Blondies

Hello chocolate!

I had so much fun last weekend with my best friend, Molly, and some of her sorority sisters from UGA.  We went to Lake Nottely and had an awesome day in the sun.

None of us knew how to drive a boat, but Molly was brave and took on the challenge.  We were so glad to be out on the water with this gorgeous view!

I made this dessert when we went to visit Mae, Kristen, and Cody.  Kristen is dairy free and I am gluten free.  So, when I found this recipe on Chocolate-Covered Katie's Blog I knew I must give it a shot.  I was a little nervous using chickpeas as the primary ingredient in a dessert.  I have heard of people using black beans in brownies, but chickpeas?  

It was a huge hit!  I was so impressed with how well they turned out.  You would have no idea what they were made of unless I told you.  

Don't be scared if you taste the batter.  I thought the batter still tasted like chickpeas, but sometime in the oven that flavor took on the yummy flavor of a dessert bar.  

Please feel free to change it up and use white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or anything you would like!

Enjoy!

Blondies

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup of chocolate chips (I did not measure this step, just keep pouring until you like the amount in the batter.  Once you spread the batter in the pan, top with more chips:))

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients (except chips) until very smooth. Mix in chips, and scoop into a greased (or tinfoil-lined) 8×8 pan. Bake for 38-40 minutes (mine only baked for about 28). You want the blondies to look a little undercooked when you take them out, because they’ll firm up as they cool, and you don’t want them to get hard.

Herb Pork Tenderloins

You may remember my post about Kristen and Cody adopting a sweet little girl from China.  Well, we finally had our night with her!  We took their family dinner in exchange for some much needed quality time with this sweet and precious little girl, Mae!  Oh, and we enjoyed catching up with Kristen and Cody too!

I am going to let the pictures do much of the talking here.

Do you think Susan is ready for a grandchild of her own?!

Mae having a blast with her new friend.

Silly Alex!

Kristen put on some music so we could watch Mae dance.

*Starting with the above picture, Cody put a new, fun, external flash on my camera.  My world has been changed, and it will never be the same until I too own this fun flash.*

Kristen is an amazing new mom!

They are now a family of three.  How perfect!

Mae found the top to my dessert, which I will be blogging about soon.

Mae and Dakin had the best time playing with that top.

Making funny faces at each other.

Dakin is awesome with children and will make a great grandfather one day!

I had to give back the flash which left me with a mediocre picture of Mae and Alex on the couch.

As you can see, we had an amazing time with their sweet new blessing!  The pork was an easy meal to throw in the oven while we all talked and caught up on their trip to China.  Susan made a salad and green bean/potato dish for the sides.  I hope you enjoy!

Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloins
Source:  Adapted from Food Network-Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 1 lemon, zest grated
• 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 5 lemons)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp. minced garlic (~6 cloves)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 pork tenderloins (they normally come in a package of two)

Directions

Place all ingredients into a gallon zip lock bag.  Turn to coat the pork with the marinade.  Seal bag with minimal air.  Let the pork marinate refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.  

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove pork tenderloins from the bag and place in a baking dish.  Scoop out chunks of herbs from marinade and place on pork.  Thrown away remaining marinade.  

Bake until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.  Season with salt and pepper before serving.  Slice into thick pieces for serving.  

Blueberry Muffins

I made these yummy muffins for our next door neighbors.  They just had a sweet little girl, Sophia.  I thought muffins would be great for a snack or breakfast on the run.  

Although I have a gluten intolerance, I did make these with freshly ground wheat.  You can read about my theory of eating wheat with a gluten intolerance here.  

Last Monday, I got a phone call from an unknown number.  I answered, expecting it to be a wrong number.  To my surprise it was a lady from Trader Joe's telling me I had won the "bring your own bag" prize.  If you are not familiar with Trader Joe's, you can bring your own reusable bag and fill out a slip of paper with your name and number for a drawing each week.

I felt like I had hit the jack pot!  I got another reusable bag and all the fixings for a Mexican and Italian meal.  They must have known I love Mexican food!  I will definitely be filling out these little slips each time I go in, even if I am in a hurry!

tomato sauce, Tuscan Italian dressing, wheat spaghetti, marinara sauce, black olives, fruit roll ups, brownie mix, chips, reusable bag, black beans, refried beans, taco seasoning, taco shells, salsa, and corn.  Not too shabby!  

Blueberry Muffins

Source:  Bread Beckers Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups freshly milled flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together.  Add all wet ingredients and stir until mixed.  Spread additional olive oil in muffin
tins to prevent it from sticking.  Fill each tin 3/4 of the way.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  (Our oven cooks super fast so 15 was plenty.)

Spicy Queso

Saturday was a super fun day.  It gave me a little taste of summer, but I am not ready to wish away spring just yet.  We went to Mark and Mary's house and laid out by their pool during the day.  Mary and I made yummy snacks to enjoy while soaking up some sun.  I brought along this queso and of course Alex's favorite salsa.  The queso is super flavorful.  I just put it all in my mini crock pot and plugged it in at the pool to keep it warm.  It reheated great for an appetizer for Mother's Day on Sunday.

After our time at the pool we headed over to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater for the Zac Brown Band concert. I was a little disappointed in the show.  They jammed out a lot vs. playing the songs I love.  I get bored with those kind of concerts.  Alex says I don't truly appreciate the music:)  If you went Friday night, I heard the show was much better.

Mark and Alex hanging out before the concert.

Mary and I are ready to go!

We've got our seats and are enjoying people watching

These two clowns couldn't take a normal picture if they tried.

The whole gang!

Spicy Queso
Source:  Southern Living May 2011

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 tbsp, oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 16 oz. package of Velveeta pepper jack cheese, cubed
• 1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Serve with tortilla chips

Directions:

Cook onion in hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat 8 minutes or until tender.  Add garlic, and cook 1 minutes. Remove from heat.

Combine cheese, tomatoes, and onion mixture in a large microwave safe glass bowl. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stirring every 2.  Stir in cilantro.  (You can also heat it up in a crock pot bowl and serve in crock pot to keep warm).

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Alex and I had my Mom, Grandma, Mother-in-law, Sister-in-law, and Father-in-law over for dinner on Sunday to celebrate all of our awesome Mothers!!!  Although I love to experiment with new recipes, we wanted to have a fool proof meal.  We ended up with left over queso and salsa for appetizers, chicken tortilla soup for the main dish, and this yummy carrot cake for dessert.

We had a great time hanging out and playing corn hole.  The guys definitely dominated the game!  I was sad to see the night come to an end so quickly, but everyone (except Alex and I) had to head off to work in the morning.

Aunt Ashley with Tini!

Alex's wonderful Mom!

My beautiful Mom and Grandma

Ashley was dominating the this corn hole game

Tucker is just chillin' in front of the garden, Jackson is begging for attention (shocker), and Tini wants to know when she can go back inside.

I stumbled upon this recipe when I was looking to see if Betty Crocker made a gluten free German chocolate cake mix. I am so glad I did because it is delicious!

Gluten Free Carrot Cake
Source:  Betty Crocker

Ingredients

• 1 box of Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup of butter softened
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots (you don't want big chunky shreds)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Frosting:

• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. milk
• 1/4 cup coconut if desired (yum, highly recommend)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray only the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl beat cake mix, water, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and eggs on low for 30 seconds.  Beat on medium for 2 minutes, scrapping bowl occasionally.  With a spoon, stir in carrots and pecans.  Spread in baking pan.

Bake for 36 to 41 minutes for an 8 inch pan and 33 to 38 for a 9 inch pan or until a tooth pick comes out clean.  

Cool cake completely, ~1 hour.

After cake has cooled, in a large bowl beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and milk with an electric mixer on low until smooth.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth and spreadable.  Stir in coconut and spread frosting on the cake.

Get in my belly!

Italian Salad Dressing

We went to dinner Monday night in Alex's old neighborhood, Chestnut Creek.  It was so fun to ride around and have him show me where all of his friend's lived.  I got a glimpse into his childhood: where they played, who were the mean neighbors, what pranks did they play, etc.

I brought a salad and wanted to make a new dressing.  This one was super easy to throw together.  You probably have all the ingredients on hand.

Enjoy!

Italian Salad Dressing
Source:  Adapted from Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup olive oil
• juice of 2 lemons
• 4 tbsp. grate Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• ground pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• dash of paprika
• 1 garlic clove minced (if using that day; if you are making this dressing 24 hours in advance then peel garlic clove and leave whole in dressing)

Mix all ingredients together in container and refrigerate until you are ready to use.

Pineapple Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

This dish was photographed and baked by my amazing husband!

This is a sad time of the year around the Tutterrow house.  We have a back yard that birds love.  They are so fun to watch as they eat from the bird feeder and go in and out of the houses around the yard that we have set up.  What makes this time sad is when the baby birds begin to test their new wings.  This typically results in a few ending up on the ground in an attempt to refine their flying skills.  Our sweet Tucker and Jackson think these birds are for them to play with.  These little guys look like a fun toy as they hop and flop around on the ground.  Tucker thinks it is a game and likes to play "catch and release" with these guys.  Sometimes they are fine, sometimes he gets  a little too excited, and well you can imagine what happens.  We have a burial site for all the baby birds that don't make it into summer.  

A few days ago I called the dogs inside and Tucker would not come.  He was standing in the corner of the yard with his "play ears" all perked up.  I found this little guy when I walked over.

Luckily for him, Tucker had not played a game of "catch and release"...yet.  So I do what every wife does and called my husband out to help me figure out a plan.  We couldn't put him back in the nest because it is way up in the trees.  We knew he wouldn't have a fighting chance if he stayed in our backyard, so we moved him to the side of the house in a safe and shaded area.  

I went out to check on him the next day and he was still just hanging out back there, but a little less energetic. I started to worry about him and wondered if we had done the right thing.  After calling a few nature centers they assured me that we did do the right thing, but if he is too far away from the nest then the parents may not hear him in order to feed him.  This made me so sad to think that he was starving to death.  If he was old enough he could have potentially started to fly from this spot, but after some inspection we realized he didn't have his feathers underneath his wings.  I am sad to say this little guy didn't make it, but I hope his passing was  more pleasant back here then it would have been in the mouth of one of my dogs.  

I am such an animal lover and was so sad when I found out he didn't make it.  Hopefully the rest of his siblings will learn to fly straight from the nest.  

Sorry, that was a little sad.  I promise my next post will be happier.

Have you guys ever had your animals do something that made you so sad?

This was my lunch meal of the week.  Alex is not a fan of sweet potatoes.  I loved this meal.  It had a great flavor that was good even reheated.  I loved the roasted sweet potatoes, but prefer them fresh out of the oven than reheated.

Pineapple Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 2 1 lb. pork tenderloins
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 8 oz. can pineapple slices in juice
• 2 limes
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 3 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Directions

Preheat grill to 350 to 400 (medium high heat).  *We cooked ours in the oven at 350 until meat thermometer read 155.*  Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper.  

Drain pineapple, reserving 1/3 cup juice.  Grate zest from limes to equal 1 tbsp.; squeeze juice from limes to equal 1/3 cup.  

Bring reserved pineapple juice, lime juice, zest, marmalade, and next 5 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Boil 3 to 4 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Reserve half of mixture in a bowl.  

Grill or bake pork (if baking add pineapple to dish) until meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 155, basting with remaining half of pineapple mixture.  Remove from grill.

Meanwhile, grill pineapple slices 1 to 2 minutes on each side (skip if baking because you can bake the pineapple with the pork).  Serve grilled pineapple and reserved pineapple-marmalade mixture with grilled pork.  

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Cube sweet potatoes and toss with olive oil.  Bake at 425 for 25 minutes (keep an eye on them to make sure they do not burn).  Remove from oven and toss with salt and pepper.  

Chipotle-Orange Chicken Drumsticks with Coleslaw

I could not be more thrilled at how fast the garden is growing.  Before you know it we will have squash, zucchini, tomatoes (if I don't pick them while they are green), and cucumbers.

You can barely see the little squash forming.  It is like "Where's Waldo", but with squash.  

Look at those two big guys hiding, then you can see all the little ones.  

Man with his grill and dog.

This was another easy one to throw together.  You can whip up the coleslaw while the chicken is on the grill.

I liked this dish fresh vs. left-over.

Chipotle-Orange Chicken Legs

Source: Southern Living Magazine May 2011

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh orange juice, divided (I think we used about 5 oranges total)
• 5 tbsp. soy sauce, divided
• 3 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 tbsp. orange zest
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. ground chipotle chile pepper
• 2 lb. chicken drumsticks
• 2 tsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat grill to 350-400 (medium-high) heat.  Combine 1/4 cup orange juice, 3 tbsp. soy sauce, 3 tbsp. brown sugar, and next 5 ingredients in a shallow dish or a large zip top plastic freezer bag; add chicken.  Cover or seal, and chill 10 minutes.  Remove chicken from marinade, discard marinade.

The marinade

Drumsticks marinading 

Grill chicken, covered with grill lid, 10 to 12 minutes on each side or until done.  Remove from grill; cover with aluminum foil, and let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile whisk together 2 tsp. brown sugar, remaining 3/4 cup orange juice, and 2 tbsp soy sauce in a small saucepan.  Whisk together cornstarch and 2 tsp. water, and whisk into orange juice mixture.  Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute or until thickened.  Brush sauce over chicken.  

Coleslaw ingredients

Ingredients

• 16 oz. of coleslaw mix
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. salt

Mix together cover and chill until ready to serve.

Vanilla Honey Whipped Cream

I have the funniest husband ever.  He is always making me laugh with his random humor.  He often keeps others entertained with his ridiculousness in group emails, etc.  I am proud to announce that he has FINALLY started his own personal blog so you can share in his humor too!  I hope you enjoy him as much as I do!

Alex holding Tini in some funny way!

Brody came to small group last week.  He was showing me how he uses his inhaler since he has been sick.  Too cute!

Jackson needed some exercise so I kept him jumping over the bird bath.  He is so easily entertained, but requires a lot of entertaining.

Oh my yum!  I made this a few months ago for our small group and just forgot to take a picture.  What a great excuse to make it again!  This is a super quick and relatively healthy dessert to quench your sweet tooth.  I have a hard time just not sticking my finger in the bowl for a big huge scoop of whipped cream (okay I do that after I have served everyone)!  

BEFORE

With the good stuff!

AFTER!  I refrained from licking the bowl!

Vanilla Honey Whipped Cream

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whip it up!  Serve over fresh berries or a dessert of your choice!