Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

I try to eat the super foods on a regular basis and I would say 97% of the time, I stay right on track with the healthy eating plan. Blueberries, quinoa, oatmeal, spinach, tofu, nuts, olive oil, broccoli, asparagus, and salmon are staples in my kitchen throughout the week. I have a few downfalls though: mini eggs - they contain too much sugar, wine - who can really just have a 5 oz glass of wine in one sitting, peanut butter - high in fat, and salt - bad for the heart and blood pressure . At least it's a short list and I'm sure it could be much worse.

Salt. It's one of the most basic seasonings you can use in food. Salt, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon would be my food seasonings of choice. I try not to reach for the salt shaker on a regular basis, but something keeps me from having the will power to say no to it. I think dishes have more flavor with salt. If you make guacamole without salt, it is practically tasteless because avocados don't have any flavor without salt. If you don't salt the broth in your soup, it tastes like water. Who wants to eat a soup that is drenched in flavorless water? I'm trying to find a happy medium.

With my love for salt, I'm surprised I've never brined anything before. If you aren't familiar with brining, it is basically just taking a piece of protein and marinating in a mixture of salt and water. Other seasonings can be added to the brining liquid, but salt and water are the basics. So it turns out, brining not only makes meat moister, but also more flavorful. I had to look this up, but apparently, the brining process allows the cells of the meat to hold onto water longer throughout the cooking process. I was willing to give it a try.

Smitten Kitchen posted a recipe for Crunchy Baked Pork Chops. I'm always looking for recipes that contain a protein without needing a grill - as this actually gives me another option besides just eating my eggs poached in marinara every night of the week. Most recipes call for pork chops to be fried in a skillet, over the stove, with lots of butter and oil - which isn't exactly what I am going for on a weekly basis.

These chops brine in a salt liquid for 30 minutes. They have a light breading and are baked on a wire rack in the oven for about 25 minutes. I think you will be amazed at how flavorful the pork chops are with very little seasoning. These baked pork chops actually come out of the oven moist - when does that ever happen - not dried out, and dare I say really really good?

I'll admit, the original recipe calls for you to make homemade breadcrumbs. I honestly went back and forth trying to decide whether or not that was really a necessary step in the process. I had whole wheat Panko bread crumbs on hand in the cupboard, and thought I would use those instead, which I've been told is weak sauce. Oh well. I think I made the right decision. The pork chops were served with steamed asparagus, mashed sweet potatoes, and homemade applesauce. A perfect, well rounded meal.

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

adapted from Smitten Kitchen via Cooks Illustrated

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1/4 cup salt

1 quart water

4 center cut, boneless pork chops

1 cup whole wheat Panko bread crumbs

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup flour plus 3 additional tablespoons

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 425. Make sure the rack is in the middle of your oven. In a mixing bowl, dissolve salt in the water. Add the pork to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Let the pork sit form 30-90 minutes. Rinse chops under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

Set out 3 bowls. In the first bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, thyme, and Parmesan cheese. In the second bowl, place 1/4 cup flour. In the third bowl, whisk together the egg whites and the Dijon mustard until well combined. Add the remaining flour and form a loose paste - make sure there aren't any lumps in the mixture.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a wire rack over the baking sheet. Spray the rack with cooking spray. Using a pair of tongs, dredge the pork chops in the flour mixture, egg mixture, and then breadcrumbs. Place on the wire rack. Bake in the oven for 17-25 minutes.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

The latest and greatest good things:

8 days until Opening Day for the Chicago Cubs. 8 days away from turning last season's frown upside down. Surely this year will be the year. Or even it just might be the year when we decide to win a playoff game. I'll take baby steps.

Official Mini Cadbury Eggs brought back from across the pond. We did a taste test. Overall, we liked the fact that the actual 'mini' bags of Mini eggs were in fact smaller than those over here in the US. No wonder the Europeans stay so thin. I'll take either bag, any day of the week.

New green Saucony sneakers from Fleet Feet. Summer is on the way. It's going to be time to put away the Ugg boots for awhile. What a better way to welcome spring than with bright green shoes.

4 days until Camelback Mountain. 4 days until feet up by the fire, relaxing by the pool, reading a book, drinking iced lattes, cactus juice margaritas, and soaking up the sun. My pale Chicago winter laden skin will appreciate the Vitamin D that Arizona has to offer. I wonder if they serve eggs poached in marinara sauce down south?

The 2010 Chicago Marathon race closed this past Tuesday - a month earlier than last year. I'm sure you know someone that is still looking for an entry into the race. Luckily, you know me. The American Cancer Society has post close entries and you can join our DetermiNation team to get into the race. We also have a team for the Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 marathon. Click here for more details on both. .

I've slowly started unsubscribing to all of the random emails that one could get sent to them on a daily basis. I no longer wish to instantly know what the latest sale at Banana Republic is, the coupon that can be used for 25% off at Barnes & Noble within the next 24 hours, the jeans that are on sale at Nordstrom's, and the latest Chicago Tribune breaking news. I've practically unsubscribed to it all. My phone buzzes less often with email updates and is now much less of a distraction to me on an hourly basis. Natural selection happens all the time and the same has happened with my inobx.

I do however still subscribe to the very important updates that one just can't live without: the weekly Food Network newsletter, Facebook notifications - which can get a bit much at times I'll admit, comment notifications on my blog - seeing those come through never gets old, and a few select food blog update emails. One of those update emails happens to be Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks page - I love reading her recipe and look forward to the update on a weekly basis.

This past week, the email came through for a Coconut Red Lentil Soup - sounds too good to pass up in my mind. This past winter I made an outstanding recipe from Heidi Swanson for a Red Lentil Soup and I think it might just qualify as the best soup recipe I made all year. If you haven't made it, I would highly suggest that you do. This soup is slightly different - adding both split peas and lentils to the broth, using curry as the main spice ingredient, the addition of golden raisins for sweetness, and coconut milk for taste. It made for great lunches all week. I wouldn't go as far to say it was better than the other Red Lentil Soup I made, but it is definitely worth a go.

This is what happens when you try to pile both the red lentils and split peas on one plate for a picture. I was pushing it, but wanted to fill the plate as much as possible. If I was a steady walker, this might have turned out better as I walked over to the table - not really the case though. Luckily, my vacuum and I are very good friends and is always around to clean up my mishaps.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

adapted from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks

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1 cup split peas (yellow or green)

1 cup red lentils

7 cups vegetable broth or water

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 medium carrot, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced

2 tablespoons curry powder

2 tablespoons butter

8 green onions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 14 oz. can coconut milk

Handful of chopped cilantro

In a large Dutch oven soup pot, combine the split peas, lentils, vegetable broth, salt and red pepper flakes. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Let the veggies cook on the stove for about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a dry skillet toast the curry powder over medium heat for about 8 minutes. The curry powder will become fragrant - don't let it burn though. Set aside. Place the skillet back on the heat. Add the butter. When the butter has melted add the green onions, remaining ginger and raisins. Cook together for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the toasted curry powder and coconut milk to the skillet. Keep warm.

Once the peas and lentils are soft, add the curry/coconut mixture to the pot. Simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Serve with chopped cilantro.

Soft Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can officially cross the Shamrock Shuffle race weekend off the list - and that would be a proverbial list - as there really technically isn't one that I have going. That leaves a Soldier Field 10 mile, a Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon, a Chicago Triathlon, and a Bank of America Chicago Marathon left on the race calendar. As in typical Chicago fashion, it was a whopper of a weekend in regards to the weather. Indescribable really.

The Shamrock Shuffle expo was held at Navy Pier, which is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. Navy Pier is about 157 times easier to manage as a location for an expo than the black hole I like to refer to as McCormick Place. I may live right across the street from Navy Pier, but I avoid it at all costs. I kept saying to myself - who in their right mind would ever come to Navy Pier? There are too many people and more specifically, too many people that aren't from Chicago.

Friday: Sun is out. It's warm. Warm to the point where I am slightly overheated in my 10 minute walk to Navy Pier. My Nike pants and short sleeved ACS shirt are plenty of layers. I try and point my face in the direction of the sun for the entire 10 minutes walk - soaking up all the Vitamin D I can. How many errands could I need to run to just happen to need to get outside at multiple times throughout the day? Not enough.

Saturday: The sun is not out. The temperature has dropped about 30 degrees. Snow is blowing sideways as I look out my apartment window at the street below. My Nike pants, short sleeved ACS shirt, long sleeved Shamrock Shuffle shirt, black fleece, and windbreaker seem to be no match for this wind. I bring an umbrella but that really does me no good. As I walk, ice pellets are flying sideways into my face. I can hardly open my eyes and I swear the flakes are leaving slight indentations on my cheeks. Why didn't I take a cab the .3 miles to Navy Pier instead of walking?

Sunday: The sun is still not out. At 5am, there is a slight drizzle falling from the sky. The wind isn't blowing, but it definitely isn't warm. My wellies, Nike pants, sweat pants, short sleeved ACS shirt, long sleeved dry fit shirt, dry fit hoodie, Daffy's sweatshirt and wind breaker seem to do the trick in keeping me warm. The hand warmers inside my gloves are keeping my fingers warm and a stocking hat is a must.

Needless to say - my outfits from the weekend deserved an entire load of laundry on their own. Despite the weather fiasco, it was an amazing race weekend - as always. I love the feeling of race weekend, seeing the committee out and about volunteering at the event, laughing at all the little things that don't go quite as planned, and seeing the amazing things that our program is accomplishing.

I got home yesterday afternoon and crashed. When I woke up from my 3 hour nap, I pulled out one of these Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and convinced myself that I just had to have an iced latte to go with it - at 6:30pm mind you. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Well I know what i was thinking - iced lattes and chocolate chip cookies make for the perfect combination. It's a better combo than cookies and milk. It's no wonder I got a second wind around 9:30pm last night.

Martha Stewart's daytime tv show may drive me nuts, but she did put together one amazing Cookies cookbook. I've yet to try a recipe from here that I don't like. There are basic cookie recipes, ones that are slightly out of the ordinary, and variations on old favorites. I was looking for something basic and went with her Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe. I had all the ingredients on hand, and without needing to chill the dough, the cookies are a cinch to put together. They are traditional, tastes like home, slightly chocolaty, outstanding, chocolate chip cookies. I made them slightly bigger than the original recipe called for, so I added a few minutes to my baking time.

I'm still a huge fan of putting leftover cookies in the freezer, and I love opening the door to grab one of these as a snack every so often.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Martha Stewart "Cookies"

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2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together the flour and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the salt, eggs and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies for 12 minutes - the center should still be soft. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and them them cool completely.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

St. Patrick's Day was yesterday - on a Wednesday. Who has time to celebrate a holiday on a Wednesday? That may be possible for some people - but not me. The Shamrock Shuffle is this weekend. It is supposed to be 70 degrees today and somehow 2 days later the temperatures are to plummet and they are calling for rain/snow on Sunday? Only in Chicago is that possible.

There might be enough time to throw on a green t-shirt, a pair of green beads, or a Kiss me I'm Irish green sticker, but not enough time to truly appreciate the St. Patrick's Day holiday during the week. I was lucky enough just to get in the latest episode of American Idol last night. For some reason, I love watching the show. I can't say I have a lot scheduled to record on the Tivo these days, but the Today Show, Check Please, and American Idol do make the cut. American Idol was featuring the Rolling Stones this week - which is ironic because I had quite a long conversation this past weekend about me not knowing songs from the Rolling Stones. I guess I'm 12 songs closer now.

Corned beef just screams St. Patrick's Day. It may not sound good during the other 364 days of the year, but on this holiday, it sounds good. This meal came together from the trip to Whole Foods to shop for ingredients to table all starting after 6:30 pm on a Sunday night. So don't tell yourself that you don't have time to make it - because you do. The leftovers are just as good as the main course and this is a honestly a fool proof recipe to follow.

I had quite a few laughs - which is never a bad thing - when working with the potatoes for this corned beef and cabbage recipe. I had purchased quite a few fingerling potatoes earlier in the week to cook with roasted salmon for dinner one night. No surprise there though - I ended up going with tuna salad for dinner one night instead of making salmon and potatoes, so I had some extra on hand. Just so you know, I do love using fingerlings in general because you can roast them in the oven relatively quickly without needing to peel or dice them - which makes for an easy weeknight side dish. However, when making corned beef and cabbage, they may not be your go-to potato option.

First of all, they need to be peeled. Do you know how hard it is to peel small fingerling potatoes? Well if you don't know - it isn't easy. If I wasn't almost slicing off my finger with the peeler, the potato was flying out of my hands into the sink and halfway down the garbage disposal as I tried to remove 100% of the peel. Each time the potato went flying, I started laughing. In this case, removing 92% of the peel was going to be just fine with me.

This 'no recipe' recipe for corned beef and cabbage completely exceeded all of my expectations. I think with each bite I took, I announced aloud - "I need to cook corned beef and cabbage more often" and "I can't believe how good this tastes". I can't decide which part of the meal I enjoyed most. I really really liked the cabbage. I also loved the saltiness of the corned beef. When biting into the potatoes I declared that all potatoes should be boiled and eaten that exact way. I guess the least exciting piece to the meal would be the carrots - but as long as you scooped it up with a piece of corned beef - you couldn't not like them.

So all in all, I think you need to make some corned beef and cabbage if you missed it the first time around. If you don't want to cook it on the stove, I know from experience that it would be just as good made in the crock pot, cooked on low all day long while you are at work. Why mess with tradition? I don't.

I am posting practically the same 3 pictures below, but I couldn't decide on a favorite so I decided to post all 3 of them.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

A Tastes Like Awesome Recipe

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1 package of corned beef, with brining spices

5 large carrots, peeled and quartered

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and halved

1 head cabbage, cored, quartered, leaves separated

Water

In a large Dutch oven pot, empty the contents of the corned beef package into the bottom of the pot - this should include the brine and spices. Cover the corned beef with water - covering the beef by at least 2 to 3 inches. Place the pot on the stove, lid on, bring to a boil and simmer on medium low heat for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Add the carrots and potatoes to the pot. Cook for another 30 minutes. Add the cabbage to the pot. With the lid on, cook for 15 minutes.

Remove the corned beef from the pot. Slice into pieces. Serve with the potatoes, carrots and cabbage. Drizzle with some of the cooking liquid if you would want to - I did.

Cherry Vanilla Coffeecake

Would you believe that Whole Foods doesn't currently have fresh or frozen cranberries in stock this time of year? Actually, I don't even know if they make packaged frozen cranberries nor do I know when peak cranberry season actually is. I also don't know why I just assumed that one could get fresh cranberries year round - they always seem to be in the produce section when I don't need them - and then when I do need them - they are nowhere to be found. That did slightly make me balk as my shopping list was already set and written for Smitten Kitchen's Cranberry Vanilla Coffeecake. I threw out an option earlier in the week to take requests for the treat this week and Amy found this recipe - I couldn't just show up without a coffeecake.

I didn't want to go with something obvious like blueberries and I also believe I've already posted a recipe for a blueberry coffeecake. I don't love raspberries or blackberries in baked goods because of the seeds and you just can't really put strawberries in a coffeecake. Bananas crossed my mind but then the texture just might be a little off. I strolled down the frozen fruit section at the store and came across frozen cherries - winner winner chicken dinner - let's go with it.

I've never purchased frozen cherries before - I didn't even really know that they existed. I seem to always go for the frozen blueberries or peaches when it comes to pre-packaged fruit. I set out the bag of cherries to thaw on the counter and thought I would give one a taste. About mid-bite I started to question whether or not the pits had been removed from all of the cherries. Surely, they wouldn't freeze cherries with the pits in them right? Individually removing the pits from the cherries would have added about an hour and a half to the cooking project and the situation was starting to feel like the hazelnut episode - when I needed to remove all of the skins from the roasted hazelnuts. For future reference, frozen cherries do not contain pits.

The Made for Monday treat this past week definitely got made - just not on Monday. We'll call this recipe a special edition Made for Friday treat.

The coffeecake is very very good even with making the switch from cranberries to cherries. I was slightly worried that the cherries would be too sweet against the other option of the tart cranberries but that wasn't the case. The coffee cake is sweet without being too sweet. I would definitely make this for your next weekend morning treat.

Cherry Vanilla Coffeecake

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

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1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cherries

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375. Butter a 9 inch cake pan.

Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into a food processor. Add the sugar. Pulse in the food processor for 10 seconds. Transfer sugar to a bowl.

Pulse cherries with 1/2 cup vanilla sugar in processor until finely chopped - do not puree. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and vanilla sugar. Beat at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each egg is added. Reduce speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk. Mix just until combined.

Spread 2/3 of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Spoon the cherry mixture over the first layer of batter, leaving 1/2 inch border around the edge. Spoon small bits of the remaining batter over the cherries, covering as much space as possible.

Bake until the sides start to pull away from the pan and the cake is golden brown on top - about 45 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan. Remove from the pan and cut into wedges.

Scallop and Shrimp Linguini

I think it's about time for another countdown update:

10 days until the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle

20 days until Camelback Mountain

24 days until Opening Day for the Chicago Cubs

I can't believe that it is March already. I can't believe that 1 of my 5 races will be over with in less than 3 weeks and I can't believe that I will be sitting in the sun, reading my book, with my feet up, drinking a cactus juice margarita and eating frozen grapes by the pool in less than a month. Where does the time go?

New Blog Title Ideas:

-Girl Meets Spoon

-Big Spoon, Little Kitchen

-Spoon Me Halfway (Dana - had to add it)

I'm starting to get a few favorites as possibilities but am going to refrain from making a decision for another couple of weeks.

Every time I cook scallops, I remind myself that I need to make them more often. I'm partial to getting a piece of salmon or tuna at the fish counter, but rarely ask for the scallops - probably because salmon and tuna are easily approachable pieces of seafood and don't intimidate me like the scallops do. I don't even know if it is an issue of cost of the scallops or what - but they really should be used more often. I made a Scallop Risotto last year that was really good, and haven't cooked with them since. In my mind, there is nothing better than a fresh piece of tuna - or let's be honest, the yellowfin tuna salad from Whole Foods. I still need to have daily conversations with myself to talk me out of stopping at Whole Foods to get tuna salad for dinner.

This is a simple pasta dish to make - don't let the scallops and shrimp intimidate you. All you need to do is saute the seafood in a pan, cook the pasta, and make a quick pan sauce as the seafood cooks. The original recipe calls for 4 servings, but I would just buy enough seafood for the number of people that you need to feed. Scallops may taste great fresh out of the pan, but I'm not sure about eating scallops as leftovers. I'm not fond of leftovers in general, so maybe I'm partial to this idea. I thought the dish was great - and I loved that there wasn't a heavy sauce to accompany the pasta. With the Lent season upon us, this makes for the perfect Friday night dinner - when seafood is a must.

Scallop and Shrimp Linguini

adapted from the Food Network

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1/2 pound linguini

8 sea scallops

8 shrimp, peeled and deveined

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon butter

1 clove garlic, minced

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup white wine

1/4 cup fresh basil

Red pepper flakes

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguini to the pot and cook according to the directions on the package.

Pat the scallops and shrimp dry. Season with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the shrimp and cook about 3 minutes on each side - until cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside. Add the scallops to the pan. Add the garlic. Cook the scallops on one side for 3 minutes. Turn the scallops. Add the lemon juice and white wine - scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook the scallops for another 1 to 2 minutes until they are cooked through.

Cook until the sauce is reduced by half - about 5 minutes. Add the basil. Add the shrimp back to the pan. Sprinkle the entire dish with red pepper flakes. Drain the pasta and add it to the pot. If the sauce is dry, add a touch of the pasta water.

Sprinkle the final dish with parmesan cheese, salt and red pepper flakes.

King Cake

Once again, I'm trying to brainstorm what to call this food blog of mine. There is nothing wrong with The View from the 32nd Floor, but I just want it to be called something different. Something that screams - wow - this is an awesome food blog. I'm just not quite sure what that different title should exactly be. To help narrow it down a bit, I'm partial to having the word 'spoon' in the title for no particular reason whatsoever - and that might be where the difficulties lie.

You would be amazed at how much time I have actually spent brainstorming the numerous possibilities. I've not only made lists of food words, my favorite ingredients, and cooking terms, but have also roped others into brainstorming along with me. I could probably be putting my time into a different project, like spring cleaning and going through my closet, deciding on a secret ingredient for Iron Chef, keeping up with my Made for Monday treats, getting through the 25 saved episodes of Seinfeld on the Tivo, or even sitting down to read a book. I keep telling myself that the name will eventually just come to me, but it's been about 8 months and it just hasn't happened yet. About 4 months ago I was set on the title The Toasted Avocado. It was also a time when I was addicted to guacamole and avocado sandwiches. Once that addiction passed, so did my passion for the title.

Here are the latest ideas - comments are always welcome.

-Spoon Spoon Pow

-The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon

-Running with Spoons

-Simmering Spoons of Sunshine

-Burnt Spoon

-There's a Spoon in my Soup

I should really be writing all of these brainstorms down, because I know my list is longer than that. Over the next couple of weeks, I will keep posting some possibilities and I hope to have a final title by the end of the month - no pressure there.

If I don't blog about this King Cake that I made for my Fat Tuesday party, Lent will soon be over and we will be counting down the days to Mardi Gras 2011. The place to go for King Cake in New Orleans was always Weiss Guys bakery in Covington, Louisiana. King Cake tastes unlike any other dessert I've had before. It tastes like the holiday. The combination of the yeasty bread, with the sweet frosting, and scents of cinnamon just make it the perfect Mardi Gras treat. It's Fat Tuesday - go big or go home.

I decided on a recipe from the Lottie & Doof blog. They posted a recipe for the King Cake a few days before my Fat Tuesday party, so I wanted to give it a try. The cake was good. I made a few notes below at things I would do differently next time. The king cake doesn't taste like the one from Weiss Guys but it does taste like a healthier version of the holiday treat. It was fun to make and I now have enough green, purple, and yellow sanding sugar to last me a lifetime.

And it looks pretty.

If I were to make this King Cake again, I would do a few things differently:

-Increase the amount of sugar from 4 tablespoons to 1/2 cup (it needs to be sweeter)

-Make the icing slightly thicker

-Serve the cake the same day it is made, the cake portion will be moister

King Cake

adapted from Lottie + Doof

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Cake:

1 package dry yeast (1 1/4 oz)

1/4 cup warm milk

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons bread flour, plus more for rolling

1 tablespoon honey

3/4 cup cake flour

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

4 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Egg Wash:

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

3 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Green, yellow, and purple sugar for decorating

Whisk the warm milk with the yeast in the bottom of a large mixing bowl, stirring until dissolved. Add the 6 tablespoons of bread flour and 1 tablespoon of honey. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until there are no lumps - about 30 seconds - scraping the bottom and sides as necessary. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until the dough is doubled in size - about 20 minutes.

Once the dough is doubled in size, add the remaining 3/4 cup bread flour, cake flour, eggs, egg yolk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and almond extracts, and salt. Mix on low speed until combined and then switch to the dough hook. Increase the speed to medium and mix until smooth, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium high and begin adding 4 tablespoons of butter to the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time. Make sure each tablespoon is well combined before adding the next. Continue to mix until the dough has formed a slack ball - never heard that one before. Slack means the dough will ride on the hook without sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Grease a large bowl with 1/2 tablespoon of the remaining butter. Transfer the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a damp kitchen towel. Set the bowl in a warm place to rise for at least an hour.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper with the remaining butter. Flour the work surface with 1/4 cup of the remaining bread flour. Turn the dough out onto the kitchen counter and sprinkle it with more flour. Roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 24 inches long and 6 inches wide). Starting with one of the long sides, roll the dough on top of itself, making a long, thin baguette. Pinch the edges of the dough to seal. Gently roll the dough on the work surface to even out the roll of dough, making sure it is uniform in size. Bring the two ends of the dough together and pinch it together to form a seal.

Carefully transfer the circle of dough to the baking sheet. Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and a damp kitchen towel. Let it rise until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Heat the oven to 375. To make the egg wash, whisk the one egg with the milk until a smooth mixture has formed. Brush the egg wash over the sides and top of the dough. Bake the king cake until golden brown and cooked through - about 25 minutes. Let the cake cool completely.

To make the frosting, whisk together the powdered sugar, corn syrup, milk, and vanilla in a bowl. Spoon the icing over the cooled cake. Top sections of the cake with alternating colors of sugar. Serve immediately.

Marinara Sauce

6 days and no blog post. You all must not have been too worried about me as no one sent out a search party, I didn't get any 'are you still alive' emails, and no one questioned what I was making in my kitchen. I must be getting boring. You all probably don't keep track in your calendar that a new update usually gets posted every third day - you have lives I know so why would you keep track of something like that? Or you assumed I was relishing in my first place Iron Chef Battle Cinnamon victory - which I was - and knew that I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to read about it by keeping that post fresh for an entire week. It's my turn to pick the secret ingredient. I've changed my mind about about 55 times already. Immediately after my victory, I claimed I knew exactly what I was going to pick for my ingredient - not the case. Me change my mind? Who knew.

I have a new addiction. Marinara sauce. It's odd I know - and an unbelievably simple dish to be addicted to, but it's true. If I had blogged about what I had been eating over the past week - or month really - I would have needed to re-post the Eggs Poached in Marinara over Polenta recipe many, many times. There would be nothing entertaining about that. There are worst things that I could be addicted to - like - mini Cadbury eggs (ummmm), Starbucks (yea that too) - well I'll just add marinara sauce to that short list of addictions. I've got the recipe down to an exact science and hardly even need to think about what needs to be done as I run from the kitchen to the couch.

Recently, it doesn't matter how the marinara comes. It could be homemade or straight out of the jar - I'll seem to eat it up either way. In one week I think I went through 3 jars of the 365 Marinara Sauce from Whole Foods. If I had to go with a bottled sauce, that would be my first choice. To avoid the multiple trips to the grocery store week after week, I figured it was time to make a big batch of sauce.

I was smart and made a big batch of marinara sauce when I was home last weekend. Our basement at home is stocked with anything and everything you might need. If you need paper towels - no worry - because there are about 50 rolls in stock on the shelves. Out of Pledge? Don't fret - there are 3 cans to choose from. I could go on and on. Maybe I'll take a picture next time I'm at home to prove it. The same holds true with canned tomato products. There are probably 15 cans each of plum tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato puree and crushed tomatoes. I can honestly just go shopping in the basement. This batch of sauce cost me practically nothing and it is going to feed me for weeks.

This recipe is extremely simple - but that is what marinara needs to be. I made 4x the original recipe and was able to get 8 quart size freezer bags full of sauce. Each bag can last me for 2 meals, so I'm set. Give this marinara recipe a try. And please make the eggs poached in marinara recipe - I'll feel better when someone else has it as their favorite meal too.

Marinara Sauce

adapted from Bon Appetit - January 1991

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Serves 2 (I made 4x the recipe to have leftovers)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic minced

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1 16oz can tomato puree - or tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

Handful of spinach or fresh basil (optional)

Heat the olive oil over medium high in a Dutch oven pan. Add the onion and saute until the onion has softened - about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer on the stove for at least an hour. If you are adding the spinach or basil - add it now.