Recipe: Dog Ice Cream

My dogs love ice cream, but sometimes I don’t feel like getting them in the car and going to Bruster’s for dog sundaes. Frosty Paws are expensive (like $3.99 for 4!) so I only buy then when I have a coupon and/or they’re on sale. But then I thought, how hard can it be to make some? So I googled around and found this recipe and decided to try it out (with just a few changes).

So here we go:

You need a 32 oz carton of plain yogurt, 2-3 T peanut butter (I use natural – it’s just peanuts and salt), bananas, and some Dixie cups. There’s only one banana in the picture, but I used two. I didn’t add the honey the recipe calls for, because that just seems like extra sugar that dogs don’t need.

Anyway. Throw that all in a food processor and mix it up.

Then ladle it into Dixie cups.

Now stick it in the freezer! Once they’re frozen, you can toss them all in a big ziploc bag for storage.

Now let’s do a cost analysis:

2 bananas: $.20
Plain yogurt: $2.09
2 T PB: $.14
14 Dixie Cups: $.23
Cost per cup? 19 cents!

Easy. Cheap. Loved by dogs everywhere (or by my dogs at least). What more could you ask for?

Recipe: Brownies

Adapted from Mmm-Mmm Better Brownies

Disclaimer: I like super fudgey chocolately brownies, not cakey sugary ones. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the wrong place. Although if you do want them to be a little crisper on top and not so sticky, sub in some oil for some of the sour cream.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream (or plain yogurt if you prefer)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease an 8 X 8 pan.

In a bowl, combine sugar, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Then add in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Pour that in that pan, and stick it in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with some crumbs but no batter on it (Not completely clean! Who wants brownies like that!?).

Let them cool until you can’t wait anymore and then cut them.

If you cut them into 16 pieces, each one will have 1 gram of fat and 75 calories. Or make 8 bigger brownies with 2 grams of fat and 150 calories because we all know you won’t each just one.

Enjoy!

Generic Brands

I’m pretty cheap. Chris and I have a weekly grocery budget of about $30, though I’ve been to have weeks where it goes to $15. And when he’s deployed, I’ve had it down to $10.

I like coupons, I watch sales, and I make a lot of stuff from scratch.

I also have no compunctions about grabbing the store brand for most things.

Except…

I guess you could say that I “splurge” on Campbell’s soup. Don’t fool yourself – Market Pantry and Great Value cream of mushroom soup are nowhere near as good as Campbell’s. Same goes for tomato soup (the exception being Andersen’s and Trader Joe’s, which both make amazing tomato soup), chicken noodle, and cream of chicken. I always ALWAYS have a few cans of all of them in my pantry. And right before Thanksgiving and Christmas when they go on sale super cheap, I stock up like crazy.

You can never too much cream of chicken soup. Believe me.

But oddly, I think that’s the only thing I *have* to buy name brand.

Is that weird? Are there things where you feel the generic simply won’t do and you have to go name brand?

Recipe: Irish Car Bomb Cake

Chris’s mom was horrified that I was going to make my own birthday cake, and told Chris that if he wouldn’t buy one for me, she would order one for me. It was a nice thought, but I don’t think she understands that (1) I like to bake and (2) I can make a better cake than we can buy.

I always make Chris a special cake based on strawberry shortcake, so I wanted something unique for mine too. And thus, the Irish Car Bomb Cake was born.

Now, I know what you’re (probably) thinking: “Sespi, that is not a pretty cake.” It’s an Irish Car Bomb cake, not a pina colada cake! (For some reason, I associate pina coladas with umbrellas and lots of fruit garnish.) But it is a delicious cake and that’s what matters. See how much of it is gone? That was eaten by four people. Even Chris ate two slices.

So, by popular request, my recipe:

Guinness Cake

1 Box chocolate cake mix (I used a Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge cake.)
Egg and oil called for on box of cake mix
Guinness

This is the easy part. Make the cake as directed on the box, except replace the water called for with Guinness. Bake in two 9 inch round pans. Your house will smell like beer while it bakes. Don’t worry, the smell is much stronger than the taste of the cake will be.

Bailey’s Cream Cheese Filling

4 oz cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
1/2 box powdered sugar (box is 1 pound, about 4 cups)
Bailey’s, to taste

Mix the cream cheese and butter, then add in the powdered sugar a little at a time. When it’s all blended, add the Bailey’s. I started with a tablespoon, mixed, tasted, added, and so on until I was happy with the taste. I think I ended up using a little more than half of one of the mini bottles. If it gets too runny, you can add more powdered sugar to fix it.

Note: This is half of my normal cream cheese frosting recipe. Believe me, it’s more than enough since you’re only putting it between the two cakes.

Chocolate Whiskey Buttercream frosting:
Adapted from the Williams Sonoma chocolate buttercream recipe

¾ c dark cocoa powder
4 TBSP vegetable oil
3-4 cups powdered sugar (start with three, add as needed)
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons milk
2 tbsp whiskey, plus more to taste

Mix the cocoa powder with vegetable oil and set aside.

Beat powdered sugar, butter, milk, and whiskey together with electric mixer. Once fully combined (it will be pretty liquid-y), blend in the cocoa mixture until the frosting is the right consistency. If it’s still too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it’s not whiskey-tasting enough, add more whiskey.

Note: The Williams Sonoma recipe actually calls for 4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate, but I only had two, so I substituted cocoa powder and vegetable oil.

Voila. Assemble and enjoy.

Recipe: Cinnamon Rolls

By request, I present to you my cinnamon roll recipe. Well… Debbie Macomber’s Cinnamon Roll recipe from the Cedar Cove cookbook slightly tweaked. Buy the cookbook. I love it. Read the Cedar Cove series if you like romance novels — note, actual romance novels, not bodice rippers. There’s no explicit scenes, just stories about people in love. (‘m not opposed to bodice rippers, but these are not them.) Also, they take place in Washington, and I’m told the town is based on Port Orchard, WA. I want to live there.

Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 12

1/2 c whole milk
4 T unsalted butter
1 package dry active yeast
1/2 c warm water
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 t salt
3 1/4 cups flour

Filling:
1/3 cup sugar
4 t ground cinnamon
Milk for brushing

1. Microwave milk and butter until butter melts
2. Mix yeast and warm water in large bowl with mixer on low speed; let sit for 5 minutes. Beat in 1/2 c sugar and eggs until blended. Beat in salt, warm milk-butter mixture, and 2 cups of flour until blended. Switch to dough hook attachment. Add 1 1/4 cups flour and knead at medium-low speed, adding more flour if dough is too stick (I added quite a bit extra… I think around 1/2 a cup.) Mix until dough is smooth and pulls away from side of bowl, about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer dough to a large lightly oiled plastic bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let dough rise until double in size (approx 2.5 hours) then punch it down. (If you want, you can stick it in the fridge overnight now.)
4. Turn dough onto lightly floured countertop. Let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
6. Roll dough into a 12×16 inch rectangle. Brush with milk (you can use a tablespoon or so of melted butter instead if you want some extra tastiness) and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar. leaving a 1/2 border along one fo the long sides. Roll, beginning with the long side opposite the naked border. With your fingertips, press firmly along the the edge to create a seam. (Your dough might be really sticky and not want to roll easily… don’t worry, they’ll be fine.) Don’t seal the ends. Cut the log into 12 even rolls with a serrated knife and place in the prepared pan. (There will be some gaps between the rolls… that’s ok.)
7. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let dough rise until double in size, about an hour. Preheat oven to 350 and set oven rack to center position.
8. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

The cookbook says to invert them onto a wire rack at this point… I did no such thing. I also was a rebel and didn’t cool them for the suggested 20 minutes. I put the glaze on them when they were warm and ate one immediately. But I’m a rebel.

Now, the only thing that can make these better is if they had cream cheese frosting instead of the powdered sugar glaze included in the cookbook. So I’m giving you a cream cheese frosting recipe instead of the glaze. (Ok, the glaze is 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 T milk, and 1 t vanilla. Mix, pour, done.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick of butter
1 box of powdered sugar
1 cube (… stick?) of cream cheese
Vanilla, to taste (maybe 1 TSP or so)

Mix butter and cream cheese together with mixer. Slowly add powdered sugar. Blend until smooth. Put it on the rolls while they’re still warm so it gets all melty delicious.

If you have extra, eat it on graham crackers… or freeze it and eat it with a spoon like ice cream. Not that I do that. Ever.

Credit where credit is due: Recipe is from Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook, with some minor tweaks and suggestions from me.

Food of New York

Four days in New York was perfect, except that we pretty much never stopped eating. Luckily, we also walked a ton since Chris had never been to NYC before and wanted to see as much as possible (hence avoid the subway). We calculated that we walked a total of 24 miles in 3 days… the last day, we took the subway because we went out to Brighton Beach. Anyway, I’ve got to get back into my workout routine and healthy eating, because health went out the window in NYC. But I don’t regret a single minute of it.

Day 1:
Bleecker Street Pizza (the Nonna Maria… they told me it was the best pizza in NY. I believe them.)

Frozen custard from the Shake Shack

Vendor food!

Lemon meringue cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery

Day 2:

Кatz’s Deli — corned beef and half sour pickles

(Hey, it’s me!)

And then we went to dinner in Little Italy, but I forgot to take pictures of our food… and there was a delicious cannoli that was eaten that day as well

Day 3:

We went to lunch at the Boathouse in Central Park… unimpressive cheeseburgers, so no pictures.

Pho!! There is no good pho in Augusta. It doesn’t exist here.

Day 4:

The Soup Man! AKA the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, in real life. But he’ll send you to the back of the line if he hears you say Nazi. Not joking.

Chris said the tomato soup was awesome. I didn’t have any because I was holding out for Gray’s Papaya.

There were two hot dogs, so Chris ate one. And then we went back to Bleecker Street Pizza one more time before we left. Chris needs to eat a lot, because he has a crazy metabolism and we were walking 7-8 miles a day. I don’t have a crazy metabolism, and that’s why he got to eat one of the hot dogs.

Now I’m hungry… it’s probably for the best that I don’t live in NYC. I’d weigh 400 pounds.