Caramel Pork Ribs and Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese and Roasted Garlic

I made my husband very happy. He said, "this is the best meal we've had in a long time!" That's a compliment, not an insult to the other things I've been cooking. I knew what he meant :)

 

I received two cookbooks for Christmas. This recipe is from my boyfriend's, I mean David Lebovitz. He never fails me.

 

The recipes both take longer than average so it was perfect for one of my winter break days. Or maybe a lazy Sunday in the future. The caramel pork ribs start with a nice carmelized sugar, and then a quick douse in beer and bourbon. Mmmmmm. Throw in a few more ingredients and the ribs and then slow roasted for 2+ hours.

 

I was worried, even though the recipe said to expect this, when the sugar seized up and hardened with the addition of the beer. It ended up fine, of course, just like my boyfriend said. Our house smelled delicious. Who needs bottled BBQ sauce?!

The scalloped potatoes start with some roasted garlic, so that needed to smell up the house for 45 minutes. And then some cream, some mandolined potatoes, and all that layered with chives and crumbled blue cheese. Baked in the oven for a bit more than an hour, alongside the ribs.

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. to my friend Katy. I used Rush River beer. I didn't know which kind of beer DL meant in his recipe so I chose a beer that I wouldn't mind drinking after I used just 3/4 cup of a bottle :) IPA it was and I got to support my Bakko brewers!

 

Here's the top picture again but with no filters. I take the quickest pictures at our dinner table even though I know I should take pictures with better light. I hate to ruin the dinner mood and brighten up the whole joint. I also get embarassed that I take food pictures sometimes. I think Jim knows me by now though :)

 

 

 

We couldn't get over the sauces, on both foods. The sweet caramel with a hint of ginger. Mmmmmmm. And the blue cheese creamy goodness!

 

I think my little sis would say this entire dinner was "slap yo momma" good. I know I should have included a vegetable too but it was a busy day here with three 8 year olds running around (play date) and then with all the extra steps with two new recipes.

 

My little sis also provided the wine for this meal. I looked up BBQ ribs and wine and Google suggested a syrah. Yup, had that! Wine is good food. I felt so grown up today.

 

 

 

Click here for the stolen recipe for David Lebovitz's Caramel Pork Ribs. This blog has awesome pictures of the caramelized sugar, the beer addition, etc.

 

Click here for the stolen recipe for David Lebovitz's Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese and Roasted Garlic.

 

 

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Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche filling and Dulce de Leche Buttercream

I volunteered to bring a dessert for our neighborhood Spanish Immersion family potluck. My neighbor friend Kiri throws a mean party. There were about 6-8 families with 18 children running around. Yikes! We all brought foods for the feast.

Dulce de Leche translates to sweetened milk, I think. I made the dulce de leche from evaporated milk- a few hours in the oven and it was caramel goodness! You can buy canned dulce de leche from the Hispanic aisle in the grocery store but that's no fun! I do admit that I bought a can just in case. I did end up using a bit when I ran out of my homemade stuff.

The third recipe I have linked below used canned dulce de leche and a different cake recipe. Like I said, I wanted to make my own dulce de leche, and then I found the cake recipe to be too fussy. I didn't have the opportunity to make vanilla sugar (this takes days/weeks) so I found an alternate cake recipe. It turned out well! The cake was moist, fluffy, and so beautiful with its vanilla bean specks.

 

I scopped a small amount of cake from the tops of each cupcake and filled them with the dulce de leche. My little guy had lots of fun stealing cake bits when I wasn't looking. (Really, I saw. I ignored!)

The buttercream was piped prettily on top of each cupcake. I'm getting pretty good with that pastry bag!

 

It was nice to try some new recipes! I think sometimes that I have lost my baking mojo. Let's hope it comes back in full force in summer, when I have much more time to experiment!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Vanilla Bean cupcakes.

Click here for the stolen recipe for the Dulce de Leche.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Dulce de Leche buttercream frosting.

 

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Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

I'd forgotten how good it feels to make a recipe for no good reason but to enjoy it and relax. I had all the ingredients for this one so instead of going out and spending money (my original plan was to browse at the new Trader Joe's in Shoreview) I stayed home to make this many-step recipe and then a nice dinner.

 

 

These bars started with a cookie crust that needed to bake for 15 minutes. While that baked I whipped up the streusel topping, the apple mixture, and then the cream cheese filling. All of these layers went on top of the warm cookie crust and then baked for another 30 minutes.

 

And then I made the caramel sauce, which was a trial. The first sauce attempt was too pale. The second sauce attempt burned. The third was a charm. It is muy gooey and almost candy-like. I had to re-melt it a bit to spoon it on top of the finished bars.

It's just plain cruel torture to let something cool completely. And then I finally decided that I should refrigerate the bars because of the cheesecake layer. So just a little while ago I cut into the bars. Yum. My dear husband said it tastes like apple pie but better because of the caramel and the cookie bottom.

So my taste tester gives this a thumbs up. I'm glad because we have a lot of bars to eat up! Or share :)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars.

 

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Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars

 

 

For a cookie exchange I made these bars. They were a hit! I had several people ask for the recipe. I think that's a good sign that they were liked!

I had one person tell me that they reminded them of a Twix bar. Yes, I see that too!

The bars were not difficult. I think they took a long time though. Each layer needed to be made separately, and allowing for cooling time before adding the next layer.

The shortbread was flakey and buttery. The caramel was firm but soft and chewy. The chocolate was smooth and added a bit of hard texture, kind of keeping all the layers together.

I will definitely make these again!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars.

 

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Christmas Treats

In early December I started putting together some holiday treats, namely for my baby sis Kiki and my bro-in-law Berto. They are in California and I knew they wouldn't be here for later treats. I was also experimenting on them- could treats be mailed? Would they make it??

I'm told that a gingerbread lost his head. RIP little dude. And one of the stockings broke.

Zeus and Zorro are Kiki's furbabies.

 

Next time I will bubble wrap each cookie! I kid!

I also made homemade Cracker Jacks. I love Cracker Jacks. Why doesn't anyone ever buy me Cracker Jacks?

I made a few Eiffel Towers for giggles. It was a challenge to get the icing thin enough for details. I did the best I knew how.

I think they were pretty for my first attempt!

 

I gave an Eiffel Tower to my friend Jess, at work. She also has a love of Paris and Eiffel Towers :)

 

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Salted Mexican Chocolate Chile Caramels

Cinco de Mayo is coming up! I saw this recipe posted on one of my favorite blogs and decided to try it (immediately). Jim is out of town, I haven't baked/created for a while, and I needed a little chocolate something- all good reasons to try something new!

The recipe made way more than these- I took a picture about a third of the way in to wrapping these babies.

Mexican chocolate is a good memory. The sight of an Ibarra chocolate box reminds me of my Grandma Loreto.

The chile in these caramels is very, very subtle. I know it's there but you can't taste it much. I think next time I would throw in an extra chile for a kick!

Mmmmmmm Look at that salt. Salty and sweet. I'm quite certain that's my favorite kind of dessert now.

The caramels were quite soft. I'm glad. The other caramels I've made were quite firm and and after a few days they were too firm. I think these will stay melt-in-your-mouth soft for the month or so the recipe claims.

The real reason I made these? To test my willpower. I've only eaten one. I figured out the calories for the recipe, divided by 64 portions and figured out they are about 72 calories. One every other day is enough for me :)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Salted Mexican Chocolate Chile Caramels.

 

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

I tweaked this recipe quite a bit based on the comments/reviews from the original blogger.  

My changes:

1. I used the crust recipe from the back of the graham cracker crumb box.  The original recipe would have been way too hard (too much butter) and salty.
   
2. I didn't put any salt in the filling.  I figured the salted caramel would be enough salt.
   
3. I decreased the sugar from 1 1/4 cups to about 3/4 cups.  It seemed like way too much when you figure the dulce de leche is already sweet,
   
4. I used my trusty salted caramel sauce recipe.  Why mess with a good thing?
   

The cheesecake was wonderful!  Not too sweet but sweet enough with the sauce.  Everything was PERFECT.  Wouldn't change a thing!

So basically it's a caramel cheesecake.  Jim said its the best cheesecake he's ever had!  Better than the Cheesecake Factory.  That's some high praise coming from him.

Now what to do with the rest of it?!  Freeze it (:  Save some for my foodie BFF's at work (:

Click here for the stolen recipe for Salted Caramel Cheesecake.

Salted Caramel Mochas

I had a Salted Caramel at Starbucks last month and I gagged. I am officially a food snob in all areas. I did NOT like their salted caramel. It was very artificial and too sweet tasting.

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I knew I could make it. I made my usual Salted Caramel sauce, bought the hot chocolate mix from Starbucks, made coffee as usual, and whipped up some heavy cream for whipped cream.

AHHHHHHHHHH!

Heavenly. Indulgent. I need to make it again soon!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Salted Caramel Mochas.

The caramel sauce is here.

Dulce de Pumpkin Pie

I've been craving pumpkin pie. So I made one. I am sick but I managed to get out of bed/my funk for this one :) Pumpkin pies are really easy, especially if you used a prepared crust. I think this is "cheating" but it was okay for today.

So instead of using evaporated milk you use "dulce de leche" for this filling. The canned dulce de leche is found in the Mexican food aisle. It is basically just really thick caramel sauce. Yum.

The pie tasted a bit darker than the usual pumpkin pie, but it was very good. I think it will be even better tomorrow after we let it set completely. We ate it while it was warm.

Sir James did NOT like it. Stinker. Is he really my son if he doesn't like pumpkin pie??! JK!

Kiki, real whipped cream! :)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Dulce de Pumpkin Pie.

Laura's 70th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to Laura! This mother-in-law, mother, grandma, and friend needed a party to help her celebrate a milestone birthday. When we first mentioned to Laura that we wanted to host a party for her she was pretty hesitant. I'm so glad that she let us (where there any stopping us?!) and then that she embraced the idea of gathering her loved ones to celebrate her day.

I'll include the pictures that I took of the guests and friends, the decor, and of course the food! I totally embraced the FOOD! It was a fun challenge :) We've never hosted so many people in our home, and I wasn't sure how that would work out, but it did! It was a beautiful day, inside and out!

The recipe links will be at the very bottom of this blog entry.

If there was a theme, it was "Fall". I looooooooove fall!

My Mom's hand at floral design. She transformed simple Cub bouquets into these masterpieces. This one has fresh cranberries in the vase. Lovely!

Goat Cheese and Parsley cheese ball, Cheddar and Cranberry cheese ball, and Blue Cheese Walnut cheese ball. I was so happy with how these turned out.

Three Olive Tapenade. The colors were much more fabulous in person. Flecks of green, black, purple, and red. Beauty!

Yogurt Dill vegetable dip

Sweet potato and Beet chips. I think my Mom told some guests that I MADE these. I needed to publicly announce that I did NOT! Haha. Martha suggested these for one of the cheese balls.

We asked Laura to bring pictures. These picture boards were so cool to see!

We had treat bags for the guests to take home. James was so cute- he was in charge of passing them out and he did a great job! He sweetly told people, "Thank you for coming!" He took his job very seriously :)

Each bag had one Hot Chocolate on a Stick and a few Sea Salt Caramels. We taste tasted each and we approved! James has been loving "warm chocolate milk" at night.

The Hot Chocolate on a Sticks are a marshmallow and a fudge-like cube that can be eaten as is, but can also be melted into a cup of hot milk for a sweet treat.

The chocolate fountain was a HUGE hit! And so impressive to see when you first walked in our front door. Thanks to my sister Ana for owning this great fountain and for letting me borrow it. I hope it wasn't too much trouble (wink wink!)!

We served some more homemade marshmallows, Coconut Cream Cheese Pound Cake, and sliced strawberries with the chocolate. My little man James had a BALL, helping himself to it all throughout the day.

Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes and Carrot Cake cupcakes. Yum!

My wonderful husband made the BEST Ginger Tea Lemonade. We had several requests for the recipe, so of course it will be below.

James also helped himself to crackers, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. I'm glad he ate some vegetables and not just chocolate :)

James probably ate 2 cups of strawberries!

James insisted on taking a picture of Grandma Laura. This is the picture he took.

Cupcake break!

Friends and family pictures-

I'm really glad we have our big dining table- it was well used! Lots of chatting and eating. I really loved the way the apple candles worked out. I hollowed out the top of an apple, inserted a tea light, and placed them in cocktail glasses. So cool!

Great Aunt Betty and Joe. I'm sorry the sunlight was so bright behind them, but Aunt Betty looks angelic :)

My Mom had the great idea of taking pictures from above, on our catwalk. These next few pictures are from when everyone was seated and the violinist played several songs. You can barely see him on the bottom.

Laura made a speech.

Again, I'm sorry that the violinist is glowing :)

I found this grouping taking pictures on the deck. I quickly snapped my own picture. They are an attractive bunch!

After all the guests left, James was still dipping in the chocolate!

Thank you to everyone for such a great party! Special thanks to my M-O-M, the real reason I had an "immaculate house", creative decor, and a well-behaved little boy!

Click here for the stolen recipe for the Ginger Tea Lemonade.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Artichoke Dip. (This one is my own link.)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Greek Yogurt Dill vegetable dip.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's Cheese Balls.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Olive Tapenade.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Carrot Cake.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Ultimate Chocolate cupcakes.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Coconut Cream Cheese Pound Cake. (I followed this recipe but used Lindt white chocolate with coconut flakes. Yum.)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Marshmallows. (A funny: My Mom to me, "Did you know you can get these in a bag at the grocery store?" Haha.)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Hot Chocolate on a Stick.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Sea Salt Caramels with Vanilla Bean.