Off The Hook Tuna Recipe

Many of you know that my day job is not blogger - SHOCKER, right!?

Thank god it isn’t because I blog like once a month if I’m lucky now.

My day job is focusing on public relations - and actually content - but for paying clients.

Let’s just say that one of my clients is a “local boutique grocery store that specializes in seafood.”

Earlier this year, I spent some time with one of the team members on a television segment that focused on an easy seared sesame crusted ahi tuna recipe. You guys. I’m hooked.

This recipe is so easy. And, cooking semi-raw tuna is so easy. In fact, I don’t even follow a recipe now.

I took some snaps before I cooked this dish last week, which by the way smoked up my house. I’ll probably wait a few weeks to make it again when I can air out the place.

Here’s what I did:

• Bought the tuna fresh - not frozen. If the tuna looks sketch, ask the fish monger if it’s “sushi grade” or just tell them you plan to eat it semi-raw.

• When I was about to cook the tuna, I coated it in a little soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper and lemon.

• Then, I rolled the outside of the tuna in sesame seeds (I need to get some of the black seeds still).

• I put oil in a pan and got it really hot. Like smoking hot. (Hence, why I almost caused sprinklers to go off).

• You then cook the tuna for about 45 seconds on each side and you are DONE. Dinner in under 5 minutes!

I know my “recipe” is a little wonky because I tend to improvise, but here are some recipes from the experts:

Williams-Sonoma

Simply Recipes

Food Network

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Brandi Bakes With Booze: Pecan & Honey Rum Cupcakes

Last year, I participated in a Chili Cook-Off.

Okay, my mom participated by making the chili that I took the party. Is there anything more millennial than that?

She was really excited to make the chili, so I let her have at it.

It became a joke at the party that my mom made it. She finished 4th among 11 entries.

This year, there is a new “side dish” category, so I whipped up two things: jalapeno popper dip and rum cupcakes.

You may remember by love of cooking with booze as evidence by my Irish Coffee Cupcakes from earlier this year or my past Tequila and Maker’s Mark Cupcakes.

We were recently in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and visited the Kill Devil Hills Distillery. I tasted their Pecan & Honey Rum and thought - this would be good in cupcakes.

The dude working at the Distillery told me that there is a rum cake recipe out there. I mean the possibilities for this stuff are endless - spiking some pumpkin bread (i’m in full pumpkin mode right now) or rum balls! I’m also dreaming of a coffee with a splash (I mean shot)of this soon - the perfect tailgate treat!

Back to the cupcakes.

Thanks to Google, I found a rum cupcake recipe on the Sugar Dish Me blog to use as a guide. I loved Heather’s suggestion of pouring ¼ cup of batter into the cupcake liners - it was perfect!

My finished product has a different taste thanks to the pecan & honey rum, but let me tell you - this icing is AMAZING. I’m a big fan of the buttercream and the rum gives it a little flavored kick. I wish I had some better cupcake liners, but I had to work with these guys leftover from St. Patrick's Day.

Given that there is rum in the cake and icing, I’d say these are specifically for the adult crowd!

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Get Buzzed: Irish Coffee Cupcakes

I have a really complicated relationship with Facebook. I feel like I’m at a party, but I stand near the wall and don’t associate with anyone - which is so far from my real life persona.

I can’t quit it because of work and in reality I do enjoy seeing updates from friends and family from afar. While thinking of things to make for a St. Patrick’s Day party this week, I was served a post from Martha Stewart for Irish Coffee Cupcakes. I totally clicked on the link and thought - I can do this. So I want to formally thank Facebook for giving me another reason to stay on the platform. And with further ado, here is a link to that recipe.

 

These were rather easy to make. Espresso powder was interesting to find, but I located it at Target for .99 cents. Most of the other ingredients I already had in my baking arsenal. I love it when you don’t need to buy a slew of ingredients that you’ll never use again for a recipe!

The icing wasn’t “peaking” like the recipe suggested, so I added a little more confectioners sugar. Icing cupcakes is always a problem area for me, but this topping goes on very smooth! Oh and I added some green sprinkles vs. the suggested espresso dusting for some festive flair.

If you attempt these, you won’t need too much Irish luck.

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What Dreams Are Made Of: Magically Sweet Unicorn Dip

I may have mentioned this in the past, but i have an affinity for unicorns. Growing up, I had a porcelain unicorn collection on display in my bedroom. I’ve carried the tradition on to my daughter - sprinkling in some unicorns into her bedroom. I think she likes them too - her favorite thing to do after baths now is to ride her unicorn rocker naked ; )

When browsing Facebook I stumbled upon a recipe called “Unicorn Dip” so of course I was ALL OVER that. I just needed the right time to test the recipe. Given that the dip uses a rainbow of colors, I felt like I could apply it to a St. Patrick’s Day treat.

I used this recipe from Delish.

Overall the recipe is easy, there aren’t too many ingredients and I had most of the items already in my pantry. Things were going super great until the food coloring.

I wanted to use some bold colors to show the rainbow…

Let’s just say the blue food coloring squired all over me and the cup (which I didn’t know until I picked it up). It’s been 24 hours and my hands are still a bit blue. Soap and water didn’t help and the internet suggested rubbing alcohol and that was useless. I tried hand sanitiser and surprisingly The Honest Company variety worked better than non-organic stuff. I’m now down to pastel blue spots. Hoping that shampoo helps. (The internet also suggested bleach! And nail polish remover).

Back to the recipe.

Delish suggests layering in the colors and then swirling with a knife. Using bold colors didn’t pay off here because they turned a little brownish. If I do this again, I’ll keep the colors a pastel and not use the multi-colored sprinkles.

Excuse the ugly plastic container here, but I wanted to use something that could show how the colors layer in.

While my unicorn dip may not be the prettiest, IT IS SO GOOD. The recipe is a keeper with some modifications!

Next Up (from Delish):

Unicorn Bark

Unicorn Toast

Unicorn Cheesecake

Unicorn Dip (Copied from Delish)

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 c. marshmallow Fluff
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Pinch salt
• pink food coloring
• Purple food coloring
• green food coloring
• Blue food coloring
• rainbow sprinkles
• NILLA Wafers, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, marshmallow fluff and powdered sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until evenly combined. Add heavy cream, vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
2. Divide mixture between four small bowl (or one bowl for each color you're using) and add a couple drops of a different food coloring to each bowl. Stir to combine, adjusting color as desired.
3. Add spoonfuls of the dyed dip into a serving bowl, alternating colors until you’ve used up all the mixture. Swirl the colors together with a knife.
4. Top with sprinkles and serve with graham crackers.

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OH MY F*&CKIN GAWD!

Omg you guys. I read about this stuff online and finally tracked down some a few weeks ago and my life is completely changed. I’m not the same person that I was before this creamy, sweet, delicious treat.

This stuff I’m talking about is THIS.

The Cookie Dough Café.

You may have seen them on Shark Tank. I didn’t, but I’m glad that I saw them. Don't worry - there aren't any raw eggs in this stuff - that's why you can't bake it. And you won't want to bake it.

This delicacy is a little tricky to track down here in Pittsburgh, but I was running some errands in the South Hills and picked some at the Fresh Market.

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Spike the Cookies: Baking with Bourbon Part 2

Once a month when I attend my wine club meetings, the hubs gathers with his Bourbon Club. This month was Brady’s turn to “host” at my parents house (where most members live), so I decided to do some cooking with bourbon.

Last time Brady hosted, I made Maker’s Mark cupcakes. This time, I tried a different spin with another Maker’s Mark recipe for Bacon Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The recipe, found here, was fairly easy! The “secret” ingredient was a bit tricky. Basically you cook the bacon, save the grease and then chill it until it turns into a gel-like substance. I never said that these were healthy ; )

I can't say that the cookies had rave reviews, but most that tried them said that they were good!

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Meat Free May Recap

Remember when I went alcohol free in January? Or shall I say, do you remember when I tried to go alcohol free in January or as I called it, No Drinkuary? Well I really liked the idea of using a month to set a small goal for myself. I went (mostly) Meat Free for May.

Can you tell I love clever names for these goals?

(source)

Now that May is over I must admit that I really like my meat-free self. I wasn’t bored with meals and I tried some new veggie dishes that I now crave. I also found it super easy to dine out as most restaurants now offer meat-free options.

Some of the things that I ate during May (and continue to eat!):

·         Beyond Meat – This faux chicken is so delicious – you can’t don’t even know that you aren’t eating chicken!

·          Quinoa with veggies

·         Happy Hippie Quesadilla from Mad Mex

·         Portobello or eggplant pizza’s (both topped with tomatoes and cheese)  

·         Veggie Burgers

·         Squash Spaghetti

Note that I did “cheat” about three or four times during the month. Once is when I ate buffalo chicken dip…forgetting about that chicken part (cut me a break, I was hungover). The rest of the cheat time was while we were in Boston/Maine. I couldn’t resist some Maine lobster!

If you have any good meat free recipes, share them with me! 

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Reader Mailbox: Lunch Ideas

Former reader Lindsay writes…What are some fun lunch ideas.

The reason reader Lindsay asked me this question is because I told her what I eat for lunch: veggies. You see, on Sunday or Monday (depending on the cluster F the Whole Foods parking lot is), I buy a veggie tray from Whole Foods. It’s about $7 and you get broccoli, peppers (red, yellow and green), tomatoes, carrots, celery and cauliflower. Each morning I make a baggie of veggies for my lunch. I pair that with fruit, nuts, whole wheat wrap or some $2.50 Whole Foods hummus (best on the planet). In all, it’s a pretty healthy, filling lunch. Well filling for me. I can’t eat a big lunch at work or I’ll want to fall asleep at noon.

I’m not a health expert by ANY means, but sometimes I have some good ideas. So here are some other lunch ideas.

·         Quinoa: I went on a little kick of making a big bowl of quinoa early in the week and then adding in some veggie and a splash of soy sauce throughout the week. It’s good hot or cold and you can always add in shrimp or chicken. 

·         Veggie Wrap: Whole Foods has some awesome whole wheat wraps that are like $2.00 for like 6. Well, I take these a put a little hummus inside. Then, I’ll add some veggies…either one or all of the following: mushrooms, asparagus, cucumbers and a little feta here and there.

·         Salad: In Chicago salad was my go to lunch. A little lettuce, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, and peppers and you’ve got a pretty salad. I also keep salad dressing at work (if people don’t use it).

·         Tuna & Soup: Not together, but these are two staples that I always keep in my desk for those days when you forget lunch.

·         Veggie Burgers: I try and avoid processed foods when I can, but its rather difficult. One processed food that I don’t mind buying is veggie burgers. You can quickly zap them in the microwave and they are typically under 100 calories!

·         Tomato Salad: In the summer, I love to make a good cucumber and tomato salad with a bit of olive oil, basil and feta.

If you can’t tell, I’m like 60% vegetarian lol. I eat meat and fish during dinner, but by day I’m a veggie gal!

I couldn’t do this on my own, so I consulted the internets for some other recommendations…

·         Kale & Apple Salad

·         Veggie Pita Pocket

·         Southwest Pasta Salad – even a quick whole wheat pasta with a bit of cheese and Italian salad dressing would be great.  

·          Greek Salad

·         Chopped Lunch Salads

·          

Brady and I are now big fans of rotisserie chicken. For the two of us, we get at least four meals or more out of one $9 chicken!

Oh and you can never go wrong with PB&J!  

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Family Recipes: Aunt Linda's Sweet Potato Casserole

One thing that I’m thankful for this year is coming from a family of amazing cooks – on both sides! You’ve been treated to recipes from Shot of Mom and Godmother Aunt Michelle (Shot of Mom’s sister), so today I wanted to introduce you to Shot of Dad’s sister – Aunt Linda.

Aunt Linda makes the most AMAZING Sweet Potato Casserole on Thanksgiving. This thing shouldn't just be called a Casserole - but a Kick-ass-erole! Legend has it, my sister Jillian once ate an entire plate of this dish.

I decided to attempt it for the hubs’ family two years ago and it turned out okay. Well, I made it again tonight to take with us to New Jersey and it was SO EASY!

You’ve gotta trust me on this one. It doesn’t look that appetizing, but it’s DELICIOUS!

Aunt Linda’s Almost Famous Sweet Potato Casserole

·         3 cups (4 medium) mashed cooked sweet potatoes (I use the canned version – 1 40oz can of yams = 3 mashed cups)

·         ¼ cup of sugar

·         1 stick of melted margarine

·         2 eggs

·         1 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix and mash all ingredients together and put into a buttered square Corning dish. Cover with Topping

Topping:

·         1 cup brown sugar

·         ½ cup margarine, softened

·         ½ cup flour

·         1 cup chopped walnuts nuts (Shot of Mom uses walnuts or pecans or a combo of both)

·         ½ cup coconut

Mix topping together.

Bake 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Without Topping & With Topping (not baked) 

 

And we can’t forget my in-laws – you haven’t met their tasty recipes yet, but maybe Aunt Donna will share the details on her secret Magic Cookie Bars soon ; )

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Brandi Cooks: Weekend Eating

As part of my “relaxation” period, this weekend I decided to “relax” by cooking a number of new dishes. Two dishes via my favorite website SkinnyTaste. If I’m going to cook at home, why not try and cook healthy!

This Saturday, the Smithkowski’s watched football at home, so I made lunch, an app and dinner. On Sunday, I cooked up a little dessert. Here’s what I’ve been making.

·         Saturday Lunch: BLT’s with Canadian Maple Bacon on Pretzel Breads. Not so healthy, but all organic (and perfect for watching football since the little pretzel buns look like little footballs). These may have been my favorite thing I made all weekend – no recipe required!

·         Saturday Appetizer: I wanted to vary things up from the usual Buffalo Chicken Dip or Taco Dip, so I whipped up a BBQ Chicken Dip. It's unbaked above and missing the top layer of cheese. The verdict: It was a little too sweet for me. I may try this again with a different BBQ sauce. Oh and I love how this recipe calls for a rotisserie chicken. It used less than half of a $9 Whole Foods chicken, so we have the rest to eat as left overs. I’m also going to put some on a flatbread whole-wheat pizza this week!

·         Saturday Dinner: After I made the BLT’s, I threw the ingredients for some Turkey Chili into my crock pot. Can I pause for a moment that this recipe calls out that it is “Kid-Friendly.” That means if you effe it up, you really may need some cooking classes. It also means that it is SUPER easy to make! It think I would have liked this more if it had some beans OR was a bit more spicy. But as the hubs noted, it was almost better on day 2! Of course I served this with some Whole Foods Cornbread on the side. Yummm.

·         Sunday Dessert: I’m calling this a ½ fail. Today I made Skinny Pumpkin Spiced Snickerdoodles. So I didn’t follow the instructions correctly and my Snickerdoodles aren’t “camera-ready” to make an appearance on this blog. I mean they aren’t overcooked or undercooked, they just aren’t pretty and kinda spread out a little too much. This recipe calls for wheat flour to make them “skinny,” but if I make them again, I may go for the regular flour. They don’t taste bad, but they just taste a little off.

Key Learning from This Weekend: The $9 Rotisserie Chicken from Whole Foods (or your local grocery store) can be totally worth it. Brady put some on his Chili today, so we are getting like a dip and two dinners from one chicken. Shot of Mom has a chicken salad recipe that she makes that calls for Rotisserie Chicken, so hopefully I can get that to share with you all next week! 

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A Dip Not to Snicker At

A few weeks ago I was searching for something on the intenets and stumbled up on this recipe for Snickers Dip.

Yes, you read that right. A dip made with Snickers.

Immediately I emailed this to myself and the subject line said, “MUST MAKE THIS.”

So when I found out that we had some guests in town and Brady said “get some snacks,” I got some snacks…and snickers!

This dip was SUPER easy. You basically crumble 6 bars of snickers in your food processer (this looked super gross, but was super fun) and then mix the Snickers and other ingredients in your mixer. EASY, right?!

Here is the recipe for Snickers Dip adapted from Culinary Cool.

Snickers Dip

·         6 Snickers Bars (one pack, full size)

·         8 oz of cream cheese

·         1 tub of Cool Whip (I used the Giant Eagle light version)

·         ¼ cup of brown sugar

·         Caramel Sauce

Mix the cream cheese, Cool Whip and brown sugar. Crumble the Snickers in a food processer (note that this is also loud!).  Then, mix the Snickers into the cream cheese mixture.

Layer the dip mixer in a dish, then drizzle some caramel, then repeat. Serve with pretzels. I picked up some chocolate pretzels, but I think regular ones would be better.

Like the Cookie Dough Dip, this is better after is refrigerated for a few hours.

Seriously. Make this. 

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Shot of GodMom's Awesome Pizza Dip

I interrupt this regularly scheduled Sunday with Sue to bring you a post from another Shot of Mom…Shot of GodMother – Aunt Michelle!

Craftiness and Cookingness (is that a word?) totally run in my family. So it’s no surprise that my mom’s four sisters excel at both crafting and cooking.

On Father’s Day, I almost devoured a whole pie dish full of Reader/Godmother/Aunt Michelle’s Pizza Dip, so I asked her if I could share her recipe here! (Full Disclosure: Word on the street is that this was once a Pampered Chef recipe)

AUNT MICHELLE’S AWESOME PIZZA DIP! (Someone renamed this!) 

·         2 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

·         2 Tbsp  Italian  seasoning (or to taste)

·         1 tsp minced onion

·         1 tsp garlic

·         Pepperoni slices (or turkey pepperoni) quartered

Mix above together and spread in baking dish.

·         1 cup shredded mozzarella (or pizza cheese)

·         ½ cup parmesan

Sprinkle over cream cheese mixture.

·         1 jar pizza sauce

Pour over cheese mixture

Top with more mozzarella, ore pepperoni slices, quartered and any other pizza toppings you may like.

Serve with cut cubes of Italian bread, crackers, pita chips or tortilla.

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Cooking with Brandi* in 2013

I like to cook. Let me repeat, I like to cook. However, I wish I had more time to cook up meals during the week. I do recognize what is preventing me to cook more during the week and I won’t disclose that here.

Anyways, I kicked off 2013 with cooking more! It wasn’t a resolution, just finding time to pursue cooking!

Here are some of the goodies that I’ve whipped up!

 

·         S’Mores Cookies – I still have some of these bad boys in the freezer! I was downloading fonts from a long time favorite site – Kevin & Amanda, when I realized the couple has this super awesome blog with great recipes. The S’mores cookies were super easy to make. Note that I used chocolate chips vs. mini kisses. I’d also like to point out that these cookies are thick vs. flat like most chocolate chip cookies

·         Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups – I’m utterly obsessed with the Skinny Taste blog. I’ve been following it for some time now and seriously save every recipe that is posted to the site. A few weeks ago, I tried these Skinny Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups and boy, they were good…and event better heated up the next day! VERY easy to make.

·         Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Baked Stuffed Chicken – Of course another Skinny Taste receipt! Reader Dana and I discussed a similar recipe, but I had already booked marked this one, so I tried it. I like spicy things, but the hubs doesn’t. Not sure I’ll remake this one, but it was easy and I thought it was good!

I had some other recipes planned, but then the Smithkowski house ended up with the plague, so needless to say we each hated food for a few days! More test & learn recipes to come! 

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C&C - Crafts and Cooking

Last weekend, I finally had some time for R&R and C&C – crafting and cooking!

Here are some of the goodies that I made!

First up, from the kitchen, I made this delicious Zucchini Lasagna recipe from Skinny Taste. You replace pasta with Zucchini. I actually didn't buy enough shredded cheese and it was still delicious (and even tasty the next day for lunch)!

The hubs and I paired this with some Blue Moon Pumpkin Beer and then for dessert…Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Icing. These things were AWESOME. I omitted the raisins. 

While the food was cooking, I made two crafts.

First up I spotted these mini cornhole boards at the craft store (Pat Catans for you locals) and thought – these would be PERFECT for an upcoming tailgate – either on the ground or on the table because the regular boards are a bit large for transporting. I personalized mine with a flying WV and an outline of the state ; )

Next, I had the urge to make some festive bunting. This is a super cost-effective craft – the felt was four pieces for $1 and the fabric was under $5. I still need to glue it to some ribbon, but in the end, you can make this for likely under $10.

Finally, one craft you won’t see yet was an unsuccessful first attempt at my Halloween costume. That part is To Be Continued…

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