don't make stews a whole lot.  But I dug this recipe up from the NYTimes and decided I needed to make this for myself.  What better way to provide comfort than through food?  That's pretty much status quo for me.  Don't act surprised.

Black Swan: A Review

This post.  Uhhhh, yeah.  This. Post.

I had the best intentions.  I swear to you that I did.  I wanted to do another review post, complete with beautiful (albeit iPhone) pics.  I stepped into Black Swan and was swept away with the beautiful decor, the dark wood, and the homey atmosphere.  Though I've never actually been in an English pub, I would imagine that it looks something like this place.  I want to live here.  I took lots of pictures.

Get ready for the pretty pictures...

Go!

Spinach Pie

I may or may not have completely skipped Thanksgiving recipes on this blog.  So little time and so many things to do.  Sorry friends, but I'm just going to twist things around and say that I was being a rebel.  This may also be known as "Oops.  I didn't get around to planning that far in advance."  Sorry.

But we press on...

You know those recipes you really want to make, but you keep putting off for some reason or another?  Yeah, I have those.  In fact, I have quite a few of them.  Most of those recipes involve yeast or phyllo dough.

Recently, I saw that one of those recipes that I have a love/hate relationship with, spanikopita, was remade by Beth M of Budget Bytes. Spanikopita is typically the second thing I order when I sit down at a Greek restaurant.  (Clearly, I order the saganaki, or flaming cheese first.  Seriously.  The cheese is set on fire.  You have to love it.  Hot, flaming cheese. Stop it now.)  I've always wanted to replicate the spanikopita I get at restaurants, but each recipe I took a look at required me to work with those dreaded phyllo sheets.  Nope.  Thanks.  Bye.

Then Beth turned things around with a single blog post.  I was introduced to the beautiful spinach pie.  It makes use of a puff pastry sheet, frozen spinach, and lots of cheese.  Yeah, let's do it!

Pizza Hummus

I'm in the middle of thinking about cleaning out my pantry.

I tend to have great epiphanies in the grocery store and I end up purchasing canned vegetables that I just KNOW I will use within the next week because I have all these amazing recipe ideas that I want to try out.

Now let's fast forward to about 10 months later, when that same can of garbanzo beans is still staring me in the face. Hmmmm...why did I buy this again?

Interestingly enough, I was browsing my old Food Network magazines the other day (no power in the aftermath of Sandy means you look through a lot of magazines) when I stumbled upon a writeup for three variations of hummus.  Jackpot!  Though I do love hummus, there are just so many other snacks out there that I want to try.  I also want to blog and share those recipes with you.  Truth.  I honestly could only get away with blogging about plain old regular hummus once.  Once and that's it.  Let that bad boy go.  So you can see why I was so excited to find other hummus options.

I had a really hard time picking between the three recipes, but I ended up choosing the pizza-flavored dip since everyone loves pizza.  By everyone, I mean me.  I won't tell you about the other hummus flavors just yet, because I want to make and blog about them later.  It's a surprise!