Hulk. Smash.

I had a baking disaster the other day. Well, like half a disaster. I tried to make these yummy, delicious sounding lavender cupcakes with a honey cream cheese frosting. The frosting was insanely good, but the cupcakes were not. They were so cute, I made them in little condiment cups (that I may or may not have grabbed extra of at a fast food restaurant. And then sent my two friends in to do the same). So sad. I think the lavender was just too much. Too much herby-ness (yes, that's a word) and a weird bite with the softness of a cupcake. Maybe if I ever am brave enough to make them again, I'll grind the lavender buds into a powder and add about half the amount that I did. I will also make that frosting to eat with a spoon. Often. I promise. So, in light of the baking disaster, I'm posting something completely off topic...


Captain America: Are you crazy?
Iron Man: Jury's out.


I've already seen The Avengers three times. I want to go again. Too much? I think not.  I loved this movie. I have a huge weakness for superhero movies, and I'm really not sure why. The Avengers is fantastic, and was actually pretty funny, I wasn't expecting that many punch lines. But with Tony Stark in there, I guess its inevitable. If you haven't seen it, go right now! I laughed. I laughed much.


Iron Man: Better clench up, Legolas.

Haha. See? Funny. Loki is a slimy bastard though. Don't like him. Which is obviously the point of a villain, but does his hair really have to be so greasy? And he doesn't even look formidable! At least make him LOOK like he'd cause problems.

Mark Ruffalo did an awesome job as the Hulk. I avoided Hulk movies previously, just because I wasn't really interested. But Mark did great as a neurotic mess who may burst into an indestructible machine at any second. I wish they had shown more of Captain America coming into society at a completely different point than where he left it. But I suppose that's what Captain America 2 will be (hopefully). I've heard they cut out a scene of him reuniting with his lady love from Captain America. It better be on the DVD.

Otherwise, I thought it was a really well-done movie that was very entertaining!

Anyway, since it was my birthday a few weeks ago, I decided to get myself some new baking supplies. :) I bought a pastry bag and some cute cupcake liners from Bake It Pretty last week, and will probably buy more soon (You saw both of these in action with the Limoncello cupcakes I made a few weeks ago)! Everything they have is awesome. And cute. God do I love cute cupcake liners. They also have mini ones (so I don;t have to use stolen condiment cups...). Speaking of, my current dream is to fill a big glass jar with colorful cupcake liners. Pathetic? Yes. Don't care. Specifically, this jar:



Point of this post? Check out the Avengers and Bake It Pretty. I mean, these two things OBVIOUSLY go perfectly together... 


(Neither Marvel, Bake it Pretty or Crate and Barrel have any idea of who I am - I just like their stuff and wanted you to know about it!) 

Pasta Carbonara with Peas and Bacon

I hate that pasta exists. I really do. It's not fair.

I also hate that pasta carbonara exists. It's mean.

Okay, maybe that's not exactly true. Maybe I love pasta. Maybe I love pasta too much. But only maybe. I won't admit to anything.

I've been scared to make pasta carbonara. Terrified, really. It has eggs in it. Eggs that need to just barely cook to thicken up the sauce. Not scramble. That would make a nasty, slimy, goopy mess. Eggs also seriously freak me out. I'll eat them, but they're not my favorite thing. They wiggle weird.

I'm scared of adding eggs to things, "tempuring" eggs, if you will, mostly because of an incident when I tried to make homemade pudding when I was about 15. I had a pudding CRAVING and we didn't have any in my house. Of course, being a teenager this was unacceptable. Completely ridiculous to NOT have pudding, right?

So, I tried to make some. Heated some milk and cocoa powder in a saucepan, added some things, and then came the horror. The "tempuring." Shudder. My milk mixture was too hot, and instead of adding the hot mixture to the eggs a little bit at a time, I put the eggs directly into the saucepan and stirred vigorously. Please, I'm begging you to not try to visualize the chocolate-scrambled egg mess that resulted. I'm cringing. I'm sorry I told you that. Please forgive me.

On a better note, this carbonara did not come out like that. It came out perfectly. Carbonara to me means bacon and peas. Perfection, really. Nest time, I'm going to use prosciutto. And chopped asparagus. Mmmm.

I'm also aware that this isn't technically carbonara, which is only made with eggs and cheese and bacon. No peas, no onions, yadda yadda. But this one is pretty damn delicious.

Pasta "Carbonara" with Peas and Bacon
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

• 12 ounces pasta
• 8 pieces bacon (diced small)
• 1 small onion, diced 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 whole eggs
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• Salt & Plenty Of Black Pepper
• 1 cup peas

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, with generously salted water.
2. While the pasta is cooking, fry the bacon until just barely crisp. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. Pour off all of the bacon grease, but don't clean the pan.

3. Return the pan to the stove over medium-low heat and throw in the onions and garlic. Cook until golden brown. Set aside.
4. In a bowl, mix together eggs, Parmesan, cream, and salt and pepper until smooth.
5. When the pasta is done, reserve a cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and place it in a large bowl. Add the onions and garlic to the pasta.

6. While the pasta is still really hot, slowly drizzle in the egg mixture, stirring the pasta the whole time. The sauce will become thick and should coat the pasta. Splash in a little hot pasta water if needed for consistency.
7. Halfway through, add the peas and bacon. Finish adding the sauce, stirring until it's all combined.

Serve im-med-iate-ly with crusty bread.

Food Truck Stop: The Cupcakory

Food Trucks!

Awesomely enough, the Boston food truck The Cupcakory came close to my internship the other day. The company I intern for is awesome in that they always set up fun treats for us (We actually have a cookie day once a month and cookies get delivered to the office!).So, they emailed us around lunchtime to say that The Cupcakory truck would be in the area. Who could resist. So, I did a little research...

They have a few fun flavors listed online like these, which I pulled off of their website {Cupcakory}.

Salted Caramel
our signature cupcake—chocolate cake with salted caramel buttercream on top

Peanut Butter & Chocolate
chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

Nutella
chocolate or vanilla cake with nutella buttercream

Chocolate Espresso
chocolate cake with espresso buttercream topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean

Birthday Cake
traditional yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting topped with colorful confetti

Now, salted caramel anything is my weakness (see previous post on cookies!), so I knew immediately which one I was getting.They use mostly organic and naturally sourced ingredients, and everything sounded delicious! I LOVED that they frost each cake individually, to order. Instead of those cupcake bakeries that frost once and then leave them in the case all day so either the cake or frosting is dry and part of it tastes like plastic (I've been to a few of those. bleh.) I got my salted caramel and took a few pictures before I took a huge bite.

Pretty, isn't it? The frosting looked really promising with little globs of caramel over the top, and the cake looked super chocolaty and moist.

Verdict?: Really good! I was definitely a fan, and if I saw this truck again I would grab one. $3 seems like the standard for bakery cupcakes, so the price was okay for an afternoon pick-me-up. The cake itself reminded me of the boxed devil's food cake mixes a little bit (which is NOT a bad thing) and the frosting could have been maybe a little sweeter? But the cake and frosting had the most perfect texture and totally hit the spot.

Such a convenient way to get your sugar fix!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies with Sea Salt

I had a hugeeeee cookie craving yesterday. I usually do a marathon cookie baking session at Christmas and make little boxes for everyone I know. It's insane, and I love it. Yesterday, I realized I hadn't made cookies since Christmas... crazy right? If I have, I don't remember doing it. 

So, I went hunting. Pinterest is my obsession, and I think I'm way too in love with it and should have a pintervention, but then it goes and brings me to recipes like these. And everything is fine. This is a chocolate cookie, rolled around a bit of caramel, then sprinkled with sea salt. Yea, I know. Dreamy.

I was obsessed. After making dinner, I decided to bust these out. And they were EASY and came together so fast. From mixing to eating it took about 30 minutes. Very rarely do I really love how a recipe comes out the first time i make it. I usually make it once, figure out what I need to change and then make it again and make it my own. This one though, I loved the very first time. I can't think of anything I'd change. The only thing I altered was the method a little bit, because I really hate using 100 bowls (even though I just bought a new glass set from Crate + Barrel I've been lusting after forever!). No dishwasher, tiny apartment. :( And added a little water because the dough was super crumbly.

These cookies. Are delicious. I love them. You will too.

There might be one missing out of that left corner. I couldn't help it. Strictly testing purposes.

Also, I really did try to figure out how to use my camera last night. However, there are far too many buttons and I wanted cookies. So, until I have more time and am less spacy, all pictures will be through Instagram. Unacceptable, I know. I'll work on it.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies with Sea Salt

Recipe from Two Peas and their Pod

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used greek!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 11 soft caramels, chopped in half
• Sea salt 

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF; line 2 baking sheets with baking paper, lightly coated with cooking spray. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Sift together flour, soda, and salt into a large bowl, set aside.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add to flour mixture, stirring until moist. (I added a tablespoon of water here because my dough was really crumbly.) Wrap the chocolate dough around the caramel balls. Place balls on cookie sheets and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

I got about 22 cookies. There are maybe 3 left. I'm not sorry.

Does anyone else have the same freaky obsession with salted caramel as I do? I don't want to be alone.

Sausage and Tortellini Soup

We've talked before about my love affair with soups. I don't know why I love them, but I do. Yesterday, it was freaking COLD. Too cold for June. While that sucked, it totally gave me a reason to make some soup. I found a recipe for a sausage and tortellini soup, and it sounded so good that I put my own version of it together. It was really good! Can't wait to have some leftovers today. Easiest soup ever for a crappy weekday night.

Sidenote: I'd really love to make homemade tortellini. I hate ricotta cheese, and they all use that as a filler! Hmm...

Also, has anyone ever been to a Wegmans before? I went on Sunday, and I think I'm in love. LOVE. This place had everything! Cheese, (Oh man, the cheese! There were aisles of it!) wine (Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon was only $18. Here in Boston, it's almost $30. It's delicious boxed wine, let me tell you.). I also bought 2 lbs. of the most delicious strawberries for like $2. Insane. I really liked this grocery store and was unaware that one could love a food store so much. I have now learned. It was extremely crowded on a Sunday afternoon, and I didn't get to browse as much as I would have liked. I would absolutely make the drive to go on a Monday morning once my internship is over. I also just saw that they're opening one in Chestnut Hill which is way closer to me than Northborough. Oh man, I would be so happy. The steak I bought from there was delicious as well, and they had mixed bags of fingerlings potatoes which roasted up with some garlic just perfectly! Mmmm... hungry just thinking about it.

Anyway back to the important stuff. Here is the recipe for the sausage and tortellini soup! Enjoy :)

Sausage and Tortellini Soup

• 1 pound ground Italian Sausage (I accidentally grabbed the hot sausage. Unexpected awesome flavor!)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 1/2 cups beef broth
• 3/4 cup red wine (Black Box worked very well here)
• 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup carrots, sliced
• 1/2 cup celery, sliced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 8 ounces cheese Tortellini

1. Brown sausage, onion, and garlic in a pot over medium heat until sausage is cooked through.

2. Add beef broth, wine, tomatoes, carrots, and celery and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

3. Add Italian seasoning and tortellini and cook until tortellini is done. Serve with some crusty bread.

I'm all over the place today, but can someone buy me a new blender? Or have recommendations for a quality (cheap-ish) one? Thanks!

Restaurant Rundown: The Beehive

My best friends are awesome. Seriously. They are the best. We went out to dinner for my birthday last night at The Beehive in the South End of Boston. I had never been before, and neither had anyone else but we had heard good things. It was such a cool place, there were so many things to look at and the food was delicious. They had awesome chandeliers in the bar area but it wasn't fancy. Definitely impressed.

First, the drinks:

Hello, lover. Sangria!

We had calamari as an appetizer, and it was awesome. It came with a lemon aioli and a pomodoro sauce. But we were starving and inhaled it, thus no picture.

On to the good stuff.

I had this. Grilled tuna steak with squid ink risotto, basil pesto, and asparagus vinaigrette. Oh, goodness this was so good. And yes you read that right, squid ink. That's the black stuff under there.  I was so nervous about the squid ink risotto, but it was delicious! My one complaint was maybe there was a little too much of it? It was very good, but not something you want to eat so much of. It's actually all over the bottom of the plate, under the salad. I wasn't able to finish it all. But man oh man did I finish that tuna. The best I've had in awhile.

Liz had this. It was skirt steak, with a brie bread pudding. Her steak was cooked perfectly (I know. I stole some) and the bread pudding was so different! I've never had a savory bread pudding, but the texture of bread pudding in general is not really my thing.

Lisa had Cod in a carrot-ginger sauce. She said it was good, and the girl inhaled it and basically licked her plate clean in about 5 minutes so it must have been!

Shannon had brisket tacos with Spanish rice. Usually, it comes with beans but Shannon doesn't like them. The brisket was awesome! For a girl who doesn't try a lot of new things and generally only eats burgers and chicken, it was fun to hear her say how much she liked it! She also tried a tiny bite of my squid ink risotto, which I now owe her a bottle of wine for trying. 

Everything at The Beehive was reeeeeally good, and the people working there were really nice too. They have live music every night and it was starting up as we were finishing our meal. 

Photo from Yelp

Photo from Yelp

I would totally go back to this place again, especially for their Sunday Jazz brunch. I have no doubt that it's delicious! And they have beignets! 

I'm going to go with 4/5 stars on my own personal scale. Drinks and food were very good, but bread was a very small portion. Bread is any easy thing to give a sizable serving on. And the place in general was kind of expensive. I would definitely go back though, when I had a few dollars to spare.

As well as an awesome meal, my friends also got me a gift card to buy some new knives for my kitchen. Poor Shannon has to listen to me complain about how I can't even cut soft things with my cheap-ass wal-mart knives. So on Saturday, Wusthof knives - HERE I COME!

Thanks, ladies for an awesome birthday :)

Now for the real question: Would YOU try something with squid ink? What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

Limoncello Cupcakes

Yes, that is the title of this post. Yes, they really do exist. Yes, they were freaking delicious.

(Did anyone else have an M&M's commercial moment there? "They DO exist!" Guilty.)

I've had this bottle of limoncello in my apartment for a few months now, and every once in awhile I'll look at it and just be like "What the f am I going to do with that?" Shannon's mom brought it to Boston a while back and neither one of us knew anything about it. A lemon liqueur? An "after dinner drink," if you will. What the hell do we know about after dinner drinks? I work in a brewery, and we drink beer and wine with the occasional appletini.   I don't "sip" - I'm a grown up, I gulp. 

So, immediately my thoughts went to baking. I thought about doing a limoncello mousse of some kind, (which I still could, since this recipe didn't use as much limoncello as I had hoped) but I wasn't feeling it. Of course, then my brain went to cupcakes. Lemon cupcakes exist - so limoncello must too, right?

They do.

These babies are a limoncello cake, filled with lemon curd, and then frosted with a limoncello cream cheese buttercream. Yep. That happened.

Limoncello Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

Recipe adapted from Normal Activities

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons limoncello
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/8 cup lemon juice

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese, and then add in sugar and mix until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. (*NOTE: very important to use LARGE eggs when baking.)

3. Add the limoncello and lemon juice and mix until blended.

4. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Alternately add flour and buttermilk to butter mixture, and mix only until blended.

6. Pour into prepared cupcake pans and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

For the lemon curd filling:

Recipe slightly adapted from David Lebovitz

• 1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 2 large egg yolks 
• 1 large eggs 
• pinch of salt 
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed 
• 2 tablespoons limoncello

1. Place a mesh strainer over a bowl, and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, limoncello, sugar, egg yolks, egg, and salt.
3. Add the butter cubes and set the pan over low heat, whisking constantly until the butter is melted.
4. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, and becomes almost jelly-like.
5. Immediately press the curd through the strainer. Once strained, store the lemon curd in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to one week.

To fill cupcakes:

Slice a small cone shaped hole in the middle of each cupcake with a small paring knife. Fill with lemon curd. You can replace the cake cone you took out if you would like, but it really is the perfect bite of cake! I covered my cupcakes with frosting, so I didn't replace the cones.

For the frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons limoncello

2 oz cream cheese

1. Cream together butter and cream cheese.
2. Add sugar and limoncello and blend until creamy.
3. Add more limoncello if the buttercream seems too thick.
4. Pipe (or slather and smear) onto cupcakes.

Also, tomorrow is my birthday. Which means I get to make myself a birthday cake!