Cast Iron Skillet Brownies

I got a cast iron skillet for my birthday recently, and I wanted to go ahead and start wearing it in! This is the first recipe
I've made out of it, and other than having some messy edges, it turned out great. The recipe I used can be found HERE, and I followed directions exactly.


My suggestion would be to keep the temp LOW in those first few steps. Like I said, I did have some of the crusts stick to the skillet, but that just means I can keep those all to myself while other people eat the inside. In regards to brownies, pizza, and cheesecake, I am happy with just the crust. : )

Enjoy!

Carrot cake....turned rogue

2 posts in the same week - can it be? I don't know what happened, but the creativity switch is currently flipped to "on". How exciting.

I wanted to make some carrot cake, not necessarily to celebrate all the Easter bunny related foods out there, but because it's delicious. Carrots on their own: mediocre. Carrots doused in sugar, baking magic, and cream cheese frosting: no words can describe.

However, I had a roadblock when I discovered I'm out of sugar! So, I have turned this into a "lighter" (much lighter, actually) version of the original carrot cake. I have replaced oil with applesauce, and sugar has been replaced with Splenda. In total, each BIG muffin is about 170 calories. They are actually quite dense and filling, not like a normal "cakey" muffin.
I had roasted some carrots earlier today, and used some of them instead of fresh. I think it just gives it a deeper flavor, but for simplicity sake, I will just write the recipe using fresh carrots, to avoid the hour of roasting.

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS (makes 6 BIG muffins):
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup applesauce
1 cup splenda baking sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup carrots - grated
powdered sugar for appearance

1. preheat to 350
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg)
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the final ingredients until smooth
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed (don't over mix....don't you dare)
5. Pour into 6 big cupcake tins, or 10-12 regular sized and bake for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

Artisan pizza with peppers and onions

Hello there -
I think I've found myself a new habit i'd like to work on: making artisan pizzas every week. I tried to figure out what "artisan" means in the context of pizza making, and I'm pretty sure it just means that there wasn't a "delivery charge" associated with it. So congratulations, if you have ever made a home-made pizza, you are a culinary artisan!
On a more practical note - this is a cheap (mine took less than $4 for the entire pizza), fun, and healthy way to have your favorite pie.
This particular recipe has SWEET notes from the caramelized onions and the roast red peppers. I added some Irish whiskey cheddar that I had left over to it, and that added a nice punch of flavor. But it's really up to you which cheese you want to stick with, just not American. ; )

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup luke warm water
1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 cup bread flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup cheese (I used 1/2 cup mozarella, 1/2 cup irish whiskey cheddar)
2 onions - chopped and carmelized
1 red pepper
tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. preheat oven to 450 (oh it's hot hot hot!)
2. in a large bowl, mix together your water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, or until foamy on top.
3. Add in to your yeast mixture the flour, oil and salt. Knead with your hands until the flour is evenly distributed. Let sit 5 minutes.
4. In the mean time, caramelize your onions, chop your peppers, and shred your cheese.
5. After a 5 minute break, roll out your dough until all areas are about 1/2 inch thick. You can then pinch the perimeter of the dough to add a thickness to the crust.
6. Spread on the sauce, then toppings, then cheese
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes,or until the pizza has reached your desired amount of crunchy wonderful-ness.