Chocolate Guinness Cake and Valentine's Day Menu

For the past several years, Joe and I have passed on expensive dinners out on Valentine's Day in lieu of making something nice at home. Last year's Valentine's Day ended at the pet neurologist with a half-paralyzed cat, so we were hoping that this year would be a little better. I planned out a menu but neglected to take pictures of anything except the cake before we polished it off.

Valentine Day's Menu
Pan-seared bay scallops over linguine with a tomato cream sauce
Roasted Asparagus
Garlic Cheddar Biscuits
Becker Vineyards Viognier
Chocolate Guinness Cake

Since I had some Guinness leftover from the Guinness Beef Stew, this cake that popped up on Annie's Eats blog seemed like a natural choice. I had actually been debating between several desserts including a chocolate chunk bread pudding with Kahlua in it, but there is something about a cake that seemed nice for Valentine's Day. It turned out so moist and flavorful. The Guinness-chocolate combination is incredible, and the frosting complemented it nicely.

I had a few minor problems: I don't have a springform pan, so I used a regular 9-inch cake pan, and it overflowed in the oven. Nothing caught fire though. I also took it out a little early, and the center sank a bit, though it was nothing a little frosting couldn't fix!

Chocolate Guinness Cake
source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 cup Guinness beer
10 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups superfine sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese (no need to soften)
5 tbsp. butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the sides of a 9-inch round springform pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. In a small saucepan, combine the Guinness and butter. Heat over medium heat until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add the Guinness mixture to the bowl and mix until incorporated. In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of the mixer and mix on low speed until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes back clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, remove the sides of the pan.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream on medium-high speed. Add the powdered sugar to the bowl in batches, beating on low until just combined and then on high speed until desired consistency is reached. For a stiffer icing, add more powdered sugar. Frost cooled cake as desired.

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

This is certainly not the most gorgeous looking meal out there, but it's a quick, delicious one. I've been subtly and sometimes not-so-subtly sneaking more and more vegetarian meals into our weekly menu repertoire, and this was a big hit. The spice from the Ro-Tel (the only kind of canned tomatoes with green chiles for me) and the salsa added a lot to this, and Joe really liked the creaminess from the cream cheese. I would not substitute flour tortillas for the corn tortillas. The corn tortillas really add a lot of flavor and texture. I sprinkled mine with cilantro and served it with half an avocado.

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole
source: Reading, 'Riting, and Recipes via Cooking This and That
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 10-ounce can Rotel tomatoes
1 cup picante sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used 1 1/2 cups soaked and cooked dry beans.)
4 ounces cream cheese (I used reduced-fat.)
5 corn tortillas (7-inch), cut in half
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey, Pepper Jack, etc.)

In large skillet sauté onion until soft. Add tomatoes, picante sauce and cumin and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in beans and heat through. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat.

Spray bottom of a 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/3 of bean mixture on bottom of pan, topping with a layer of tortillas (five tortilla halves) and half of cheese. Then another layer of bean mixture, tortillas and bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with sour cream, lettuce and guacamole as desired.

Tuscan Lentils and Sausage

There seems to be some kind of conspiracy between me and a few other food bloggers because I keep seeing the same dishes pop up that are on my to-make list. Maybe it's just that great minds think alike. More probable, I think it's that we have similar taste in food and try to eat relatively healthy most of the time. Both Cara at Cara's Cravings and Liz at Liz's Cooking Blog are always making delicious food, and it's practically a guarantee that if I make something from their blogs, I'll like it.

This meal was no different. Cara originally made it Tuscan, although she wanted to try it with balsamic vinegar but had run out. Liz then made it with balsamic vinegar. I prefer the Tuscan flavors and had some hot Italian turkey sausage to use up, so I adapted Cara's original recipe. Those yellow things in the picture are yellow lentils, not corn! As expected, this was a great flavorful recipe. I almost always have lentils and spinach in the house because they're so adaptable and cook quickly, so this didn't require too many extra ingredients at all.

Tuscan Lentils and Sausage
adapted from Cara's Cravings

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of minced garlic
about 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
about 3/4 lb hot Italian turkey sausage
14oz can diced tomatoes
pinch of dried basil
freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry lentils
3/4 cup water
5 oz fresh spinach, roughly chopped

Heat a saucepan over medium-low heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Squeez the sausage out of its casings and cook, crumbling with a spoon until no longer pink. Add the onions and cook for about 5-8 minutes, until softened. Add garlic, crushed red pepper, basil, salt and pepper and saute 1-2 minutes more. Add the lentils, canned tomatoes, and water, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Add spinach and cook 10 minutes more, until spinach is wilted and lentils are tender.

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 335.5
Total Fat: 7.1 g
Cholesterol: 97.5 mg
Sodium: 1,600.8 mg
Total Carbs: 37.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 15.4 g
Protein: 37.1 g

Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, and when I saw it was on-sale last week, I made plans for a meal based around it. Usually, I roast it because that's how Joe likes it best. In fact, roasted asparagus was one of the first vegetables that Joe admitted he liked. However, it isn't usually very cheap, so it seems like a special occasion when I get it.

This pasta is deliciously simple and surprisingly flavorful. It really lets the flavor of the asparagus shine through. You can adjust the amount of red pepper to your liking, and the parmesan cheese is crucial, so use the good stuff. If you wanted to, you could also add grilled chicken, though I might suggest adding more pasta because the vegetable to pasta ratio is pretty high.

Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms
source: Cheap Healthy Good

Ingredients

1 to 1-1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped (I used baby portabellos.)
8 ounces thin spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Salt the water and cook pasta according to package instructions.

2) Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Saute asparagus in the pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and mushroom slices; cook 4 minutes more.

3) Drain pasta, and transfer to a serving dish. Gently toss pasta with asparagus mixture, parm, and crushed red pepper. Flavor with salt and black pepper to taste.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Since I'm trying to use up some of the ingredients in my pantry, including a random bag of coconut, these coconut cookies were ideal. I'm a big fan of coconut in baked goods, and these cookies were the perfect balance of buttery, chewy, light, and crisp. I neglected to read how big they were supposed to be (1 tsp), so mine ended up quite a bit larger. Chances are that you also have most of these ingredients in your kitchen, so they're perfect for whipping up on a whim. I love how the coconut got a little brown and toasted on the top!

Chewy Coconut Cookies
source: Delicious Meliscious

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.