Though we’re back to cold rainy days next week, at least someone got the memo about it being the first day of spring today.  Oh sunshine, won’t you stay?

For the following weeks, whether the weather decides to cooperate or not, I’ve planned an arsenal of fresh and light recipes for y’all, starting with my homemade Greek yogurt.

I enjoy eating yogurt but don’t enjoy the price, particularly the price of Greek yogurt.  Since I’ve begun making my own, I’ve been eating it almost everyday with homemade granola and homemade jam {recipes to come}, and even use some of it for a refreshing mask {try it with honey and lemon and your skin will thank you}!

The best parts of this yogurt are that it costs so much less, is an easy 2 ingredient fix, and once you’ve begun, you’ll always have a starter to begin another batch whenever you want.

httpv://youtu.be/YUyH7vEYtj4

5.0 from 3 reviews

Yogurt, Homemade + Greek Yogurt

 

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Serves: 1 Quart

Ingredients

• 4 c whole milk
• 5 tb yogurt

Instructions

1. In a pot, slowly heat the milk to 180.
2. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool to 115. This step is very important. An electronic candy thermometer will help.
3. Whisk in the yogurt {I used prepared yogurt from my last batch but any high quality store-bought works here too}
4. Pour the entire contents into a jar and wrap with a towel and set, undisturbed for 10-15 hours. It’s important not to jiggle it like I did the first time I made this.
5. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving or, after it’s been chilled, line a container with cheesecloth/nylon/paper towels/coffee filter and scoop in the desired amount of yogurt. Allow it to strain {without touching the bottom} overnight.

Notes

Time does not include the inactive time that includes the overnight set or chilling.

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Want more money saving tips?  Check out these tips + a $10 supper idea for 4 people with roasted chicken, kale salad, and cookies!  Also, if you live near a Rita’s Italian Ice, they’re celebrating today with a free treat!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.~

Though we’re back to cold rainy days next week, at least someone got the memo about it being the first day of spring today.  Oh sunshine, won’t you stay?

For the following weeks, whether the weather decides to cooperate or not, I’ve planned an arsenal of fresh and light recipes for y’all, starting with my homemade Greek yogurt.

I enjoy eating yogurt but don’t enjoy the price, particularly the price of Greek yogurt.  Since I’ve begun making my own, I’ve been eating it almost everyday with homemade granola and homemade jam {recipes to come}, and even use some of it for a refreshing mask {try it with honey and lemon and your skin will thank you}!

The best parts of this yogurt are that it costs so much less, is an easy 2 ingredient fix, and once you’ve begun, you’ll always have a starter to begin another batch whenever you want.

5.0 from 3 reviews

Yogurt, Homemade + Greek Yogurt

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• 4 c whole milk
• 5 tb yogurt

Instructions

1. In a pot, slowly heat the milk to 180.
2. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool to 115. This step is very important. An electronic candy thermometer will help.
3. Whisk in the yogurt {I used prepared yogurt from my last batch but any high quality store-bought works here too}
4. Pour the entire contents into a jar and wrap with a towel and set, undisturbed for 10-15 hours. It’s important not to jiggle it like I did the first time I made this.
5. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving or, after it’s been chilled, line a container with cheesecloth/nylon/paper towels/coffee filter and scoop in the desired amount of yogurt. Allow it to strain {without touching the bottom} overnight.

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Want more money saving tips?  Check out these tips + a $10 supper idea for 4 people with roasted chicken, kale salad, and cookies!  Also, if you live near a Rita’s Italian Ice, they’re celebrating today with a free treat!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.~

Butter is my baby.  It lends itself so well to so many things.  So giving, so considerate, so kind…so yummy!  Now, if only I could meet a man like this!

Butter makes everything better, no?  I’ve been known to hoard several boxes of butter “just because.”  Who knows when the mood will strike and I’ll want to reach for a couple sticks to transform into buttercream or pastry?

I’m not ashamed to admit that this is precisely what happened to me last night after Mr. Insomnia abducted me from any restful sleep.  2 am found me in the kitchen, dusted with flour, greedily clutching sticks of butter, cubing into tiny pieces (to allow to rapidly come to room temperature), with an abundance of free flowing chocolate and cranberry bits to make these:

These are just these minus the chocolate chips, plus 1 c each of dried cranberries and white chocolate chips (I love it with apricots too)!

Technically, these were dessert following dinner, despite the fact that dinner was several hours before, lol.

On board with the butter theme, these are the most delicious imported French butter croissants.  More butter was used for the roux in the Béchamel sauce.  Whole wheat pasta + turkey bacon + caramelized onions and garlic + spinach.

So, what’s my favorite butter?

I can almost always find coupons for this so that’s a plus.  Its gotta be unsalted, sweet cream butter and it’s l0vely for both baking and smearing on toast with jam.  Yum!

For my folks that don’t/can’t consume butter, this is a great alternative that I highly recommend if for example, you’re hankering for some homemade cookies:

Trader Joe’s also has a more affordable option for coconut oil.  “Good fat” that’s neutral in flavor so you can utilize it for baking all sorts of yummies or, even stir fries.

Baking things better with butter,

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.^

Anxiety and depression is something that I struggle with everyday but it’s been bearing its weight on me pretty heavily this week.  It’s been a mad and tumultuous week and something that I’m glad is over–ish, and glad that I experienced it to bring me to where I am now…reveling in a rare moment of clarity where I can truly enjoy simple pleasures such as swimming in a lazy cup of tea with a thick stack of warm pancakes before me, mesmerizing me with its thick glossy coat of golden maple syrup.  (It has to be the real stuff)!  Sure, the carbs don’t hurt but it’s how ever so soft and fluffy pancakes can be with its irresistible crispy edges that, when paired with Saturday morning cartoons, makes everything seem alright.  It’s like the food version of a big fluffy robe and soft cozy slippers.

So c’mon, sink in and get lost with me (at least for a little while).

Buttermilk Pancakes

 

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• 1 c unbleached flour
• 3 tb brown sugar
• 1½ ts baking powder
• ¼ ts baking soda
• ¼ ts fine salt
• ¼ ts cinnamon
• ⅛ ts freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 room temperature egg
• 1 c room temperature whole buttermilk
• 1 ts pure vanilla extract
• Butter

Instructions

1. In your first bowl, gather all of your dry ingredients and sift them in. This includes your flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
2. In your second bowl, whisk together your egg, buttermilk, and vanilla until nice and frothy (approximately 3 minutes).
3. Slowly drizzle your second bowl into your first bowl and mix just to combine (don’t over mix, lumps are fine).
4. In a hot skillet, melt a tablespoon or so of butter and ladle in your batter. *Only flip once and don’t press down.*

Notes

Optional: ½-1 c Chocolate Chips, Blueberries, etc. It helps if you fold them in by hand at the last moment and coat them in a tablespoon or so of Flour first so they don’t sink as much

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My baby brother did his entire dorm room in patriotic red, white and blues.  We all celebrated with an American feast when mom and dad got their citizenship.  We’re a family that’s proud to be American.  Though, the bittersweet irony of this post in relation to my last post can be pointed out. 

Le sigh, I digress.

In the South, we take our BBQ pretty seriously so while everyone else focuses on the coming carnivorous feast (sorry veggies), I’m always the designated dessert-bringer.  I’ve always thought that sugar cookies encrusted with hardened “frosting,” embedded with miscellaneous shards of pointy triangles that were once part of a star were blasé, so I took to bringing cakes to celebrate.  Confession #765, I’ve never had a birthday cake, but in my mind, cake = celebration.

Now, of course you can enlist the help of fondant to create a neater presentation but golly do I hate fondant (oh, was I not suppose to admit that)?  Admittedly, it looks great but I’m more interested in how something tastes.  A good friend of mine who now lives  upstate works in a bakery and churns out fondant cakes regularly for clients weddings, showers, etc but for her own wedding, she scrapped the play-doh and slathered her tiers in good, old fashioned buttercream.  If y’all completely disagree, just let me know and I will consider doing a fondant tutorial.

For the past 3 years, I’ve done a variation of this cake whether it be in cake or cupcake form so if you’re not looking to wait around for its assembly, be my guest to take the individualized portion route instead.

Red White & Blue Cake

 

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Serves: One 8″ 3 Layer Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 2 sticks + 2 tb soft, unsalted butter
• 2 c sugar
• 2 ts pure vanilla extract
• 9 room temperature egg whites
• 3 c unbleached flour
• 4½ ts baking powder
• 1½ ts salt
• 1½ c room temperature whole milk

For the Buttercream:

• 4 sticks soft, unsalted butter
• 6-8 c sifted powdered sugar*
• 2 ts pure vanilla extract
• 1/s ts fine salt
• 2-4 tb cream

Instructions

1. In your first bowl, cream together your butter and sugar. You want to cream for at least 5 minutes and reach a pale, fluffy blonde color.
2. Tip in your vanilla and slowly stream in your eggs.
3. In your second bowl, sift in all of your dry ingredients. Slowly add this to your first, “wet” bowl.
4. Alternate with milk but begin and end with your dry bowl.
5. Evenly pour into three well greased and parchment lined 8″ tins. Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes.
6. Cool completely and meanwhile, work on your buttercream.
7. Break up all 5 sticks of butter with your mixer and slowly add in your sugar (1/2 c-1 c at a time). Add in your vanilla and salt and cream as needed.
8. Assemble as demonstrated in the video.

Notes

*6-8 c depending on how sweet you like your buttercream (pay attention to consistency as well). Remember to measure it out after you sift it, not before.

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Now for those of you that are concerned about food colors, here are a few alternatives to consider:

Natural Food Dyes: the only downside to these are that I found them to be a bit pricy and I went through mine in a couple months.

Homemade colors can be extracted from natural sources.  The only cons for me: sometimes, it takes more to attain a brighter depth of color but this can possibly be taken care of with produce that is naturally richer in pigment and “stain” effortlessly (like beets) and sometimes this can impact the consistency of my batter/frostings not to mention, I always get paranoid about the taste bleeding in.  This can sometimes be combated by utilizing a juicer to expel it’s liquid instead of blitzing them in a processor.

Red/Pink Options: Currants/Cranberries, Pomegranates, Cherries, Raspberries, Beets, Hibiscus Flowers/Tea, Red Wine

Blue/Purple: Blueberries, Blackberries, Acai, Grape Juice

Green: Kale, Spinach

Orange/Yellow: Carrots, Turmeric Powder, Saffron

There are other options, but these are just what I’ve experimented with before.  Additionally, crumbled, freeze dried fruits are nice to work with but again, can be expensive.

I realize that it’s a bit early to be thinking about the 4th of July but what am I if not a bit of an overzealous Squishy Monster?

Love Always,

Your Squishy Monster

Le sigh, I digress.

In the South, we take our BBQ pretty seriously so while everyone else focuses on the coming carnivorous feast (sorry veggies), I’m always the designated dessert-bringer.  I’ve always thought that sugar cookies encrusted with hardened “frosting,” embedded with miscellaneous shards of pointy triangles that were once part of a star were blasé, so I took to bringing cakes to celebrate.  Confession #765, I’ve never had a birthday cake, but in my mind, cake = celebration.

Now, of course you can enlist the help of fondant to create a neater presentation but golly do I hate fondant (oh, was I not suppose to admit that)?  Admittedly, it looks great but I’m more interested in how something tastes.  A good friend of mine who now lives  upstate works in a bakery and churns out fondant cakes regularly for clients weddings, showers, etc but for her own wedding, she scrapped the play-doh and slathered her tiers in good, old fashioned buttercream.  If ya’ll completely disagree, just let me know and I will consider doing a fondant tutorial.

For the past 3 years, I’ve done a variation of this cake whether it be in cake or cupcake form so if you’re not looking to wait around for its assembly, be my guest to take the individualized portion route instead.

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

To watch the assembly of a different kind of cake:

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

Now for those of you that are concerned about food colors, here are a few alternatives to consider:

Natural Food Dyes: the only downside to these are that I found them to be a bit pricy and I went through mine in a couple months.

Homemade colors can be extracted from natural sources.  The only cons for me: sometimes, it takes more to attain a brighter depth of color but this can possibly be taken care of with produce that is naturally richer in pigment and “stain” effortlessly (like beets) and sometimes this can impact the consistency of my batter/frostings not to mention, I always get paranoid about the taste bleeding in.  This can sometimes be combated by utilizing a juicer to expel it’s liquid instead of blitzing them in a processor.

Red/Pink Options: Currants/Cranberries, Pomegranates, Cherries, Raspberries, Beets, Hibiscus Flowers/Tea, Red Wine

Blue/Purple: Blueberries, Blackberries, Acai, Grape Juice

Green: Kale, Spinach

Orange/Yellow: Carrots, Turmeric Powder, Saffron

There are other options, but these are just what I’ve experimented with before.  Additionally, crumbled, freeze dried fruits are nice to work with but again, can be expensive.

I realize that it’s a bit early to be thinking about the 4th of July but what am I if not a bit of an overzealous Squishy Monster?

Love Always,

Your Squishy Monster

If the coagulation of the egg whites doesn’t scare you off, you not only win the bravery badge, you win the yummy one as well.  Everyone seems to get so freaked out about whipping up egg whites and I tend to think that it whittles down to just being a bit apprehensive about doing something you’ve never done before, that’s all.  I’m here to tell you that you can do it and also provide you with a few basic guidelines to help you along the way.

When whipping egg whites:

• Separating the white from the yolk is easier when the eggs are cold.  However, room temperature whites whip up better.
• Keep in mind that even a speck of yolk/fat ruins the whole she-bang.  Make sure you swipe everything down to make double-sure.  It’s a good (but not absolutely necessary) practice to reserve a separate spatula for meringues.  If you flub up, don’t despair!  Try using a bit of shell to catch the yolk that strayed as it’s coated with a protein keratin that attracts the protein in the yolks.
• Stainless steel or copper are the only ways to go.  Proper chefs only use copper as it’s said to be the best when dealing with whipping.
• Cream of tartar might be your best friend here.  It will help maintain those hard earned peaks and stabilize everything.  (Just don’t use it or any other acid when utilizing a copper bowl).  Not to mention, the stuff lasts forever and is great for a variety of cleaning uses.
• A whisk works best.  Start from low and work your way up.
• Never over beat (you just want to achieve the appropriate peaks your recipe calls for) otherwise,  the entire bowl will destabilize.
• Use right away.

5.0 from 1 reviews

White Cupcakes & Chocolate Buttercream

 

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

17 mins

Total time

32 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Recipe type: Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 1½ c cake flour
• 2 ts baking powder
• ¼ ts fine salt
• 2 egg whites + ⅛ ts cream of tartar + pinch of salt
• ¾ c sugar
• 6 tb butter
• ½ c room temperature milk
• 2 ts vanilla or a scraped vanilla bean

For the Chocolate Buttercream:

• 1 st soft, unsalted butter
• 1½ c powdered sugar
• ¼ c unsweetened cocoa
• 2 ts vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1-2 tb cream/milk

Instructions

1. Assemble your dry ingredients and sift together.
2. In a separate bowl, begin whisking your whites. When they get frothy, sprinkle in your cream of tartar and salt. You want to achieve stiff peaks.
3. In your third bowl, beat your sugar and butter together (for at least 5 minutes).
4. Tip in your vanilla.
5. Begin to slowly add your dry ingredients in separate additions.
6. Alternate with your milk but you want to start and end with your flour mixture.
7. Don’t over beat or over fill and bake at 350. Mine took 17 minutes but everyone’s oven is different. *Don’t over bake.* You want the centers to spring back when you press your fingers lightly on top and they will have a slight, not loose jiggle.
8. For the buttercream, sift together your powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together your butter and vanilla and slowly add in you first, dry bowl to your butter bowl. Take a look at the consistency, if necessary, add in a bit of cream of milk at the end.

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Life may not always be cotton candy or butterflies, but this part of it can be

Have a blessed weekend!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster

When Whipping Egg Whites:

• Separating the white from the yolk is easier when the eggs are cold.  However, room temperature whites whip up better.
• Keep in mind that even a speck of yolk/fat ruins the whole she-bang.  Make sure you swipe everything down to make double-sure.  It’s a good (but not absolutely necessary) practice to reserve a separate spatula for meringues.  If you flub up, don’t despair!  Try using a bit of shell to catch the yolk that strayed as it’s coated with a protein keratin that attracts the protein in the yolks.
• Stainless steel or copper are the only ways to go.  Proper chefs only use copper as it’s said to be the best when dealing with whipping.
• Cream of Tartar might be your best friend here.  It will help maintain those hard earned peaks and stabilize everything.  (Just don’t use it or any other acid when utilizing a copper bowl).  Not to mention, the stuff lasts forever and is great for a variety of cleaning uses.
• A whisk works best.  Start from low and work your way up.
• Never over beat (you just want to achieve the appropriate peaks your recipe calls for) otherwise,  the entire bowl will destabilize.
• Use right away.

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

Life may not always be cotton candy or butterflies, but this part of it can be

Have a blessed weekend!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster

As mother’s day fast approaches, so many memories that me and mama made flash through my head like an automatic rolodex.  I am so incredibly lucky to have her in my life.  She is my perfect example of love.

19 years old and so much swag

Me at 26: mama, I’m becoming more and more like you everyday (and I don’t mind it).

I hope that everyone has a fabulous Mother’s Day (and happy mother’s day to all the mama’s)!

I leave you with a taste of our tradition:

httpv://youtu.be/ZUE7xG_XkRk

Almond Tea Cakes

 

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

Dry:

• 2½ c flour
• 1½ ts baking powder
• 1 ts salt

Wet:

• 1 stick soft, unsalted butter
• 1½ c white granulated sugar
• ½ c brown sugar
• ¼ c almond paste (canned/store bought or homemade)
• 2 room temperature eggs
• 2 tb almond extract
• 12 oz room temperature full fat ricotta
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• Flaked almonds for garnish

Almond Paste

• 1 c blanched almonds (skinned)
• 1 c powdered sugar
• 1 egg white
• ⅛ ts fine salt

Instructions

1. Cream together your butter, sugars, and paste.
2. Blend in one egg at a time.
3. Tip in your extract.
4. Spoon in your ricotta. Blend.
5. In three additions, incorporate your dry bowl with your wet bowl. Don’t over mix.
6. Scoop out miniature balls of dough and press flaked almonds on top.
7. Bake at 350 for 7-11 minutes (again, these are for mini scoops).
8. Cool completely and dust with powdered sugar.

Alternately, for a glaze:

1. Whisk together powdered sugar + almond extract (tip in just a couple drops in at a time) for a thick “glaze/icing” consistency. A little extract goes a long way.

Almond Paste:

1. Utilize your processor and blitz your almonds until they’re powdered. Add in your powdered sugar, egg white and salt. Keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month.

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Reminiscent of mommy and me tea parties, happy (early) mother’s day y’all!

XOXO

Your Blessed Squishy Monster

http://youtu.be/lNg8EfL5p_A

5.0 from 1 reviews

Oreos (Homemade)

 

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• 1¼ c unbleached flour
• ½ c unsweetened cocoa
• 1 ts baking soda
• ¼ ts baking powder
• ¼ ts fine salt
• 1 c sugar
• 10 tb soft, unsalted butter
• 1 room temperature egg

Easy filling

• 1 c powdered sugar
• 1 tb vanilla extract {more or less depending on desired consistency}

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and beat for an additional minute.
2. In a small bowl, sift the dry ingredients (except for powdered sugar).
3. Add dry ingredients to the mixing bowl a little at a time and mix until color and texture is consistent.
4. Scoop or roll into ~1″ balls and place ~1″ apart on a baking sheet. Make sure the the baking sheet is greased, or you can use parchment or a [sil-pat|http://silpat.com].
5. Wet your hands and use the palm or heel of your hand to flatten the dough balls
6. Bake at 375° for 7-8 minutes and cool completely.
7. In another bowl, combine powered sugar and small amounts of vanilla extract until you get the consistency you desire.
8. Sandwich two cookies with cream.

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Love & cookies,

Your Squishy Monster ^.^