Triple Citrus Bars

My mom had to make a dessert for a potluck cookout earlier this month and she chose to make these bars. I helped out a little and took some pictures to document the process. In the past several years, whenever I'm around I am usually the one to make the dessert or the salad or whatever else is needed, so it was nice to see my mom back in the kitchen making her own dessert (although, it makes me want to jump right in and make my own too!). It was fun to double team these yummy bars, sharing the excitement of preparing a beautiful dish.

If you are looking for a light, fresh and citrusy dessert this summer, this is the bar for you. It was the perfect choice for an outdoor party by the pool. They weren't too difficult to make and they are a nice twist on the traditional lemon or lime bars. I enjoyed the three kinds of fruits and the beautiful flavors and color they added to the bars. The buttery, sandy crust is a nice contrast to the smooth and tart citrus filling. And the best part, they can be made the night before and chilled in the fridge overnight. It doesn't get much better than that! Overall, a fresh and satisfying dessert for a hot summer night.

Fresh and tart, a refreshing dessert

All the fruit, ready and waiting

Graham crackers for the crust

Crush them up and add some butter

All mixed and ready for the pan

The prepared pans, we made a double batch

Pour the crumbs into the pan

Press and bake!

Get the filling ready, start with the cream cheese and zest

Then the juice

Ready to go

Grab an egg yolk

Once it's all together, pour into the pans,

it's as easy as that!

Cut and ready to eat

Ahhh...refreshing!

Triple Citrus Bars
from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
Ingredients
Crust

• 5 ounces animal crackers (I didn't have any so I used graham crackers and they turned out just fine) 
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar 
• Pinch of table salt 
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled 

Filling

• 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime zest 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest 
• Pinch of table salt 
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 
• 1 large egg yolk 
• 6 tablespoons lime juice 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• 1 tablespoon orange juice 

Directions
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and spray with vegetable oil spray.

For the crust: pulse crackers in food processor until fine (about 10 seconds), you should have about 1 1/4 cups of crumbs. Add the brown sugar and salt, process to combine. Drizzle butter over the crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter. Press the buttered crumbs firmly and evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deep golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

For the filling: In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, zest and salt with a spatula until softened, creamy and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk until smooth and completely incorporated. Whisk in the egg yolk. Add the lime, lemon and orange juice and whisk gently to incorporate (the mixture should thickened slightly).

Pour the filling into the cooled crust and spread to corners, smoothing the surface with a rubber spatula. Bake until the filling is set and the edges begin to pull away slightly from the sides, 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, 1-1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least two hours.

Lift the bars from the pan using the foil and cut into 16 squares. May be sprinkled with toasted coconut if desired.

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes and Basil

I am a huge seafood fan. I especially love crustaceans (shrimp, crab, lobster!). When it comes to fish, I really like salmon. It's not boring and it's not fishy tasting, it's just delicious, and healthy too! However, when it comes to loving salmon my dad takes the cake. He absolutely loves salmon. He gets super excited every single time it shows up in the fridge.

When I came home a couple weeks ago, I noticed some salmon in the freezer just waiting for me. It was sockeye, bright red and gorgeous looking, which I have never had before. After defrosting it I went on a search for a delicious and healthy grilled salmon recipe. It's summer after all, I don't want to use the oven if I can use the grill instead. I found this yummy recipe online at Eating Well. I had all of the ingredients on hand, which is amazing, and it looked both healthy and delicious. I was right. This turned out to be one of the best salmon recipes I have tried yet. It was quick and easy but still impressive and tasty. I will definitely be making this one again.

The finished product

A beautiful fillet

Garlic and oil for the top

Spread the garlic oil on the fish

Add some basil (yum!)

Layer on the tomatoes

Grilled, ready to devour

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes and Basil
from eatingwell.com
Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 whole wild salmon fillet 
• 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil, divided 
• 2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced 
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 

Directions
Preheat grill to medium.

Mash minced garlic and 3/4 teaspoon salt on a cutting board with the side of a chef’s knife or a spoon until a paste forms. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in oil.

Measure out a piece of heavy-duty foil (or use a double layer of regular foil) large enough for the salmon fillet. Coat the foil with cooking spray. Place the salmon skin-side down on the foil and spread the garlic mixture all over it. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup basil. Overlap tomato slices on top and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Transfer the salmon on the foil to the grill. Grill until the fish flakes easily, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve the salmon sprinkled with the remaining 1/4 cup basil.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

My cousin Bailey came over today for a cupcake baking extravaganza. We had a lot of fun putting together a fabulous cupcake recipe. I saw this recipe several months ago and knew that I would be making them in the future so today was the perfect opportunity. I love chocolate chip cookies and I love cake so I knew this recipe would be a winner. I was right. This recipe consists of quite a few steps, but none of them are difficult. I think we had the whole recipe done in about two hours (we did put the cupcakes in the freezer so they would cool faster). They were absolutely delicious! Just a warning, they are incredibly sweet and rich, which is fine with me, but if you don't have quite as big as a sweet tooth as me, half a cupcake might be all you can take. But believe me, I ate my whole cupcake along with several fingers of frosting and batter. I might not need dinner tonight. It was worth it :)

Updated Pic!

Made these again for my mom's birthday, 

finally have the right decorating tip and they turned out beautifully!

Fill the liners with cake batter

 Baked!

 Cut out the centers

 Ready to fill

 Fill in those holes with yummy filling

 Frosting anyone?

 In process

All done, ready to eat

 A beautiful dozen

 A lot of the afternoon consisted of photography!

 Yum!

Cousins, enjoying the fruits of our labor

 In mid eat, look at that filling, 

the cupcakes really did taste like a chocolate chip cookie

 Updated Pic

Happy Birthday Mom!

Recipe

from Annie Eats

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk\
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)   

 Filling

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. milk
• 2½ tsp. vanilla extract

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total).  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.


Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir together to blend.  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla.  Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners.   Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake.  Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy.  Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth.  Beat in the flour and salt.  Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Light Wheat Bread

Recipes like this are why I love baking bread. A couple of months again I shared a recipe for soft white sandwich bread which turned out great, but I think this bread may have surpassed it. I'd have to do a side by side taste test to know for sure. Whatever the case, both breads are delicious. One big difference is that this bread contains a little whole wheat flour, but not very much of it. The finished loaf was so soft and airy that I would never have been able to tell there was whole wheat flour in it without looking at it.

This bread would be wonderful for anything you would normally do with grocery store bread. It toasted up like a dream. I often have a problem with homemade bread toasting up unevenly, with the crust turning too brown and hard before the center is browned, but not with this bread. It made the best toast I've had to date, toasting up golden brown without getting hard (and it was perfect with my homemade strawberry rhubarb jam). The loaf disappeared so fast that I didn't have a chance to make any sandwiches with it but with tomato season fast approaching I think BLTs are are my next goal.

Soft, delicious slices, ready for anything

The players

Mix it all together

And knead

Ready to rise

Beautiful!

 Shaped and ready for the second rise

Perfect

 Bake it off and pull out this
beautiful golden brown loaf

Ready to slice, waiting 2
hours was an eternity!

Gorgeous and delicious

Perfect Toast

Light Wheat Bread
from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups (11.25 oz) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour 
• 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz.) whole-wheat flour 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (.75 oz.) granulated sugar or honey 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (.38 oz.) salt 
• 3 tablespoons (1 oz.) powdered milk 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (.17 oz.) instant yeast 
• 2 tablespoons (1 oz.) shortening or unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 1 1/4 cups (10 oz.) water, at room temperature 

Directions

Stir together the high-gluten flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar (if using), salt, powdered milk, and yeast in a 4-quart mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the shortening, honey (if using), and water. Stir until the ingredients form a ball. If there is still flour in the bottom of the bowl, dribble in additional water. The dough should feel soft and supple. It is better for it to be a little too soft that to be too stiff and tough.

Sprinkle high-gluten or whole-wheat flour on the counter, and transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook). Add more flour if needed to make a firm, supple dough that is slightly tacky but not sticky. Kneading should take about 10 minutes (6 minutes by machine). The dough should pass the windowpane test and registers 77 to 81 degrees F. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Ferment at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and press it by hand into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick, 6 inches wide, and 8 to 10 inches long. Form it into a loaf by working from the short side of the dough, rolling up the length of the dough one section at a time, pinching the crease with each rotation to strengthen the surface tension. It will spread wider as you roll it. Pinch the final seam closed with the back edge of your hand or with your thumbs. Place the loaf in a lightly oiled 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch bread pan; the ends of the loaf should touch the ends of the pan to ensure an even rise. Mist the top with spray oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap.

Proof at room temperature for approximately 60-90 minutes or until the dough crests above the lip of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.

Place the bread pan on a sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue baking for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the oven (mine was definitely done in 15 minutes). The finished loaf should register 190 degrees F in the center, be golden brown on the top and the sides, and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

When the bread is finished baking, remove it immediately from the loaf pan and cool it on a rack for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing or serving.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit. They are simply delicious, and beautiful too. Because of this, June is always an exciting month. As the strawberry season winds down, I try to make a batch of strawberry jam to preserve the beauty and flavor of June for many months ahead. In the middle of January, when the sun has been missing for days, it's wonderful to pull out a jar of summer and slather it on a slice of toast. It brings me back to the warmth and beauty of June at least for a few minutes.

Strawberry rhubarb jam is my favorite. You can't really taste the rhubarb, but it adds a nice tartness and complexity to the jam that is missing from plain strawberry jam. I was lucky this year, when I went to buy my strawberries for the jam, the lady at the farm stand told me it was the last day for strawberries. I just made it! Now I have a half dozen gorgeous jars of jam patiently waiting for me. It doesn't get much better than that.

Fresh and delicious

Berry beauties

 For tartness-Rhubarb!

 Cut the top off the berries, and slice them a little smaller

so they're easier to crush

 Crush them up, I use

a potato masher

 Chop up the rhubarb

Put the berries and rhubarb in a 

large pot (along with pectin and some lemon juice)

Bring to a boil, then add the sugar!

Time to fill the jars

Wipe those tops off, we want a good seal

Ready to go

Into the water bath

 All done

Ready to eat

 Perfect on homemade bread for breakfast

Recipe

from the Ball Blue Book

Ingredients

• 4 c strawberries, crushed
• 2 c rhubarb, chopped 
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
•  1 (1 3/4 oz) package dry pectin 
• 5 1/2 c sugar

Combine strawberries, rhubarb, lemon juice and pectin in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil over high heat.

Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil.

Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps.

Process 10 minutes in water bath.

Marinated Chicken Kabobs

I love grilling in the summer. It just makes everything taste better. Digging through the freezer the other day, I came upon some frozen chicken breast and thought, kabobs! While working at Bob's Butcher Block  for several years while in college, I became a pro kabob maker. We would make hundreds of kabobs a week, so throwing a few together for dinner is a piece of cake. All you need is some skewers, and some combination of meat and veggies. My favorite vegetables for kabobs are peppers and onions, but you can also do tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, potatoes or whatever else you like. Weave those veggies onto a skewer between some chunks of meat (beef, chicken, pork, whatever) and you have a meal on a stick.

I almost always marinate my chicken before grilling it, this helps it keep from drying out and boosts its flavor. For these kabobs I used a yummy Greek marinade that I use all the time on chicken. It really makes the chicken taste nice. But you can really do whatever you like, use your favorite marinade or skip it altogether (though I wouldn't). Whatever the case, give it a try, it's a delicious summer treat!

 Nicely charred and ready to eat

 Grab some chicken

And the vegetables of your choice

 cut them up into nice sized chunks

 Soak those skewers

And put it all together

 Head to the grill

There she blows!

 And pop the kabobs onto the grate

Pull them off when they look done

Get ready to feast

Greek Marinade

from food.com
Ingredients

• 1 c olive oil 
• 1/4 c lemon juice 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 2 Tbs Dijon mustard 
• 2 Tbs dried oregano 
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried tyme 
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley 
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary 

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients.

Pour over lamb, beef, poultry or fish and marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before cooking.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

I love holidays because they give me a chance to bake something fun and new. I can make a big batch of cookies or bars or cake, whatever I am feeling like, and I don't have to worry about eating it all by myself. On the 4th my family and I went to Holland and relaxed at my aunt and uncle's condo on Lake Macatawa. The weather was perfect and the company was even better. It was the perfect opportunity to try out these peanut butter sandwich cookies.

The recipe comes from The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook that I bought myself last year and love. She has four different sandwich cookie recipes in the book, and I want to try them all. Since I absolutely love peanut butter though, this was on the top of the list. Making sandwich cookies can be time consuming because of the rolling, cutting, baking, frosting making, and assembly but they are totally worth it. These cookies turned out absolutely delicious. The cookie itself was buttery and rich with a nice peanutty flavor, not overpowering but definitely present. The filling was delicious, light and fluffy, the perfect complement to the tender cookie. These cookies would also be delicious with some type of chocolate filling (chocolate and peanut butter is my favorite combination!). If you feel like trying a fun new peanut butter cookie, give these a shot!

 Can't go wrong with peanut butter

 Peanut butter and sugar, getting 

ready to mix

 The butter was a little frozen, the easiest way to warm it

quick is cut it up and spread it out on a plate

 Starting to cut 

 Bite size cookies

 Cute

 Lay them out on the cookie sheet

 Bake up

 Cool them off

 Stack them up

Sandwiches!

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
From The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook
Ingredients
Cookie

• 2 cup flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Filling

• 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar 
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter 
• 3 tablespoon heavy cream 

Directions

For the cookies: in a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place butter, peanut butter and both sugars and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. With mixer on low, add flour mixture and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Divide the dough in half and shape both halves into flattened disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or overnight.

When ready to bake the cookies, line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a scant 1/4 inch thickness. Either cut the dough into 2 1/2 by 1 inch rectangles (how Martha Stewart did it) or use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds (how I did it). If making rectangles, use the tines of a fork to score the top of each cookie. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until lightly golden around the edges and firm in the center, 15 to 20 minutes (I did 15 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling make the filling. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitter with the paddle attachment, combine all of the filling ingredients. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. (Use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to three days. If refrigerated, let filling stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

Using a spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto the flat sides of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat side down.

Al Ameer Restaurant: A Review

As I mentioned earlier, I had two food goals that I wanted to complete before leaving Dearborn for the summer. Visiting Shatila Bakery  was my first successfully completed goal. Going out for a completely authentic Middle Eastern meal was goal number two. Since I have no experience with Middle Eastern food, I really can't say how authentic this meal was, however, judging by the area in which this restaurant is located and the people I observed eating there, it appears to be quite authentic.

I chose Al Ameer after spending quite a bit of time on the internet, reading restaurant reviews, visiting websites and looking at menus. It was a good choice. It's not a fancy restaurant, but it was clean and the people were friendly. Most importantly, the food was very good. Since I have nothing to judge it against this might not mean much, but I liked it and that's what mattered. This cuisine is very different than anything I normally eat. I think I could really come to like it. It's just fun to try new and unique flavors.

The Restaurant

 A yummy drink called The Energizer:
strawberry, raspberry, banana, milk,
honey, and ice

Our dinner choice, a little bit of everything!

We chose tabbouli as our salad, which comes with
fresh pita of course

 The entree as it was presented to us

 This is what was under the pita,
a lot of food!
The kabobs were my favorite, especially the lamb,
lots of flavor and new spices

 Best hommous I've ever had,
extremely smooth and creamy

Shredded chicken and beef, I don't know if it has a special
name, but it was good. The beef reminded me of a pot roast,
just with very different flavors

 Some fun new things to try:
falafel, fried kebbie (my favorite) and stuffed grape leaves (a little slimy,
cooked frozen spinach anyone?)

 And the inside (yum!)