May 20 2013

Happy 300th Post!

I just wanted to give you all a little shout-out today, as this marks post #300 on It’s Good to be the Cook!

300!!

I can’t believe it.

This whole thing just started as my way to remember and photograph some of the fun things my Mom and I were cooking up in our kitchen… and has turned into the most fun (and delicious) hobby!

Thank you for all you have done to support the blog and of course to help me along the way. Thank you for reading and sharing, cooking and commenting. I am a lucky girl to have so many wonderful followers

I have some very exciting news for you! I want announce that in the next two weeks, I’ll be having my very first give-away! Stay tuned ;-) But first… today, I wanted to share a few of our favorite recipes in honor of the big 300!

Here are your TOP 6 Recipes with the most hits of all time:

6. Eva Longoria’s Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

5. Italian Hoagie Dip

4. “Biggest Loser” Pancakes

3. Sriracha Chicken & Onions

2. Trader Joe’s Carne Asada

1. Ratatouille

These are my personal favorite TOP 6 Recipes:

6. Buffalo Chicken Soup

5. Crabcake Mac n Cheese

4. Peanut Butter Soba Noodles

3. Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Baked Potato

2. Red Lentil Dahl

1. Sriracha Tomato Jam

Thanks again for being such awesome readers!

Love,

Beth

May 17 2013

Cotton Candy Birthday Bars

If you haven’t realized this on your own yet… I don’t bake very often.

Today I’m baking for a special reason. It’s my sister’s birthday!! (well tomorrow)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!

I decided to make her these colorful Cotton Candy Bars as an homage to our childhood. Mellie and I always chose the most ~~disgusting~~ outrageously sugary and colorful flavors everywhere we went. Whether it was ice cream, the soda syrup at Nifty Fifty’s, or the fluoride at the dentist office… you could put money on Mellie and I choosing the weirdest one. Cotton Candy was always the winner over Bubblegum.

When I saw this recipe on The Domestic Rebel (the most amazing blog about sweets), I immediately thought about Mel. I had to make these for her!

The best thing about The Domestic Rebel is that she does a ton of semi-homemade goodies. These bars were so easy to make which was perfect for my busy weekday schedule.

Cotton Candy Birthday Bars

Ingredients:

1 Box Funfetti cake mix
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Canola Oil
2 pkts Duncan Hines Cotton Candy Recipe Creations Flavor Mix
1 cup White Chocolate Chips
1 can Duncan Hines Frosting Starter kit
Sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13×9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, oil and ONE packet of the cotton candy mix with a rubber spatula until blended and combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Plop the mixture into the baking dish and using your hands, spread the dough evenly over the bottom. Bake for 10-14 minutes (Hayley suggested 14-16 but after checking around 11 minutes, mine was ready to come out… so keey an eye!) until edges are lightly golden and center is set. Allow to cool completely before frosting
4. Stir the remaining flavor packet into the can of icing. Spread the icing evenly onto the cooled bars and top with sprinkles. Refrigerate for about an hour before cutting into squares.

Recipe from: The Domestic Rebel

You know you’ve seen these in the baking section this year! I was super psyched to try them out.

BLUE!!!!!!!

I could eat this whole dough ball, I swear.

The mixture turns out pretty thick so I had to press down with my hands to spread it out as best as I could.

I had so much fun swirling the cotton candy flavoring into the icing

YUM! I just love how perfectly blue these babies turned out. It’s not often you get to eat blue food… unless you have an awesome Mom like we did who let us put food coloring in our mashed potatoes!

So give these sugary bars a shot and let your inner child have some fun! Happy Birthday Mellie!

May 9 2013

Mexican-Style Couscous Salad

OMG! I’m sitting here drooling while I’m thinking about this lunch I made! I cannot wait to share this recipe with you, it will for sure be a lunch staple in our house from now on.

The best part about this recipe is that it’s so easily modifiable for your own tastes and pantry supplies. I got the idea for this lunch from my dietitian, John. His original recipe calls for Quinoa (which would be more protein, so use it if you have it!) but I had already made Couscous for a different recipe so I simply substituted this time around.

Mexican-Style Couscous Salad

Recipe for 1 Serving

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Couscous (or quinoa), cooked

1/3 cup Black Beans, rinsed

1/2 cup Chopped Broccoli, frozen

1/2 cup Mixed Vegetables, frozen (I used the “baby” vegetable mix with corn, peas, carrots, and green beans)

handful of Chopped Tomatoes

1/8 cup Shredded Cheese

2oz Cooked Chicken Breast, cubed (optional)

1/4 cup Salsa*

Directions:

Microwave the frozen veggies and then put everything in a tupperware for the following day. Reheat if you want, it will also taste delicious room-temp.

Recipe adapted from John the Dietitian

*I HAVE to share this recipe for homemade salsa with you. It was ridiculous how simple it was to make, how much it makes, and how amazing it tastes. Shoutout to Dave, he actually made this himself!

This recipe came up because both Dave and I wanted to try something new for our lunch this week. We pretty much bring all of our meals with us to work, to stay healthy and save money. I love this recipe because I could use whatever I wanted and had on hand. The chicken and couscous had already been made for a dinner, so I was able to use that without cooking anything extra.

I love this recipe for lunch, give it a try!

Apr 25 2013

Chocolate-Banana Cream Poke Cake

Where have I been? Oh, I’m sorry… I’ve neglected you because I have to work off all of the calories I’ve consumed over the past weekend! Dave, Stella, and I joined my parents “Down the Shore (see post here)” to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.

I had to show off this AMAZING pic we got of Miss Stella at the beach from this trip

We dined at one of our favorite restaurants, Chef Vola’s… eating LARGE portions of delicious home-cooked Italian food and even better desserts.

Although we ordered a slice and devoured Chef Vola’s’ famous Banana Cream Pie, I wanted to make a birthday cake for my Dad in honor of his favorite flavor combination: Chocolate & Banana.

I feel like most people hate on Bananas and Banana flavored things. I’ve never understood why? I love it, and it is by far my Dad’s favorite thing ever.

After pinning and saving several poke cake recipes all over the internet, I though this was a great chance to try one out. The best part about these cakes is that they’re very easy- they’re just doctored up cakes!

Chocolate-Banana Cream Poke Cake

Ingredients:

1 Box Golden Butter Cake Mix (or other yellow… whatever!)

Ingredients to make cake (3 eggs, 7 TBSP butter, water)

1 pkg Banana Sugar Free Fat Free Pudding Mix

1 pkg Chocolate Sugar Free Fat Free Pudding Mix (i used Chocolate Fudge mmm)

Ingredients to make puddings (2 cups Milk per packet, so 4 total!)

1 tub Cool Whip (light)

1 cup Crushed Nilla Wafers

Directions:

1. Bake cake according to directions on the box. Meanwhile, prepare the puddings. Let the puddings rest for 5 minutes, they will thicken up right away.

2. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then take the handle of a wooden spoon and poke holes through to the bottom all over the cake.

3. Spread the banana pudding over the cake making sure to get into the holes. Take the wooden spoon again and poke a few more holes ontop of the banana pudding. Spread the chocolate pudding over the banana, spreading evenly over the cake.

4. Now, spread the Cool Whip over the puddings and cake. Finish the cake by sprinkling lots of crushed Nilla Wafers on top.

I want to recommend putting some sliced or chopped up banana in the pudding layer too! But like I said, this is for my Dad and I didn’t want to “ruin” the dessert with fruit (haha).

We all loved this cake, it was perfectly moist and wasn’t too overly banana either. I can’t wait to try out other poke cake recipes! What should be next?!

They don’t call it a poke cake for nothin’!

Yummy…

Banana first

Then chocolate, mmm!

The finished product!

Hooray for Birthday Cake Cross-Sectionals!

I rarely make desserts but when I do, I make it count!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bakes

Coffee & Chocolate Krispies

Apple-Toffee Blondies w/ Brown Sugar Frosting

Apr 2 2013

Sweet & Sour Brisket

I have been a busy busy girl the past week or two with the holidays and some other things going on. Dave and I split our holiday time between our two families so we got to celebrate Passover sedar twice!

I was so excited when my Mommom told me I could make something to help out this year. I was back and forth as to what to make but finally decided to take on the responsibility of making the Brisket. This would be a risky choice, having never made it before… but I was up for the challenge. With the assistance of my crockpot and my handy-dandy Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, I made one hell of a brisket! Yay!

I realize Passover is OVER for this year, but there is always time for a good Brisket.

Sweet & Sour Brisket

Ingredients:

1 4-5lb Brisket (mine was 5.25)

1.5 teaspoons Sea Salt, plus some more for seasoning the meat

Black Pepper

1 cup Beef Broth

3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

4 teaspoons Paprika

2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

2 Tablespoons Onion Powder

Directions:

Step 1: Cook Brisket. Season the meat with Salt and Pepper on both sides. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Place the meat in a slow cooker, pour the sauce over it, and set it to cook on LOW for 10 hours. Your house is going to smell phenomenal.

Step 2: Rest Brisket. Resist the urge to eat the brisket… it’s going to get better with time. While the meat is still hot, scrape off any large fat pieces on the edges. There was a TON on mine. Transfer the brisket into a baking dish, making sure to keep all of the sauce too. Chill in the refrigerator for anywhere between a few hours to a whole day.

Step 3: Re-Heat Brisket. An hour before you need to eat the brisket, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Remove the grease that has hardened on the top of the meat and sauce (or not, but it’s really nasty so I recommend it). Remove the brisket from the dish and place on a large cutting board. Slice while cold and transfer back into the saucy baking dish and spoon the sauce over the meat. Bake in the oven until heated through, the sauce should be bubbly on the edges. Serve immediately.

Recipe from: the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Note: The original recipe includes directions for cooking in the oven. Briefly… Cook the meat in a 350 degree preheated oven in a dutch oven or in a baking dish tightly covered with foil. Bake for 3 hours.

Had to stuff this bad boy in there! It’s amazing how much it shrinks though… so much fat to remove.

Gettin’ Saucy!

This is all I had to dirty while making the brisket… love it.

I was SO nervous about this silly brisket! I really wanted to make something big and new and exciting and I didn’t want to screw it up. To add to my new recipe anxiety, I was stupid and didn’t read the cooking time until I had already started at 6:30pm on Saturday. If I did it the right way, that would have meant to take it out at 4:30am. LOL.

Lucky for me, Dave was out at a bachelor party and I was already waiting for him and awake at 2:30 to finish the brisket up. Lesson learned: read directions first. Duh.

Cooled brisket with the grease scraped off. Ready to be sliced.

It’s easiest to slice the brisket when it’s cold. You’ll get better slices whereas when you cut it after it’s reheated it’ll be more fork tender and fall apart.

Once the brisket is cut, I transfered it to my dutch oven to heat up for dinner. Don’t stress if the slices break a little… those will be the best bites!

What a great spread… brisket was so good.

Despite my nerves and anxiety, the brisket was awesome. It was so easy to make and turned out absolutely perfect and delicious. The brisket was so moist and flavorful, it was also the perfect combination of sliced pieces and the fally-apart pieces that sop up all the sauce. MMM!

I do have to pat myself on the back once more and mention to you that my Dad who has NEVER tried Brisket in my lifetime not only tried this one… but really liked it. Whatttttttttt?!

It’s a good thing when there are no leftovers, right? I’d say next time I’d make a bigger one but this 5.25 lb baby hardly fit into my crockpot!

It's Good to be the Cook

Category Archives: Other Fun Stuff

Happy 300th Post!

300!!

Here are your TOP 6 Recipes with the most hits of all time: