2013: A Foodie's Year in Review

With 2013 in the past, I think now is the time to reflect on some of our favorite results from the Barr Kitchen.  We tried several gadgets and new techniques that improved our cooking and came up with some awesome dishes in return.  Here are just a few:

1. We renovated our outdated kitchen from the 1950's, which involved ripping everything out and replacing all appliances, cabinets, and counter tops.  It ended up adding about 7 feet of counter space... a big deal when before we were functioning on about 1 foot of cooking area.

Before and After view of the kitchen

2.  Our backsplash is actually made up of bricks from a building that was demolished in Dallas.  We had fun handpicking them out of the brickyard.

3.  We discovered the deliciousness of cooking with Organic Ghee.

4.  Open Nature Seaweed became a staple for snacking in our household.

5.  Nick began cooking steak sous vide.  It became our favorite way to eat steak.

 

6.  Our favorite kitchen gadget is the Egg-Genie.  Perfect hard boiled eggs every single time.  

 

7.  My favorite salad became a combination of kale, apple, avocado, red bell pepper, carrot, sunflower seeds, rice vinegar, olive oil, and garlic.  Fabulous!

8.  The versatile nature of flax meal and chia seeds.  I used them to make everything from pie crust to dark chocolate cherry energy bites.

 

9.  Dark Chocolate Avocado Brownies... yes, avocado was the magic ingredient and I'm slightly obsessed.

 

10.  Spaghetti Squash with Pesto and Fresh Mozzarella. 

 

11.  Scotch Eggs-Texas Style were the best thing Nick came up with this year.

 

12.  We traveled to St. Louis in June and enjoyed some of the best Smoked Duck Hummus with Pita Bread at Morgan Street Brewery.  To die for.  

 13.  Nick got a new smoker for Christmas.  I have a feeling that we will be enjoying more smoked meat in 2014.

 

Dad's Birthday Pie: Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Coconut Icebox Pie

Last weekend was Dad's birthday.  Typically, he's a German Chocolate Cake kind of guy, but as we've been enjoying low carb foods, I found this recipe to be a good substitute for him.  It turned out excellent... particularly the toasted coconut crust and didn't last long once the family cut into it.  The next day dad called me and said, "I just ate a fourth of the pie for dinner."  What a compliment!

For the crust you'll need:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
11 ounces of unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup sugar substitute

For the filling you'll need:
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Hershey's Extra Dark 60 percent cacao), finely chopped
1/4 cup sugar substitute

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a food processor, combine the butter, coconut, and sugar substitute until the mixture forms a ball.  Place into a medium size bowl.

In a 9 inch pie plate, press the coconut mixture onto the bottom and up the sides to form crust.

Bake until the center begins to brown, about 15 minutes.  Transfer the crust to a wire rack to cool completely.

Toasted coconut crust

To make the filling, bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan.  Coarsely chop up the chocolate and place in a mixing bowl.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is combined.

Pour into the coconut crust and refrigerate until the pie becomes firm.

Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcake Challenge

It's no secret that my fiance, Nick and I both share a love of cooking and we're competitive.  So, after taking a trip to Galveston this summer an idea arose.  We visit Galveston every summer, mainly for the food.  A few summers ago we discovered La Kings Confectionery, a cool place with retro candy, fudge, ice cream, and Snickerdoodle coffee, that must be primarily caffeine, because I get a day-long jolt from it.  While there, we discovered chocolate covered potato chips, which we didn't try, but it got our thoughts rolling with the salty/ sweet combo.  We wondered if bacon could take the place of the chips and an idea was born.  Since then, Nick has convinced me that the groom's cake at our wedding must include bacon, so the experimenting began last night.

I decided to try my take on Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes in honor of Nick's birthday.  They turned out amazingly rich, to the point that you only have to eat half to get your fix of dark chocolatey bacon goodness.  The coffee creates a great base that really adds to the flavor of the cake.

For the cake, you will need:

10 slices of bacon  (7 for the cake, 3 to top)
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, (I used the Hershey's Special Dark variety)
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup coffee, brewed
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Cook the bacon in a skillet, drain off the fat, then crumble into small bits.  Combine all other ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in about 3/4 of the bacon crumbles.  Like your muffin pan with liners and pour batter into the cups about 3/4 full.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  You'll know they are finished when a toothpick to the center comes out clean.

Batter ready to be poured into the cups.

Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes on the cooling rack waiting to be frosted.

In the meantime, you'll make the perfect chocolate frosting.  Honestly, this frosting is so rich it could pass for fudge itself.

You will need:
1 stick of butter
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa (I used the Special Dark variety)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Wait until the cupcakes are completely cool before frosting, otherwise it will become runny.  This was the standard frosting recipe, but I had a lot left over after frosting the 24 cupcakes.  You could probably get away with cutting the recipe depending on how many cupcakes you are making.  Add the extra bacon crumbles to the top of each cupcake.

The finished product