My Forking Life

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Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad

by 27 Comments

This Sweet Chilli Thai Cucumber Salad is the perfect refreshing salad to go along any meal. Chop, chop, chop the veggies and herbs and let it marinate for a great salad.  

sweet chili thai cucumber salad and red peppers in white bowl

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

Finally, a salad recipe! woo hoo! Although I am sure most readers don't mind the baked goods, like this Mini Rum Carrot Cake or the comfort food like this Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese. Hehehe. But like everyone else, I've made a resolution to get more veggies in my diet. Now don't get me wrong, we were doing pretty well with getting veggies in our diet but I know my hubby and baby girl were getting a wee bit tired of the same ol' side salad with dinner every night. That's where this cucumber salad comes about.

I was in the grocery store perusing the produce aisle because....well, it's kind of fun looking at vegetables and herbs and sniffing them. Am I the only one that does this? Then I came across the cucumbers and picked some up because they were on sale. Anyone else buy produce just because it's on sale? I initially planned on slicing these babies up and putting it on some lettuce with a whole lot of ranch dressing. Yummy! But I knew my family would want something a tad bit different.

I recalled seeing a cucumber salad recipe on the side of a Thai sweet chili bottle and decided that's what needed to go on these cucumbers. I don't recall Add the red onion, red peppers, cilantro, and lime juice and you have a winner winner.

sweet thai chili salad in white bowl

I sure hope you enjoy this Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad as much as we do. Until the next recipe...

Notes on Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad

    • This salad is great on it's own, served as a side with your favorite savory dish.
    • I love this salad on top of tacos with sour cream, super yum!
    • Consider leaving the peel on when making this Sweet Chilli Thai Cucumber Salad. The majoirty of nutrients are in the peel of the cucumber, rich in Vitamin A and contributes to healthy eyes.

Looking for more salad recipes? Try these out:

Kale and Broccoli Salad with Sweet and Sour Dressing

Carrot Raisin Salad

Cranberry Pecan Apple Salad Recipe

Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad. Perfect healthy salad. Light and refreshing salad. Great thai flavor.
Print Recipe
5 from 13 votes

Sweet Chilli Thai Cucumber Salad

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Thai
Servings: 4 person
Calories: 45kcal
Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 2 medium cucumbers chopped
  • ½ red bell pepper chopped
  • ⅓ cup red onion chopped
  • ½ cup cilantro chopped
  • 2 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 3 Tablespoon Sweet Chili Sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

  • Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir. Refrigerate for about an hour to allow flavors to mend. Enjoy 🙂

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 45kcal

Pin Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad for Later

Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad. Perfect healthy salad. Light and refreshing salad. Great Thai flavor. Vegetarian. Vegan.

Instant Pot Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge Recipe

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This Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge Recipe is one I grew up eating. Now my daughter, hubby, and I enjoy this recipe almost weekly. Make it in the Instant Pot for a hands off breakfast.

Instapot cornmeal porridge in bowls with instant pot in background

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

*Updated on 11/17/19

Update: After feedback by some readers on the Burn Signal this recipe may cause, I've updated this post. I've tested this recipe in multiple Instant Pot machines and could never get a burn signal. I was able to purchase an Instant Pot that was more sensitive to giving off a burn and was able to figure out the cause.

Some of the newer designs are more susceptible to giving off a burn while many older models won't. If your machine does give off a burn with this recipe, simply release the pressure valve to relase all the pressure, open the machine, whisk the ingredients and cook on sauté until thickened, about 8-10 more minutes. Then add in your condensed milk. Or, you can make my stovetop cornmeal porridge recipe.

Instapot!!! Ok, I know...it's called Instant Pot, but I like saying Instapot! I got an instant pot over the Christmas break and I've been loving this thing. What the heck is an Instant Pot you may ask?!? Well that's what I wondered when I ordered it with no clue what it was. But everyone was getting it so I wanted one too. Well, it's pretty much a pressure cooker. An electronic genius pressure cooker that won't blow up in your kitchen if you follow the instructions. It has tons of settings and you can find one on Amazon for a pretty reasonable price.

instapot cornmeal porridgein in bowl

My instant pot has a bunch of settings, from meat, poultry, soup, saute, slow cooker, and porridge. Yes, there is a setting on the instant pot for porridge. It isn't quite clear what they expect to be made with this setting but I automatically thought about Jamaican cornmeal porridge and got excited. Pretty much the reason I bought mine.

Jamaican cornmeal porridge is simply made with yellow cornmeal, milk, water, spices, and condensed milk. That's it for this easy breakfast. It's served warm and I like to serve mine with a side of bacon. I would serve everything with a side of bacon if I could. Bacon is amazing.

I hope you enjoy this easy peasy breakfast recipe as much as we do. Keep a lookout for some other Instapot recipes to come your way. This thing is pretty cool.

Notes on Instant Pot Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge

  • Traditionally, cornmeal porridge is made on the stove and requires stirring. If you're going to use the Instapot, make sure you use super fine cornmeal to avoid any lumps.
  • I use condensed milk to sweeten my porridge. Feel free to use sugar as a substitute if you like.

Looking for other Instant Pot Breakfast Recipes? Try these out:

Instantpot cornmeal porridge
Print Recipe
4.35 from 20 votes

Instant Pot Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge

Easy and delicious cornmeal porridge made right in your pressure cooker. A slightly sweet and warm breakfast that is perfect for any morning. 
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Caribbean
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 241kcal
Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 4 cups water separated
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal fine
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 3 pimento berries
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ground
  • ½ cup sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

  • Add 3 cups water and 1 cup milk to Instant pot and stir.
    In a separate bowl, whisk 1 cup water and cornmeal until fully combined. Add to instant pot and whis. Add cinnamon sticks, pimento berries, vanilla extract, and nutmeg. Cover and cook on porridge for 6 minutes. 
    Once timer goes off, allow to naturally release for at least 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure. 
    Once done with natural release, open Instant Pot and whisk to remove any lumps. 
    Add sweetened condensed milk to sweeten. Enjoy 🙂

Notes

After feedback by some readers on the Burn Signal this recipe may cause, I've updated this post. I've tested this recipe in multiple Instant Pot machines and could never get a burn signal. I was able to purchase an Instant Pot that was more sensitive to giving off a burn and was able to figure out the cause.
Some of the newer designs are more susceptible to giving off a burn while many older models won't. If your machine does give off a burn with this recipe, simply release the pressure valve to relase all the pressure, open the machine, whisk the ingredients and cook on sauté until thickened, about 8-10 more minutes. Then add in your condesned milk. 

Nutrition

Calories: 241kcal

Video for Instant Pot Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge

Pin Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge for Later

Mini Rum Carrot Cake

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This mini rum carrot cake recipe may be the cutest thing you make all year. They are so cute and perfect for giving away to family and friends. They are also perfect for Valentine's Day.

Mini rum carrot cake on colorful plates.

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

Happy New Year! 2017 is among us and it's time for me to come off my vacation and comply with all my New Year's resolutions. So for my first recipe for the new year, I decided to share this Mini Rum Carrot Cake Recipe. OK, I'm lying...I originally decided to share another recipe as the first recipe of the year and for some reason, I can't find where I wrote out the recipe. 2017 is off to a great start! No worries, I'm sure I will come across that recipe one of these days but for now, I think these mini rum carrot cakes are a great way to start the year.

One of my changes that I intend to make to the blog for this year is to incorporate more Caribbean and African recipes to the blog. I'm half Jamaican and half African (Sierra Leone) so it seems like something I should just do, right? Plus, hubby and daughter are asking for it so why not. This won't become a blog only dedicated to those kinds of recipes alone, at least I don't think it will, but I would love to recreate some dishes from my culture so you all can see some of the foods I grew up eating.

rum carrot cakes on colorful plates

So what about that this lovely Rum Carrot Cake Recipe?!? Well...I asked my Jamaican grandmother for some recipes and she laughed at me. Thanks Granny! She wasn't one to write down her recipes and she sure didn't take photos and blog about them. However, she collected a few cookbooks and was happy to hand them over to me. One of those cookbooks was Caribbean Cookbook by Rita G. Springer, published in 1968. There was a Carrot Pudding with Rum Sauce Recipe that I had to try. So I ran to my kitchen, created the recipe, and it was not a pudding at all. Instead, the batter was more like a cake batter so I decided these would become mini rum carrot cakes. I decided to create a cream cheese rum glaze to cover these cakes because cream cheese glaze rocks. Like seriously, what other glaze is better?

I decided to make these mini because the batter is not enough for a full cake recipe. I didn't want to double it and felt that mini worked better for many reasons. First, these are great to give away around the Holidays and these are a perfect treat for Valentine's Day. I don't know about you all, but me and my hunny love boozy desserts for Valentine's Day. I think it's obvious why. Second, mini recipes are just the cutest!

Well there you have it. Full video demonstration on how I make these Mini Rum Carrot Cakes is below. Here's to a wonderful 2017!

Notes on Rum Carrot Cake

  • I use a nice Jamaican dark rum for this recipe. It seems to create the best flavor for me.
  • I grated my carrots by hand because I find grating soothing. I used the larger side of my grater as indicated in my video, resulting in larger pieces of carrot in my cake. Feel free to grate your carrots smaller.
  • I used a good old fashioned zip lock bag to glaze the cake. Just place glaze in a ziplock bag, snip a corner, and glaze onto cake. Full demonstration is in video below.
Mini rum carrot cake. Perfect size to give away. Perfect size for Valentine's Day.
Print Recipe
4.91 from 10 votes

Mini Rum Carrot Cake

This mini rum carrot cake recipe may be the cutest thing you make all year. They are so cute and perfect for giving away to family and friends. 
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Caribbean
Keyword: rum carrot cake
Servings: 4 person
Calories: 735kcal
Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups carrot grated
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon ground
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg ground
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • .5 cup butter softened
  • 1 egg
  • ⅔ cups granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup dark rum
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cups raisins

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon dark rum
  • 2 Tablespoon milk (optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    Combine flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.
    Cream butter in mixer until fluffy, about a minute. Add sugar until sugar and butter are fully combined. Add egg, vanilla, rum, and carrots and allow to mix in.
    Add flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until incorporated. Add raisins and stir in.
    Add batter to greased mini bundt pans. Place in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
    Remove from oven and allow to cook on cooling rack. 

Make Glaze

  • While cake is baking, make glaze by creaming cream cheese in mixer until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and rum to mixture. Add milk if you want glaze to be thinner.
    Place glaze in zip lock bag, snip a tiny piece of edge of zip lock bag, and glaze cake. 
    Enjoy 🙂

Nutrition

Calories: 735kcal

Looking for more mini recipes for Valetine's Day? Try these Coffee Brownies for Two with Hazelnut Glaze

Looking for more Cake Recipes?

If you like this Caribbean recipe, you'll also like this Sweet Potato Pudding.

Pin Mini Rum Carrot Cakes for Pinterest

Spiced Iced Sweet Tea

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This delicious and easy Spiced Iced Sweet Tea recipe is perfect for the Holidays. Enjoy it as you celebrate the Holiday season. This post is sponsored by Southern Breeze but as always, all opinions are 100% mine.

spiced sweet tea in glass with cloves on top

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

'Tis the season for spice and everything nice, especially this spiced iced sweet tea! I love this time of year. The Holidays seems to bring out all the joy in my bones as everyone is in the giving spirit and all the best desserts get baked around this time of year. It's when bakers pull out all the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sometimes even the rum...yea ya'll, I love me a good rum cake.

I'll be honest though, we haven't finished with our Christmas decorations. Lucky for me, hubby bought one of those flashing light tools that shine lights on the house rather than hanging lights so we aren't at a total lost. We have a tree up, albeit doesn't have decorations yet, and a really creepy elf has been creeping around the house moving about as we sleep. Other than that, our household is failing on showing our Holiday spirit.

I was able to bring a little Holiday spirit around the house by creating this Spiced Iced Sweet Tea recipe with two of my favorite spices, cinnamon and cloves, and Lemon Flavored Southern Breeze Sweet Tea.

spiced iced sweet tea in glass with sticker

This Spiced Sweet Iced Tea recipe comes together in a breeze and only requires 4 ingredients.

First, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. I don't have a tea kettle so a good nice pot works fine for me. Place 2 Lemon flavored Southern Breeze Sweet tea tea bags in the water along with 1 teaspoon of whole cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks.

hand holding cloves

Whole Cloves

cinnamon sticks in hand over saucepan

Cinnamon Sticks

Allow to steep for 5-10 minutes. 5 minutes is recommended but I always get distracted and my tea bags end up staying around 10. Tea still good though.

saucepan with tea bags and tea in it

Remove the tea bags from the water and transfer the tea to a pitcher, leaving the spices inside. They will sink to the bottom of your pitcher but they will continue to flavor your drink. Refrigerate until cold and serve over ice.

spiced iced sweet tea in glass pitcher

That's it! Easy Peasy Right. I hope you and your family enjoy this Spiced Iced Sweet Tea Recipe and have a wonderful Holiday Season 🙂 I'm off to get some decorations for this tree of our ours 🙂

Notes on Spiced Iced Sweet Tea

  • No need to add sugar to this recipe as Southern Breeze sweet tea contains sweetener in the bag along with the tea leaves.
  • Southern Breeze Sweet Tea is zero calories and comes in a variety of flavors including Peach and Original. I used lemon for this but plan on experimenting with other flavors. Check out my recipe for Peach Sweet Tea using the peach flavor.
  • In order to ensure that the flavors truly mend, add the cloves and cinnamon sticks when you are brewing and when you remove the tea bags. Allow them to stay in during cooling time but remove them once the drink is served.
  • There is also a quick brew option for this sweet tea. Instructions are listed on the box.
spiced sweet tea
Print Recipe
4.80 from 5 votes

Spice Iced Sweet Tea

Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 2 qts water
  • 2 Southern Breeze Lemon Flavored Teabags
  • 1 teaspoon whole cloves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks

Instructions

  • Bring 2 qts of water to a boil. Remove from heat. 
    Add water, tea bags, cloves, cinnamon sticks to pitcher and brew for about 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and place pitcher in fridge until chilled. Serve over ice. 

Pin Spiced Iced Tea for Later

Easy Seafood Chowder Recipe

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This Easy Seafood Chowder Recipe is a perfect choice for this winter. Delicious, full of seafood goodness, and super easy to make.

easy seafood chowder recipe in 3 bowls.

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.


I would probably eat seafood every day of the week if I could. Seriously, there's something I love about shrimp, crab, mussels, etc. Oddly enough, I don't cook with it as often I should. Perhaps because the majority of the time I have chicken on my mind and the majority of our weeknight meals have some form of poultry. However, this easy seafood chowder has crept into our dinner rotation so much that I had to share the recipe with you all.

easy seafood chowder recipe in bowls

When I think of seafood chowder, the word easy never usually crossed my mind...until I came across this recipe. I had been searching the interwebs for a good soup recipe and somehow stumbled across this one. Fact is, it's so easy that it can be made in about 30 minutes and nothing needs to be thawed out. This is perfect for me as I always forget to thaw my frozen meat out. In all honesty, I have been a little slack in planning my meals the last few months. Perhaps this is the reason why seafood has crept into our rotation so often. Shrimp and mussels thaw and cook quite quickly.

Should the seafood in this easy seafood chowder be thawed first?

Nope, there is no need. Sounds crazy but seafood cooks quickly and can be cooked from frozen and will have great texture in your final dish. You don't want your seafood to over cook. I find adding it in while frozen helps. It's a method I use for my Pressure Cooker Shrimp Paella. With this soup, the broth is prepared first and the frozen seafood is added and cooked within a matter of 5-10 minutes.

How to serve Easy Seafood Chowder?

I like to serve this meal in these cute french onion soup bowls so we can hold the handle while we eat our soup. It's perfect for those of us who like to eat our soup in bed.

Let me know if you try this Easy Seafood Chowder Recipe. If you post it on the social media, please hashtag #myforkinglife so I can let you know how amazing you are.

Notes on Easy Seafood Chowder Recipe

  • You can add any kind of seafood to the chowder. I personally prefer the three listed in this recipe but a good fish, like a cod, could make a great substitute.
  • Swanson Cooking Stock, Seafood, 32 ozcan be purchased in most grocery stores. You can also make your own by sauteing carrots, onions, celery, and shrimp shells. It takes a long time and I feel the store bought stuff works just fine.
  • You can add a chopped russet potatoes to this dish to give it more substance. Just make sure to add the potato to the broth early and allow it cook before adding the seafood.
  • This can also be served as a good appetizer. We get about 6 servings out of this seafood chowder.

Looking for more soup recipes? Try my Pressure Cooker Sausage lentil and sausage soup recipe.
 

easy seafood chowder recipe
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Easy Seafood Chowder

Easy and Delicious Seafood Chowder with shrimp, crab, and mussels. 
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: easy seafood chowder
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 364kcal
Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 medium onion minced
  • 1 stalk celery minced
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon marojam
  • 3 Tablespoon flour
  • 2 cups seafood stock
  • 1 ½ cups milk
  • 1 can cream of potato soup
  • 1 can cream of celery soup
  • 6 oz frozen medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 lb frozen fully cooked mussels in garlic sauce
  • 1 6 oz can of lump crab meat

Instructions

  • Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add onions and celery and saute until softened.
    Add cayenne pepper, old bay, thyme, marojam and stir to incorporate.
    Add flour and stir.
    Add seafood stock, milk, cream of potato soup and cream of celery soup. Stir and bring to boil.
    Once boiling, add shrimp, mussells, and crab meat. Stir to ensure all seafood is covered. Leave in broth until fully cooked, about 6 minutes.
    Soup is done when shrimp is pink color.
    easy seafood chowder recipe

Nutrition

Calories: 364kcal

 

Like this Recipe? Pin this Easy Seafood Chowder Recipe for Later

Easy Seafood Chowder Recipe. Perfect seafood soup recipe for the Winter. Shrimp, Mussels, & Crab.

Recipe adapted from Food.com

Holiday Gift Guide - The Best Cookbooks for Beginners

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It's officially Holiday Season and although I somewhat feel it's a bit early to see all the Christmas decorations out in the stores, it's a reminder that I need to go on and get my list together. I truly feel that everyone has an inner love for cooking.

O.k. maybe not but you may have that person in your life who has started to take an interest in cooking and you're wondering which book to get them. This list of the best cookbooks for beginners should help you with that purchase. All of these I have found tremendously helpful in my foodie life. 

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

The Best Cookbooks for The True Beginners

1. How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food--With 1,000 Photos

This is the book that started my love for cooking and my eventual creation of My Forking Life. It literally teaches you How to Cook Everything, from how to scramble eggs, to salads, soups, entrees, breads, desserts...you name it! I even made cornbread from scratch with this book. I've used this book so much that it is literally falling apart. I still pull it out when I am looking for recipe inspiration. Each recipe comes with photo instructions as well as tips and variations for each recipe. This book is the perfect cookbook for a beginner chef.

[Read more...]

Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese

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These Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese are a great spin on your traditional scalloped potatoes. Impress your friends and family with this fancy side dish.

scalloped potaoes covered in blue cheese in orange baking dish

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

What happens when the Managing Director of the French Dairy Board comes to your town and discusses all kinds of cheeses from overseas? You halfway listen and stuff your mouth with all the beautiful cheese. Ok, no...don't do that, you should actually listen and focus less on stuffing your face. But yea, I stuffed my face. So yea, there was that time that the Managing Director of the French Dairy Board came to visit and I ate cheese until my heart was filled with joy. I posted this picture on my Instagram from the event.

cheese and snacks on board

One of the cheeses I was able to try was the Saint Agur Blue Cheese. This Blue Cheese was simply amazing! Creamy with just the right amount of strength. I despise blue cheese that is way too strong. The flavor is present but it's not too intense, which is usually the problem with most blue cheeses. Hubby always says that blue cheese taste like soap (I have no clue what he means by that) but when he tried this one, he actually liked it.

So I brought the cheese home and had fun with it. First, I drizzled some honey over it (a trick the Managing Director of the French Diary Board taught me) and had it as a snack with a glass of wine. Then I stared at it and asked "what in the world do you want me to do with you?!" And Eureka!!! Scalloped potatoes with blue cheese popped into my mind!

Scalloped potatoes with blue cheese on blue plate

The cool thing about these scalloped potatoes with blue cheeese is that they are super easy to make. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, easy and fancy recipes are a must. Who has times to slave over the side dishes when so much time will be spent on the turkey...and the pies. In less than an hour, you can have this in the oven baking up, ready for dinner. Also, everyone will think you are so fancy because blue cheese is so much fancier than cheddar.

Notes about Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese

  • A nice and pretty casserole dish, about 1.5 to 2 quarts, works best for this type of dish. You should have about 4 layers if you use a similar sized dish.
  • Make sure you end with the Parmesan cheese on top when layering the ingredients. This will give that beautiful golden melted cheese crust on top of the dish.
  • Use a mandolin slicer on the 3.5mm setting for slicing your potatoes. I urge you to take extreme precautions when using this slicer. Please pay attention when using this. I learned my lesson the hard way. *ouch*
  • Any brand of blue cheese will do but the Saint Agur Blue Cheese highly recommended.

As always, Enjoy 🙂

potatoes au gratin in baking dish

Recipe adapted from Blue Cheese Potatoes Gratin

Scalloped potatoes with blue cheese. potatoes au gratin
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Scalloped Potatoes with Blue Cheese

Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Russet Potatoes
  • 1.5 cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 Tablespoon flour
  • salt&pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Thinly slice russet potatoes and set aside.
  • Melt butter over medium low heat in a saucepan. Mince garlic and add it to butter. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  • Add flour and stir until flour is dissolved. Add heavy cream and cook over medium low heat until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Remove from heat and add blue cheese. Stir to combine.
  • Spread some of the potatoes evenly on the bottom of a 2 qt casserole dish. Add enough blue cheese sauce to cover the potatoes, then add some shredded parmesan cheese on top of this layer. Continue with these layers (potatoes, blue cheese sauce, shredded parmesan cheese) until you have about 4 layers, finishing with the parmesan cheese on top.
  • Bake in preheated oven uncovered for 50 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Enjoy 🙂

Simple Pumpkin Cake Recipe

by 3 Comments

This Simple Pumpkin Cake Recipe is the perfect sweet treat for the Fall. No mixer needed when making this delicious Southern and Simple cake. 

Simple Pumpkin Recipe. No mixer needed to make this cake. Lemon frosting.

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

Fall is here! O.k, it's been here for a while but I think I am just starting to accept it. We have had warm weather here in Charlotte and it's just starting to really feel like Fall. Booooooo!!!! I am not a fan of cold weather and all the shivers it brings to my body. I guess all is not negative when it comes to the weather changing, especially when it comes to food. Bring on the chillis, the soups, and pumpkin flavored everything. Speaking of pumpkin, I am now officially tired of it. However, before I toss out all my canned pumpkins sitting in my cabinet, I wanted to share this Simple Pumpkin Cake Recipe.

pumpkin cake half eaten with fork on plate

This Pumpkin Cake Recipe is something I discovered in the Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations. I encourage everyone to check out this book. There truly are some gems inside.

Back in July, when the weather was lovely, I saw a co-worker of mine with the book. I asked to browse through it briefly and asked if at some point I could borrow it. Not too long after, the book ended up in my mailbox at work. There are a tons of cakes in here that I said I would try before I return it. So far, I've only tried this one. I've had it held hostage since then because I want to try more recipes. I promise I will return it soon y'all.

pumokin cake covered in frosting

This cake came out with the perfect consistency between being moist and crumby. The flavor reminds me of a spice cake with a pumpkin twist. The frosting is a lemon cream cheese frosting and it is a perfect combination when it comes to flavor. Another cool thing about this cake is that I made it with no mixer. I love my red KitchenAid but sometimes a Classic Wooden Kitchen Spoon is so much better. In fact, it's what the book recommends when it comes to combining the ingredients.

I hope you continue to enjoy the Fall if cold weather is you're kind of thing. I also hope you enjoy this recipe 🙂 Let me apologize in advance of having no video of me creating this beautiful cake. Darn camera wouldn't let me be great.

Simple Pumpkin Recipe. No mixer needed to make this cake. Lemon frosting.
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Simple Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups All purpose flour
  • 2 ½ tsps of baking powder
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • ¾ cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups canned pumpkin

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 Tablespoon milk
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 8 inch round cake pans, set aside.
  • Combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in a bowl. Set aside.
  • In another bowl, combine raisins and pecans. Add ¼ cup from the flour mixture to the raisins and nuts and stir to combine, set aside.
  • In another bowl, combine the sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil. stir to combine. Add eggs one at a time and stir to combine.
  • Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir until all the flour disappears from the batter. Add the canned pumpkin and stir to combine. Then add the raisins and pecan mixture and stir until combined.
  • Place in prepared cake pans and bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cakes to cool completely.

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Zest the lemon over a bowl. Cut the lemon and squeeze out all the juice in same bowl. Add cream cheese, milk, powdered sugar, and pinch of salt. Mix until smooth.
  • Frost the cake with frosting. Enjoy 🙂



Breakfast Granola Recipe

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This breakfast granola recipe is not only delicious, it's healthy and super easy to make. Make your own batch in less than an hour. 

breakfast granola on top of yogurt in glass cup

This post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclaimer here.

Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the 
recipe card at the bottom of the post. 
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

It's super hard for me to get the energy to eat breakfast in the morning before work. Like seriously, I know it's extremely important to eat a healthy breakfast so your brain can function but I usually just don't have an appetite early in the morning. Am I the only one with this problem? Anyways, I strive for ways to get breakfast in my belly without too much fuss. Like seriously, not trying to cut the stove on in the AM before work. which is why make ahead breakfast recipes, like these Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies and this Strawberry Baked Oatmeal are perfect for me or anyone else who struggles with making breakfast before work. Oh le struggle!

The beautiful thing about this breakfast granola recipe is that it can be made ahead and stored. I like to make my breakfast granola on the weekend and eat it throughout the week. I store it for about a week but it usually doesn't even last that long. I eat this stuff for breakfast and snack.

granola in glass bowl over yogurt

It's also healthy! ok ok, yes it has white chocolate chips which may not be the healthiest thing on the planet, but with chia seeds and wheat germ added, I think it makes up for it.

I like to pile a ton of this healthy breakfast granola on yogurt or put it in milk and eat it as cereal. It can be eaten alone if that's your thing but I'm a big fan of dairy. So bring on the milk and yogurt.

Notes on Breakfast Granola Recipe

  • Feel free to swamp out  few of the ingredients. For example, if you hate white chocolate chips, use milk chocolate chips in this breakfast granola. But seriously, who in the world would hate white chocolate chips??
  • Be careful not to burn the granola. If it stays in the oven too long, it will have burnt taste to it. I start to check around 20 minutes to ensure it doesn't cook for too long.
  • I like to store my breakfast granola in mason jars . Keeps it nice and crunchy.
  • This would make perfect Christmas gifts. Seriously, bake up a batch, place them in mason jars, wrap a nice ribbon around it and give it to your coworkers and friends. They will love you for it! Your wallet will love you too!
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Breakfast Granola Recipe

Author: Tanya

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • ½ cup dried cranberry
  • ¼ cup wheat germ
  • ¼ cup chia seeds
  • ⅓ cup honey + 2 Tbsp
  • ¼ cup grape seed oil
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Place oats on baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. Place in bowl.
  • Place chopped pecans on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Place in same bowl.
  • Add dried cranberry, wheat germ, chia seeds, honey, and grape seed oil to bowl. Stir to combine.
  • Add white chocolate chips and stir to combine.
  • Place mixture on baking sheet and spread out. Bake in preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes, until fragrant and golden.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool. Break into chunks. Enjoy 🙂
pinterest image for breakfast granola

How to Make BoJangles Biscuits

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I had the opportunity to travel to the Bojangles test kitchen and learn how to make Bojangles Biscuits. Continue reading to learn all about my experience in making these perfect fluffy buttery Bojangles Biscuits. 

author holding up pan of baked biscuits

If you've come here looking for all the secrets and the exact recipe for how to make Bojangles biscuits, well let me let you know now that I ain't got it. There is no way in the world Bojangles is going to give me or anyone else all their secret ingredients for those beautiful biscuits. I don't blame them either. However, I was able to learn a few things about the magic of how they make these biscuits. Keep reading if you want to learn more. Here's my recipe for fluffy buttermilk biscuits from scratch. 

photo of rolling pins over bojangles sign

Not all biscuits are created equally. Bojangles, a fast food chain that boast about its famous chicken and biscuits, has some pretty good biscuits. So imagine how excited I was when I was invited to the test kitchen with my  Charlotte Food Blogger friends to make biscuits. Seriously, imagine it...I was too excited. I think hubby and daughter kind of got tired of hearing about it.

I've only made biscuits a few times before learning how to make Bojangles biscuits. Feel free to check out my blueberry biscuit or Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits recipe.

Rumor is, there are at least 48 steps on how to make Bojangles biscuits. No, that's not a mistype...48. But I'll break it down in easier steps. As a matter of fact, I may be missing a few steps but I'll high lite the most important.

First, place your dry ingredients, including shortening, in a huge bowl.  Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add your cold milk, then stir with your hands until it resembles cottage cheese. Allow it to set for a while, maybe about 5 minutes.

Next, flour your surface. We made two circles, one small one to flatten our dough on and then another huge one to roll out our dough.

author putting flour on wooden table

Once you've done that, remove your dough from the bowl and place it on the small circle of flour. Press your dough down with your hands. You will flatten it a bit, fold it over each side into the center, and roll it from the top to make a cylinder.

author making face when touching wet dough
author rolling out dough

Once you've done that, roll the dough out with the pin. We used two pins, one to spread the dough out and one with nice metal circles on the end to ensure our dough was rolled out evenly.

author rolling out dough with rolling pin

Then we use our biscuit cutter to cut all of these biscuits. I was supposed to get 15 biscuits out of my dough and somehow I only got 14. Oooops.

author using biscuit cutter to cut put biscuits
author cutting out biscuits with cutter
author cutting out biscuits and almost done

Place biscuits on the tray, going from outside in to ensure all biscuits fit.

author placing biscuits on sheet pan
author finished with placing biscuits on sheet pan

Bake biscuits in a preheated oven on 400 degrees for about 9 minutes and then you have beautiful biscuits.

author looking down at biscuits

Now of course I could have eaten these biscuits just like they were but since I was at the test kitchen, I had to have some fun and create masterpieces with my biscuits. My sandwich was good but that dessert biscuit I made was something else. Ever had a bo berry biscuit?? It's a Bojangles biscuit with blueberries and icing. Now they are good by themselves but when you add some whip cream and sprinkles, it takes it to a whole other level.

biscuit sandwich on plate
biscuit with ice cream on top

Notes on how to make Bojangles Biscuits (or any biscuit)

  • Use all cold ingredients. That dough was freezing cold when I first put my hands in it but it allowed my biscuits to get nice and fluffy. The ingredients, including the dry ingredients, were all refrigerated before we started making biscuits.
  • Make sure that all your shortening is broken into small pieces. If any large pieces of shortening end up on the top of your biscuit, the biscuit will crack and it won't be pretty.
  • When rolling out dough, make sure your hands and utensils (rolling pins, counter top, etc.) are well floured so it doesn't stick. Have an extra bowl or sifter with flour handy to re flour.
  • Do not add flour directly to the dough. This is a no no. I honestly forget why, but hey, if the biscuit master says so, I follow instructions.
  • When cutting out biscuits, re-flour biscuit cuter after about 3 cuts to avoid flour stick.
  • Once you have cut your biscuit circles, remove outer scrap pieces first. It'll make your biscuits easier to pick up.
  • When placing biscuits in baking tray, go from outer in. It'll make your biscuits fit on the tray easier.
  • Do not grease your pan with butter....or it will burn. Griddle oil or shortening works best.
  • Brush the top of your biscuits with room temperature butter that is melted. Yummy Yummy in my tummy.

My experience was wonderful. I hope you learned a thing or two from my experience at the Bojangles kitchen. Also, make sure the next time you go into Bojangles and purchase a Bo berry biscuit, take it home and add whip cream to it. Best thing ever!