Event Review: GrillFest!

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This past weekend I got the chance to go to Minnesota Monthly’s GrillFest. I don’t know too much about grilling beyond the basic BBQ chicken or steaks, so it was exciting to see all the vendors and sample the creations that can be born on the grill.

There were vendors for grilling tools and toys (my favorite was the mini fishing-pole-style marshmallow roaster), wine and beer samplings and, of course, food!

There were local restaurants and caterers present as well as food trucks, and it was really interesting to see how many different ways pulled pork could be served. Sliders were also a hugely popular offering.

Top 5 standouts for me:

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Lemon Cheesecake Squares

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As much as I love chocolate, lemon desserts have a special place in my heart. The bright and sunny tart yet sweet flavor is the perfect ending to a meal, especially as the temperatures begin to rise.

These lemon cheesecake bars are a specialty of mine. The lemon filling is light, airy and totally addicting. In college I made them constantly, my housemates and I would clean the pan in a matter of days.

I’m making these squares for a friend of mine who is celebrating the publishing of her third book this June. So if you’re looking for a great Summer read, check out Harvesting Ashwood!

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Kale Chips

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I’ve wanted to get into kale for a while. It’s one of those vegetables I hear a lot about, but don’t really know how to use.

Then I heard about kale chips. Crunchy, salty vegetable chips. What’s not to love there? All the crunch you want with zero guilt because if you eat them all, you basically just ate an entire head of kale. And no one can say that’s a bad thing. Continue reading →

Banana Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

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You’re going to notice a Nutella trend on this blog. I bought a jar to make some chocolate baklava and over estimated how much I would actually use.

To avoid sitting around and eating it with a spoon, I decided to come up with more creative ways to use up the rest of that jar. This cupcake was inspired by a crepe I love to get when in Paris – banana and Nutella. Seriously, best crepe flavor ever.

This is cake is denser than your average cupcake and holds up well to the richness of the frosting.

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Truffled Mac and Cheese with Shrimp

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It was a cold and rainy April weekend in Minnesota. The type of weekend that just begs for ooey-gooey mac and cheese.

But instead of pulling out that blue box we all know and love, I decided to step things up. So without the fresh breezes and warm sunshine to distract me, and the theory that homemade, really truly homemade, is more satisfying and delicious than anything out of a box, I attempted my first mac and cheese.

And it was indeed satisfying.

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Sweet Potato Hot Dish

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March and April are tricky times of the year. The spring produce isn’t really in season yet, but neither are the root vegetables of Winter. So if you’ve got a few less than fresh sweet potatoes lying around, like I did, here’s a way to use them up that’s both tasty and healthy!

This is a recipe adapted from Cooking Light, they called it sweet potato mac n’ cheese, but based on the sweet-potato-to-cheese ratio, and maybe the fact that I’m Minnesotan, I really thought this qualified as more of a hot dish*.

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Big Butt Bars

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My sister named these bars. You may think the name strange, but for her it’s tame. And it really is accurate. These bars come with a warning: if you make them, you will eat them all and your butt will get big.

Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything…

Anyway, this recipe is very special to me because it is my first originally developed recipe! Inspired by feed back from my previously blogged Monster Cookies, I entered it in Kowalski’s snack foods contest, all entries had to be unpublished originals, but sadly did not make the final cut.

However their loss is your (weight) gain, because I can now publish the recipe I’ve been sitting on (literally) for weeks now.

Now, I put the puns behind me (ha!) and reveal to you the Big Butt Bars!

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Phyllo Cups with Goat Cheese and Apple-Fig Compote

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I’ve been on a goat cheese roll lately. Since I discovered I love this stuff, I’ve been using it in every way I can possibly think of. So when two good friends of mine threw a Super Bowl party, I knew this was a perfect excuse to once again whip out some goat cheese.

Goat cheese is delicious on its own, but when you pair it with something sweet and fruity it takes on a whole new dimension and makes it that much more tempting.

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Cheesy Pasta Bake for a Good Cause!

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I work for a nonprofit called YouthLink. We provide a wide range of resources to homeless youth ages 16-23, one of which is an on-site food shelf to help them stretch a pay check, or use as a commodity to help get them a safe place to sleep for the night.

Now, our food shelf is an amazing resource for our youth, but if you’ve never had a kitchen of your own, you may look at a can of diced tomatoes, a bag of beans, and some chicken stock and wonder what the heck you can make with it all.

To promote our food shelf and all the wonderful dishes you can create with the goodies inside, one member of our amazingly creative staff decided to have a staff food shelf cook-off. The rules? All the ingredients had to either come from the food shelf, or cost less than $5. Continue reading →