Butternut Squash Soup

It's winter, winter means my love of souuup. Today I was in the mood for my favorite, butternut squash, and I whipped up a batch in under an hour for a quick, easy, and very satisfying lunch. ALSO, for all of those who have new years resolutions to start the new year off healthily, then this is a great dish to add to your repertoire. It's fast, healthy, and very low cal. All words that are music to my ears...

Super Easy Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

4 cups butternut squash, cubed in about 2 inch pieces
1 large vidalia onion
5 cups chicken broth, low sodium
cinnamon
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Recipe: Dice the onion. Combine the squash, onion, and broth in a soup pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the squash is tender and can be pierced with a fork. Take the soup off the heat and let cool about 10  minutes. Add the soup in batches to a blender and puree until smooth. Add each batch back to a pot on the stove and once all the soup is pureed, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon to taste.

Serving suggestions: A sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a dash of cinnamon on top.

i'm just SOUPER

xoxo

hungreegirl.

Golden Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

So, finally, I'm home, back in my homeland of G-wich, and boy am I glad to be back. I missed home! My kitchen, my bed, my kitchen, my dogs, my kitchen, my friends, and did I mention my kitchen? Well, I had to kick off my first day back right and conveniently today happened to be my best friend Jamie's 20th birthday. WOAH 20, I know, and since its such a big deal I needed something just as big to celebrate. Personally, nothing says celebrate like a HUGE, BEAUTIFUL, MOIST, CAKE. Ya with me? I used one of my favorite cake recipes from Judy Rosenberg's Rosie's Bakery book, and they turned out lovely. For frosting, I was feeling inventive and made up my own chocolatey buttercreamy cream-cheesy creation. Two words:  UN REAL, (I know it's really one word, but when you turn it into two its more dramatic for emphasis). So since Jamie is one of my best friends I didn't just stop at this, and busted out a homemade chocolate whip cream to put between the layers. I even whipped out the piping bag to throw some beautiful details on top, feel special baby J, it took a while! So now I have this huge beautiful chocolatey golden cake and I am DYING to try it but I have to wait until the actual party, such a buzz kill. For now, I'll continue munching on frosting like I've been doing for the whole afternoon because it is seriously addicting and is the best sugar fix, especially slathered on pretzels.
RECIPES BELOW! Enjoy.

Judy Rosenberg's Golden Layer Cake (My GO to layer cake, SO good, must try)

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup plus 3 tbs flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plus 2 tbs butter, room temp (2 sticks plus 2 tbs)
1 1/4 cup plus 1 tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
1 whole egg
3/4 cup sour cream *(I substituted craime frêche)

Recipe: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 8 inch baking pans. Combine first 4 dry ingredients in a bowl. In an electric mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the yolks one at a time beating well after each addition. Then add the whole egg and mix well until blended, 1 minutes. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture by stirring them in lightly with the rubber spatula so liquid is absorbed. Turn the mixer on low to blend completely, about 10 seconds. Add half the sour cream and mix for 20 seconds, until well combined. Add one third of the dry ingredients by hand, followed by the remaining sour cream, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and blend until batter is velvety in texture, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula and blend for 20 more seconds. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans and place them on the center rack of the oven. Bake until the layers are golden in color and spring back to the touch, about 35 minutes.

My Own Cocoa Creamcheese Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients
2 sticks butter
8 oz. cream cheese
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tbs cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla

Recipe: In a double boiler melt the chocolate chips. Once totally melted, stir until smooth and refrigerate until the mixture is cool, but still slightly warm, about 10 minutes in the fridge.  In the meantime in an electrix mixer cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the vanilla and cocoa powder and vanilla and mix for 2 more minutes. Slowly add in the cooled chocolate. Whip for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Whipped Cream

Ingredients
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder

Recipe: In an electric mixer, whip the cream until it starts to stiffen. Add the dry ingredients and keep whipping until stiff peaks form.

Assembly: After the cakes cool, slice each cake in half, so you'll have 4 equal rounds. Refrigrate for atleast 2 hours, as it will make it easier to frost. Put one round on the decorating plate and top with the whipping cream, then another round, whipping cream, then another round, and repeat the process until you finish with the last cake round, leaving the top UNFROSTED  Then, take the chocolate frosting and coat the top and sides of the cake. For decorative details, pipe some of the whipped cream around the edges and add some chocolate chips.

Mid Assembly pic:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY J!

xoxo

hungreegirl.

Middle Eastern Mania

One of my favorite things in the world are unexpected surprises. I LOVE surprises. The best Middle Eastern food in the world tucked in a small shop in Palm Beach Florida, is certainly a surprise. The Middle Eastern Bakery is a tiny store front that is serving up real authentic and flavor packed Middle Eastern delicacies that truly transport you tastebuds to a foreign land. A glass display case holds large bowls of fatoush, butter bean salads, tzatziki sauce, baba ghanoush, hummus, different types of feta cheeses, meat and spinach pies, and stuffed grape and cabbage leaves, along with much more. One can order classics like falafel or shwarma or greek salads. 

The feta at this place is amazing. They offer both Greek and French style feta, the French being more creamy while the Greek has a harder texture, but are both incredibly salty and rich. I'm a huge fan of greek salad and they make a great one here, with the feta taking the stage as the star. Honestly, I could eat this feta for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Today I was in the mood for a lot of different things, so I got the special platter, a container that I filled with whatever I desired. I got roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce, the butter bean salad, tzatziki and baba ghanoush, some French feta, and some shwarma. The cauliflower was perfectly roasted and was complimented beautifully by the tanginess of the tahini. The butter bean salad was so flavor packed, tossed in a light vinaigrette that was lemony and delicious. The tzatziki is creamy and dilly and everything good tzatziki should be and the baba ghanoush is thick and garlic and super tasty. The shwarma is shredded skirt steak, marinated in spices and served in its own juices and it was excellent, really hearty and soul warming. 

Besides serving up these classic dishes, the restaurant is also a store front that sells house made peanut brittles and sesames candies as well as house brined olives, and many more other Middle Eastern ingredients and specialties. 

Now besides having great food, the people running the restaurant are extremely friendly and amiable, always letting me taste whatever I want and always excited whenever a hungry customer comes in. If you're ever in Palm Beach this is a place you CANNOT pass up, and I certainly don't, evidenced by my multiple weekly visits whenever I'm around.

IT'S A NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Hope everyone rang in the new year right. Lets talk resolutions. Here are mine:
1. Make my first soufflé
2. Discover a lot more restaurants in Philly
3. Find a new favorite dish
4. Make my own fresh ravioli, specifics yet to be decided.
5. Create a beautiful fondant covered cake.

Obviously there are more, but for now, thats good.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!

happily healthy and happily hungree in 2012

xoxo

hungreegirl.