blondies

Tasty Tuesday–Kitchen Sink Blondies

Perhaps “Kitchen Sink” is a bit of a misnomer, because I’m not suggesting you put ALL the things in the blondies at once. But what makes these blondies great is that you can add whatever mix-ins you want in whatever ratio you want (I did half dark chocolate and half dried cranberries here), and you can even frost them (cinnamon frosting is especially good!), and not only will they turn out great every time, but it seems like you’re never making the same blondies twice!

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 lb. dark brown sugar (you can use light, but I think the dark gives it a better flavor!)
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 cups of mix-ins (baking chips, nuts, dried fruit…you name it!)
  • Frosting of your choice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease (or cover with parchment paper) a cookie sheet with sides (about 15×10 inches…if your pan is a different size, you’ll have to adjust the cooking time).

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. When it’s completely melted, remove from heat and stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Let cool slightly, then stir in the eggs. Stir in flour mixture and mix-ins until just blended. Spread into prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes (don’t overbake!)

Let cool completely before frosting (if desired) and slicing…make about 2 dozen blondies.

Tasty Tuesday–The Third Disney Dinner

The theme for our third Disney Dinner was coconut…the drink, main course, and dessert all contained some form of it!

We started with a non-alcoholic version of the Monorail Yellow…I substituted apple juice for rum. It also contained orange and pineapple juice, and coconut cream…it tasted like summer in a glass!

The main course was something very new for us…an East African inspired cilantro coconut curry from Sanaa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It consisted of butternut squash, cauliflower, red onions, and tomatoes, in a very bright sauce made from cilantro, mint, jalapeño, ginger, and coconut milk. I think everyone was surprised by how much they liked it even though it was vegetarian!

For dessert I made a salted caramel magic bar blondie, inspired by the magic of Fantasia’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”

All three of these recipes came from Delicious Disney…I’m already looking forward to the next dish I’m going to make from that cookbook…stay tuned!

Epic Markelparty

Over the years, our various homes have hosted many Markelparties. We’ve had memorable gatherings in every home we’ve lived in, (at least they were memorable to me!), with varying numbers of guests. I can remember thinking that having five or six guests over was a lot, back when we were in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. But the party we had here last night was truly epic, as we were hosting 18 of Ryan’s co-workers from the Automattic Happiness Team.

I have never prepared so much food for any one event in my life–not even holidays. I actually had to draw myself a diagram of our kitchen counters so I could make sure everything would fit, (of course the diagram and the final arrangement have very little in common)!

The main event was the shredded meat–beef brisket and Dr. Pepper-Chipotle Pork (both recipes courtesy of the Pioneer Woman). Turkey lost a tooth during dinner, courtesy of his brisket sandwich–I don’t think anyone else suffered that fate, though!

We also had a variety of BBQ sauces for people to sample at their discretion, our focus being on “local” flavors from St. Louis and Kansas City.

There were the standard side dishes–baked beans and potato salad, (neither homemade–I’m not Super Woman!), as well as Jalapeño-Cilantro Slaw, for the sandwiches, or just to be enjoyed on its own. I wasn’t impressed with the corn at the grocery store on Sunday, so that got nixed. Oh, and we had the ubiquitous pickles, too.

We had a small salad bar, too, (with another local flavor–salad dressing from The Hill)–it really didn’t get very much attention. Then again, who wants salad when there’s all that delicious shredded beef and pulled pork?

Plenty of snacks–Buffalo Chex mix, potato chips, and a huge veggie tray, with two different dips. The dip I made from scratch was much more popular than the store-provided stuff, even though it didn’t look as cool–the store put their dip in hollowed out bell peppers!

Let’s not forget the drinks–in addition to the iced tea, lemonade, Dr. Pepper, wine, (from Missouri and Illinois), and mixed drink ingredients on the counter, we also had a cooler full of soda and various types of Schlafly beer–another local offering.

And desserts! I made two different kinds of blondies–dried cranberry-chocolate chunk and butterscotch-caramel. These were definitely popular, which is a good thing, because they’re my signature baked good!

After dinner, there was Rock Band. Lots and lots of Rock Band. People rotated in on the various instruments–guitar, bass, drums–even vocals, which is the one thing that is often ignored around here. I don’t think anyone ever played keyboards, though. The fog machine and light kit even made an appearance, although with so many people in the house, the fog didn’t last long!

This was by far the most diverse group of people we’ve ever had in our home. Not only did we have people from all over the country in attendance, but there were literally people from all over the world as well. It was delightful hearing so many charming accents in our home, and a great opportunity for the children to learn first hand what people from different places sound like when they speak. For one evening, anyway, I felt rather cosmopolitan!

In the words of Nathan Fillion as Mal Reynolds on Firefly, it was a “Mighty fine shindig!”