Chocolate goat’s milk ice cream. Funny story about this one. I went in to get Jude’s hair cut with my hair stylist (who is so cool she cuts his hair for free until he’s 3) and her client after us had just milked the goats at her kid’s school. They were going out of town for spring break and wouldn’t be able to use it before they left so she brought the milk in to my hair stylist, because she is also a chef (I know, right?). My hair stylist in turn, knowing how much I love food, asked me how much I would like. Does this stuff happen to anyone else?

I left with 4 huge mason jars of fresh, raw, goat’s milk! When I got home I got down to business of making this ice cream. Two batches actually. It’s better than your typical chocolate ice cream, I think that point has been agreed on by all who have tasted. I also made some goat cheese by heating the milk to 180 and squeezing a lemon in it. Strain and drain the curds – ta-dah, goat cheese! And I used the whey to make pizza dough. Nothing goes to waste.

Anything I should be cooking this week?

I saw this pudding and I knew I had to make it. 10 minutes to make homemade pudding. Um yeah? And I still had half of a pie crust left over from national pie day. So what I had to do what OBVIOUS, yes?

It’s a good thing that I brought this to someone’s house to share because I could have eaten the whole thing. The. Whole. Thing.

Seriously.

Pudding is one of my favorite things. Something rooting in my childhood memory there.

Look at that damage that four people caused in a matter of minutes.

So when are you going to make this one?

And then we had to have pie for dessert too. Mini lemon meringue pies. These were my first experience making lemon meringue pie. They’re so cute in all their littleness. . .

Jude liked them.

And so did we.

Anyone else do something fun for nation pie day? Apparently, it’s one of two pie days. . . the next pie day? 3/14 (or 3.14… or pi for all you non-math folks).

Back in July, I made some Beef Empanadas for a friend’s birthday party. I wanted a hardy, handheld appetizer and empanadas came to mind! Not to mention, I have been wanting to make my own empanadas for quite some time. These were surprisingly delicious and simple to make due to the use of puff pastry. The black bean dipping sauce was certainly a winner as well – adding a certainly creamy richness to balance all the spice in the filling. I eventually do want to try and make my own pastry for the outside, but in a pinch, puff pastry sure makes a quick substitute!

When I saw this recipe posted on Budget Bytes, I knew I wanted to make it. I love yogurt marinated meats and this Chicken Swarma and Homemade Naan really hit the spot. I mean, homemade naan is freaking awesome – fresh grilled bread slathered in melted butter. Oooo. Yes. And then you add the grilled, yogurt marinated chicken and it gets even better. Yes please. Add some fresh summer tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce and you have an easy handheld meal!

So, I may have developed a little bit of a girl crush on Gwyneth Paltrow. This is a bit strange for me since I’m not really one to follow much of what celebrities do – their world usually doesn’t collide with mine often, but Gwyneth kept popping up . . . First on Glee (ohmygoodness, did I just admit I watch that show? Guilty pleasures!) and then on the cover of my Bon Appetit magazine. So I read her article and it turns out we have some similar interests: food, kiddos, music, sustainability . . . and now I think I really like her! The first recipe I made from her recipes was the Corn Vichyssoise. Cold, sweet, fresh summer corn soup with a dollop of sour cream = so refreshing on a hot summer day. Win.

Next up, I tried her Mahi Mahi with Mango Avocado Salsa and it was amazing. I love the combo of avocado and mango over such a meaty fish. Such a great summer meal! I could see myself making this salsa to eat with tortilla chips too. So yummy.

Next up, Pioneer Woman’s Enchiladas. Ree really knows how to knock recipes out of the park. Everything I make by her turns out amazing (although usually pretty gut/calorie busting). So a couple notes – I made this for a friend that’s gluten free, so I thickened the sauce with cornstarch instead of the rue with flour that Ree suggests. This was my first time frying the corn tortillas in oil instead of simmering them in chicken stock and dang, that extra fat makes them extra delicious. We sliced some avocado thin and ate it with the enchiladas for the final win.

I bought 16 pounds of cherries. Yes, you read that right. Sixteen. Pounds. On my defense, they were organic cherries that Whole Foods was running a special on for $2.99 a pound. So I bought the max you could buy and spend the next several days using the back end of a chop stick to pit cherries! This of course lead as much cherry consumption as possible. Enter Cherry Pie with Coconut Crumb Topping. We made them in mini tart pans so everyone got their own pie. Who doesn’t like having a pie all to themselves?

Continuing on my cherry trend, I remembered a recipe I had seen on GoodLifeEats awhile back and went to check it out. Cherry Limeades quickly became our refreshing drink of choice. I made a giant batch of limeade and we regularly blended it with some ice and frozen cherries for a brief respite from our summer heat.

Whew, how’s that for a diverse round up of the food I’ve been cooking lately?!

What great recipes have you tried lately? 

Chocolate pudding is one of those things that it took me quite some time to realize that there were other options besides Jell-O. And then, enter Smitten Kitchen and this recipe. For whatever reason, it took me quite some time to actually MAKE this recipe. I would frequently go to the website and drool at this recipe, resign myself to make it soon and promptly forget. Something to do with a fried mommy brain I guess. Somehow even chocolate pudding can’t seem to stick.

Well I finally made it. Oh yes. And Jason doesn’t even like pudding and he loved this. I even dreamed about it – it was that delicious. I’m just warning you, this won’t stick around your house long. If you do make it, be sure to cook the pudding until it really is almost the thickness that you would want to eat it at. It thickens some in the fridge but not as significantly as the Jell-O version I am used to.

Silky Chocolate Pudding
Adapted from John Scharffenberger, via Smitten Kitchen

Serves 6

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
6 ounces 62% semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used good quality semisweet chocolate chips; use 70% bittersweet if you want more of a dark chocolate kick)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Slowly whisk in the milk, scraping the bottom and sides with a heatproof spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Place over gently simmering water and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 15 to 20 minutes, when the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, add the chocolate. Continue stirring for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the pudding is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

2. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer (or skip this step if you’re a slacker like me who is absolutely certain that there is nary a lump her puddin’) into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes.

3. If you like pudding skin, pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish(es) before refrigerating. If you dislike pudding skin, place plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days (ahem, good luck with that).

Aren’t we cute? I love my book club girls.

The one thing that the book had going for it was it’s discussions of food. There were recipes included in almost every chapter (although towards the end of the book the recipes no longer related to the chapters they were included in. . . ), so we decided to do a potluck for bookclub, using recipes from the book. Fun, right?

We had goat cheese toast points with herbs and garlic:

I made the orange cous cous (which was just . . . ok in my opinion).

And I think the star of the evening was the chocolate cake with mascarpone chestnut cream made by Jenn. Delicious!

We tried to talk about the book some but really we ended up talking about food and eating the food that we all brought. So in light of that, I thought I would share the recipe that Jenn made with you.

Chocolate Cake with Mascarpone-Chestnut (ahem, nutella) Cake

8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c powdered sugar
3 large eggs
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 8 oz container sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate in microwave safe bowl at high for 30 second intervals until melted, or on stovetop. Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and powdered sugar at medium speed with a mixer, about 5 minutes or until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating until just blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended afte reach addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into a lightly greased and floured deep 9-inch round cake or springform pan, or a 9×13 glass pan. Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove cake from pan and let cook completely. Served with a dollop of Mascarpone-Chestnut Cream (recipe below).

Mascarpone-Chestnut (Nutella) Cream

1 7 oz container mascarpone, softened
1 8.75 oz can creme de marrons (chestnut spread (or, nutella, because where in the world do you find chestnut spread in the states?)
1 tsp grated lemon zest

Beat mascarpone and chestnut spread together at medium speed, about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat whipping cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into mascarpone-chestnut mixture. Stir in lemon zest. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

I discovered that Jam has a blog and she posts a lot of her recipes on it. I found the one for the ice cream. Oh. My. Goodness. So. Incredible. She uses coconut cream to replace the dairy in the recipe and coconut cream is so rich and delicious, much like cow’s cream. It makes me want to make a lactose-free creme brulee it’s so dense and rich. I will say that if I make this recipe again, I’ll use half coconut cream and half coconut milk. It was almost TOO rich (if that’s even possible). I was hoping to make the sticky rice to go with it (as she has the recipe here) but I did not have the sweet or glutinous rice. . . just basic basmati. But trust me, once I find this rice, I will be making it sticky and making some more mango ice cream to go on top . . .

Recipe for Coconut Mango Ice Cream

I did make a few changes to the recipes. I didn’t use orange zest, substituted toasted crushed almonds for pecans, used bittersweet chocolate chips and cut down on the sugar just a bit. When I pulled the two loaves of zucchini bread out of the oven, I was worried that it had over baked, they were so firm on the top. But thankfully they were perfect. The zucchini kept everything moist and delicious. Not a dry spot in the bread. And really, the zucchini flavor wasn’t pronounced at all but the bread was absolutely delicious! Looking forward to seeing what else I can make with the zucchini from the garden. Any suggestions?

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

We had the ingredients on hand to whip a batch of these up (sadly, only 24 cookies and they went FAST) and we baked them off. The addition of the instant espresso powder is perfect. It is barely detectable when the cookies are warm but develops into a bit of ‘je ne sais quoi’ when they cool.

I think Jason was especially appreciative of these cookies as they were simple chocolate chip cookies. No nuts, nothing else, except for that tiny hint of coffee flavor that just amplifies the chocolatey goodness. I can certainly see why these cookies are the staple chocolate chip cookie for Neiman Marcus’ cafe.

Recipe for Neiman Marcus Cookies

Recipe for Salted Caramel Ice Cream