Chocolate Eclair Cake

A co-worker recently got promoted and as usual, I brought in a dessert to celebrate!  It happened to be a pretty busy week for me and I wasn't looking forward to rushing through making a fancy layer cake.  I find when I rush it not only takes the fun out of it, but I also tend to make mistakes.  I found this recipe in the Columbus Dispatch Wednesday food section.  I've wanted to try this recipe for a while now and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.  I was a little hesitant to bring it in as I was slightly embarrassed how easy it was to make, but everyone LOVED it.  I was shocked how quickly it went and the rave reviews it got!  When you let the dessert sit, the graham crackers soften and combined with the smooth pudding layer and sweet chocolate icing, it's the most perfect combination.  Any pudding flavor could be used, but I liked the vanilla / chocolate combination I used below.  Try this dessert recipe out for your next get together and I guarantee you'll get positive comments on it! 

Chocolate Eclair Cake
Serves 9

34 graham cracker squares (1/2 box)
1 (3.3 ounce) package vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cup milk
1 8-ounce container cool whip, defrosted
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 Tbs butter
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 Tbs milk
1 Tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Take out an 8x8 inch dish. Arrange 1/3 of the graham crackers on the bottom of it. It's okay if you have to break them or overlap them some.  Prepare the pudding by mixing the pudding mix and milk together. Once combined and thickened a bit, fold in the cool whip until combined.

 

Spread 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers. Add another layer of graham crackers (using about 1/3 of them) over the pudding mixture. Top with remaining pudding mixture and final layer of graham crackers.

Make the icing: Melt the chocolate and butter in a small-medium sized microwave safe bowl, in two 30-second intervals.  Stir between intervals.   Stir together the melted chocolate and butter until combined.  Add in remaining icing ingredients: confectioners sugar, milk, corn syrup and vanilla.  If mixture is too thick, add in an extra splash or two of milk. Spread the icing over graham crackers.  Use an off-set spatula to cover all graham crackers.  Cover and let mixture sit for at least 8 hours or over night.  Enjoy!

xoxo Melissa

Greek Pasta Salad

I'm always trying to think of new ideas for lunches I can take to work.  If I can make it on Sunday and then portion out into 4-5 lunch serving, even better.   Lately, I've really been trying harder to get more vegetables and whole grains into my diet, which is how I came up with this recipe.  The salad dressing is modified from one I found in an old Food Network magazine.  This lunch gets in quite a few servings of vegetables, as well as whole grains from the pasta and healthy oils from the dressing.  It is also very filling and stays with me throughout my work day. 

Greek Pasta Salad
Serves: 5-6

Salad:
6 ounces whole wheat pasta
1 red pepper, diced
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 (4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup yellow pepper rings, diced
1 pint grape tomatoes
1/4 cup feta cheese
1 bunch spinach, chopped
1/4 cup dressing, recipe below

Dressing:
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Make dressing: Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake until combined. 
Store left over dressing in the refrigerator for about a week.

Cook pasta according to package instructions.  Once finished cooking, drain and rinse under cold water

Dice the pepper and add to drained garbanzo beans, olives, garlic, yellow pepper, tomatoes and feta cheese in a large bowl.  Pour dressing over mixture and stir to combine.   Add in cooled pasta and stir to combine.  Chop spinach and add to pasta salad.  

*Note: If not eating the pasta salad right away, wait to add the spinach.  Otherwise the spinach will wilt.  For take-to-work lunches, I put some pasta salad at the bottom of a Tupperware container and then put some chopped spinach on top. At lunchtime I can toss the mixture together and spinach doesn't get wilted beforehand by only sitting on top of the pasta.

xoxo Melissa

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Sometimes you just need a little comfort food, even if it is 90 degrees in June.  Macaroni cheese was the perfect thing to fit the craving when my sister and her husband came up for dinner last week.  This recipe comes from The Picky Palate Cookbook. While the cookbook is sort-of geared towards meals you can make for children, I found it to be pretty delicious, without being too decadent as some mac & cheese recipes are.  I made it with unsweetened almond milk, which dramatically reduced the calories and fat.  Using almond milk still created a cheesy and creamy macaroni and cheese and the panko coated top added a nice crunch.  I will definitely keep this recipe in my go-to recipe files.  It's quick, easy, tasty and man approved - what else could you want from a recipe?  

Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Serves 4 (main course servings)

1/2 lb. elbow macaroni
6 Tbs butter, divided
3 Tbs. flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 2 qt. baking dish with cooking spray

Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse under cold water.

Melt 3 Tbs. of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, salt, paprika and pepper.  Stir to combine all ingredients, until it's almost like a paste.

 

 Slowly whisk in the milk and stir until mixture is smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes.

 

 

Stir in the cheese.

 

 

Once smooth, add in the cooled macaroni. 

 

 

Pour macaroni mixture into the prepared pan. To prepare the topping, melt remaining 3 Tbs. butter in a small dish in the microwave. Once melted, add the bread crumbs and toss to combine. Sprinkle panko over macaroni and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, if you can wait! Enjoy!

xoxo Melissa

Product Review: Magnum Mini Gold

Continuing with my ice cream and frozen treat reviews, this week brings a review of the Magnum Mini Gold bars.  I've seen commercial after commercial about these bars and I thought it was about time I try them out!  I'm not one to eat an almost 400 calorie ice cream bar, so I was quite pleased to see they come in "mini" form.  At 170 calories and 12g fat per bar, it's a much more reasonable splurge in my mind.   However, they don't lie when they say "mini." As you can see from the picture below, they're pretty small, although it's "real" ice cream so a little goes a long way for me.  I'm not sure my husband would be satisfied after one, but I was.

The box describes the bars as "vanilla bean ice cream with a sea salt caramel swirl dipped in a golden chocolaty coating." I definitely liked the thick chocolate coating, which had a nice crunch.  The coating had a bit of butterscotch flavor, which I'm not sure was intended or not, but I enjoyed this either way.  There was a slight caramel swirl through the vanilla ice cream, although I don't know if I'd really consider it a "sea salt caramel" flavor as they stated.  It didn't have that typical salty caramel taste that so many other salted caramel treats have.  I still enjoyed it though and would be willing to try out some of their other "mini" flavors.

Product Review: Yoplait Frozen Yogurt

Since trying out Ben & Jerry's Greek Frozen Yogurt a few weeks ago, I've been on a little bit of an ice cream and frozen yogurt kick.  While at the grocery store a while ago, I saw this Yoplait frozen yogurt and thought I should probably try it out... as research for the blog, you know?  I've tried both strawberry banana and peach flavors now.  They are definitely not Ben & Jerry's Greek frozen yogurt, but then again, they're half the calories and fat (around 100 calories / 2 grams fat per 1/2 cup serving).  The texture was a little more "icy" than Ben & Jerry's or even Edy's slow churned versions and they definitely needs to sit on the counter for a few minutes to soften up before scooping. 

The strawberry banana has much more strawberry taste than banana, so if you are a big fan of strawberry-banana, this is not the flavor for you. I thought the peach had a nice fresh peach taste though, even if the peach chucks were a bit frozen.  I definitely enjoyed the peach much more than strawberry-banana.  If I wanted a low calorie strawberry ice cream/frozen yogurt, I would probably buy the Edy's slow churned version as it's larger and around the same price, although I might try the peach again or one of their other flavors.   If you don't want a whole quart of low calorie / frozen yogurt at home to tempt you, this smaller Yoplait version could definitely do the trick. 

B.E.S.T. Breakfast Sandwiches

I happened to have some left over bacon and was trying to think of what to use it for.  My initial thought was to use it for B.L.T's. My second thought was a bacon and egg sandwich.  Which one to choose, which one to choose...  Why not combine them both?   This is what I came up with, below.  I swapped out spinach for the lettuce as I thought spinach would go a little better with a warm egg sandwich, and it also gave me a great acronym: B.E.S.T. breakfast sandwich = Bacon, Egg, Spinach and Tomato breakfast sandwich.  That works, right?  Hope you enjoy this sandwich, which in my mind works well for breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

B.E.S.T. Sandwich
Makes: 2 Sandwiches

4 slices bread or 2 English muffins
4 slices bacon
2 eggs
2 handfuls of spinach
2 slices tomato
Mayo or ketchup, optional

Cook the bacon and then drain it on paper towels while you prepare the other sandwich components.  Once it's cool, cut each slice in half.  

 

Then cook the two eggs however you wish.   I prefer my eggs over hard when making egg sandwiches. 

 

While the eggs are cooking, toast the bread slices and chop up the spinach and tomato. Once toasted, lightly spread mayo or ketchup on two of the slices, if desired.  Next layer on the bacon, eggs, spinach and tomato slices. Cut each sandwich in half, diagonally and serve. Enjoy!

 

xoxo Melissa

Cracker Candy

I've had some whole wheat saltine crackers sitting in my cupboards for a few months now and was tired of seeing them continue to sit there, uneaten.  While I was watching Trisha's Southern Kitchen on Food Network this morning, she made this recipe below.  I had the other ingredients on hand and thought I'd give it a whirl and finally get rid of some of the saltines!  I've had friends tell me about this "candy" recipe before, but have never tried it.  Let me tell you, I've been missing out!  It was not only super easy to make, but was really, really good!  I would have never guessed it was made with saltine crackers, whole wheat none the less.  It's crunchy, salty, sweet and has the added kick of chocolate.  I can see why Trisha referred to it as "crack."  This recipe is definitely a keeper and one I will definitely make again. 

Cracker Candy
Makes: 1 10x15" sheet pan

39 saltine crackers (one sleeve)
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Cover an 10x15 inch jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Lightly spray it with cooking spray.  Lay saltine crackers in the pan, touching each other, salt-side facing down.

Combine the butter and sugar in a medium sized saucepan, over medium-high heat.  Stir until the butter is melted.  Bring mixture to a boil and continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until it comes to a boil and turns a light caramel color - about 5 minutes.

Pour the butter mixture over the saltines.  Smooth it out with a rubber spatula so all the saltines are covered.  Put in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until mixture is bubbly. 

Remove the crackers from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over it. 

 

Let them sit for a minute and then smooth the now melted chocolate, so it covers all of the saltines.  Place pan in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, until candy has hardened.  Break into pieces and enjoy!

 

xoxo Melissa

Fresh Salsa

This is another one of my husband's favorite summer dishes and one he created on his own! He's quite the chef if I haven't mentioned this already.  I would confidently say chips and salsa are one of his favorite foods combos.  This recipe makes a great big bowl for hours of snacking enjoyment!  It takes a little longer to prepare than simply opening a jar of store bought salsa, but you won't regret the time it takes after tasting it!  The one word to describe this salsa is "fresh."  Feel free to enjoy it with any type of chips you like.  I like to go the baked chip route, while my husband generally wants the "full fat" version.  Try making this next time you have company over and serve with a variety of chips to suit all guests.

Fresh Salsa

2 large Beefsteak Tomatoes, diced
1 medium Onion, diced
1 Green Pepper, diced
2 Jalapeno Peppers, diced
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp Kosher Salt, to taste
large handful of Cilantro, chopped

Dice all vegetables and throw in a large bowl.  Then add the lime juice, salt and cilantro. Toss to combine and enjoy! 

xoxo Melissa