Newsletter is on its way!

My latest newsletter is on its way and explains why I have included a photograph of a young Vincent Price cooking with his wife, surrounded by all things copper in their kitchen.

Want to find out? Just sign up! My newsletter is free. I write them sporadically but I promise not to spam you. Spammers are evil! If you don't like it, unsubscribe. No worries!

Hope you are all having a delicious weekend. I took yesterday off but as my newsletter readers will soon find out, I am tackling a foodie fear in my kitchen today. Wish me luck!

~ Suzie the Foodie

Join Suzie The Foodie's mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

Giada's Oatmeal, Cranberry and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Recently I had the most stressful day. It was one of those days you feel absolutely powerless and you are waiting, waiting and waiting. When that happens to me, I bake. I know, it is August and probably warm where you are but we are not getting the super-warm weather everyone else is.

I had seen Giada make these cookies and thought, Reg would LOVE these! Oatmeal cookies with chocolate and dried fruit? That would absolutely be up his alley so I got to work. 



Cream together 1 stick (half a cup) of room temperature butter with 1/2 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of regular white sugar for about a minute.



Add an egg and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.



Whisk together 1 cup of flour, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp fine sea salt. Beat into the butter mixture.



Add 2 cups of old fashioned oats.



Add 1 cup of dried cranberries. I did not have a whole cup so I chopped up some apricots and added golden raisins. Mix together.



Finish with 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chopped into chunks. To make life easier I just used chocolate chips instead. Fold in chocolate.



Giada says to use a four ounce ice cream scoop which is quite large to make six balls of cookie dough per baking sheet.



Flatten the top with a spoon. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 13-15 minutes until cookies are golden brown along the edges.



You are supposed to let them cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes before eating but my cookies were over-baked and a tad scorched on the bottom so I moved mine over to a cooling rack right away.



Thankfully, Reg LOVED these! Which made me very happy. It will also make granola kids very happy. This is one filling and hearty cookie. It is not my style though. They are very dry and a little too much of a foodie commitment. It felt more like a meal than a treat. The hint of cinnamon was nice and earthy but a little strong for me. I did love the combination of the dried fruit with the chocolate and next time, I will bring out the good dark chocolate when I make these.

The entire batch of cookies (12 large ones) only used one stick of butter and is filled with old fashioned oats so I recommend them to those trying to be a bit healthier with their baking. Keep an eye on them while they back though to make sure they do not get over-baked.

After baking these Reg came home with great news. I made tea and we enjoyed these together with smiles on our faces. Life was finally starting to feel back on track.

I think Reg would give these cookies five out of five wooden spoons. Me? I give them four out of five.

Sausage and Mussel Spaghetti

The other night we had an epic thunderstorm... and I mean epic. I am original from Ontario so I know thunderstorms and this one was insane. You have to see it to believe it.

I was desperately trying to cook dinner and a smoothie before the lights go out for good, not fun at all. The thunder was cracking and shaking my house. The power surges threatened the edibleness of my meal as well as the lifespan of my blender. Once dinner was complete I took my big plate of food and my four berry smoothie into the basement and had dinner with lights flickering and windows rattling. The storm lasted almost six hours!

Hearing that another storm was coming the next night, I decided I wanted a stunning special lunch to fill up on in case the thunder arrived right at dinner time again. I would have a sandwich for dinner just to be safe but for lunch I was going to have a special treat. This is my version of Rachael Ray's recipe for Sausage and Mussel Spaghetti.



I finely diced one shallot, one stalk of celery, two garlic cloves, two sundried tomatoes and got half a tsp of fennel and one bay leaf.



I removed the casing from half a package of mild Italian sausage and sauteed the meat in olive oil over medium high heat for five minutes.



Then I added the aromatics and cooked for five minutes.



I added some fresh chopped tomatoes, covered the pan and cooked for another five minutes.



I deglazed the pan with a few tbsp of white wine. My Facebook friend Pam asked me for a non-alcohol substitute and I think you could probably use a little clam juice and/or chicken broth instead.



I threw in about a dozen mussels while the wine was still steaming then quickly topped with the lid and let steam for a few minutes.



The mussels should open up and and be cooked after just a few minutes. Discard the mussels that are still closed.

At this point you want to check seasoning. The sausage and mussels release a lot of salt but my broth did need a little more and as well as some black pepper.



I tossed in some cooked spaghettini, stirred everything around and let the pasta absorb some of that sauce.



I know there are many out there who hate seafood but me? I think it is a thing of beauty. What I loved about this dish is it was light but still super tasty. Although if you do not like fennel, omit the seeds. I loved it but it was very strong. A bit of a "naughty dish" thanks to certain ingredients (Reg would never eat this) but how decadent it was for me to cook such a taboo dish without fear of the lights going out.

It was also an economical lunch for me. I already had the sausage, pasta, veggies... I just had to buy the mussels which were only $1.36 thanks to me living on the east coast. Part of cooking food on a budget is using what is abundant in your area. Lucky for me I adore seafood!

Chocolate Chip Irish Cream Cupcakes with Baileys Buttercream

Recently it was my friend Jen's birthday and I wanted to make her a special treat. We both love Irish cream so I thought I would make her birthday cupcakes spiked with Baileys!

I came across this recipe for them by Recipe Girl and divided them in half but here is the complete recipe. I think 24 cupcakes would have been a little much for any birthday girl!

MAKING THE CUPCAKES



Cream together 3/4 cup room temperature cream cheese with 10 tbsp of room temperature butter. Add 1 cup of packed light brown sugar.



Then add 1 cup of white sugar and blend well. Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 3 large eggs. Add some of the 3/4 cup of Irish Cream liqueur.



Followed by some of the dry ingredients (2 3/4 cups cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt sifted together). Alternate between Baileys and the dry ingredients but make sure to finish with the flour mixture. This is the kind of texture you want.



Toss 3/4 cup of miniature chocolate chips (I couldn't find any and just used regular) in 1/2 tbsp of cake flour. Gently fold the chips into the cupcake batter.

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. I used an ice cream scoop to divvy out the batter.



Bake in a preheated 350F oven for around 20 minutes until the centers are set. Cool completely!!!

MAKING THE IRISH CREAM BUTTERCREAM



After the cupcakes have cooled, blend together 1 cup of room temperature butter with 3 cups of powdered sugar.



While doing that also add 4 tbsp of Baileys.



Now you can add 2 tsp of vanilla extract but I wanted those beautiful vanilla seeds so I got out my vanilla bean paste and used that instead.



Once everything is blended together, decorate as you desire! I just used an offset spatula to add the buttercream to the cupcake.



Thanks to President's Choice I added some PC Cookies & Creme Topping for a little decoration and they looked pretty as a picture.

They were also absolutely delicious! I pulled them out just as they were finished baking so they were not dry at all and that icing is unbelievably delicious. It is hard to go wrong with an Irish cream dessert and Jen agreed, she loved them!

Which is all that really matters.

Epicure Selections' Corn Tortillas

I was always curious to see how corn tortillas compared with wheat flour tortillas but could not make them myself without a tortilla press. Flour tortillas you can roll out by hand but with Masa Harina (corn flour), it will just fall apart.

Thanks to my friend Fran, who sent me a care package complete with tortilla press and Masa Harina, I had everything I needed to try making them myself. Epicure Selections even included a recipe for me to follow!



In a bowl add 1 1/2 cups of Masa Harina with 1/4 tsp of salt.



Stir in one cup of warm water. That's it!



Gently knead and form dough into a ball. Cover and let rest 15 minutes.



Divide dough into 8 pieces or 12 for smaller tortillas. Mine were the bigger ones. Place a square of parchment paper in the tortilla press. Place a ball of the dough in the center and cover with a second piece of paper. Close the lid and press down with the handle.



Open and flip tortilla and press again. The hardest part for me was avoiding the dough from leaking out the side and not being a perfect circle.



In a hot pan, cook tortillas for 20 seconds, flip and cook a minute. You can flip it again according to the directions but for me, I stopped once the tortilla was nice and brown.



So how did it taste? So earthy and delicious. Warm and beautiful. You absolutely get a more authentic taste this way and I loved it. In fact they were easier to make than the flour tortillas I have made in the past. Topped with my homemade chorizo?! Astounding!

I loved them so much I went out and bought more Masa Harina right away. The tortilla press makes it so easy. One of the best tools to enter my kitchen in a long time.

Thanks Fran!