Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

Hello and happy (belated) new year! I know it’s been a while since I’ve shared some recipes with you. I had a lot of things going on in the second half of 2012 and unfortunately they kept me away from blogging. But it didn’t keep me from cooking and taking pictures so I have a lot to share with you.

I’m gonna start this year off with one of my favorite recipes. This is a big hit around Christmas time, but I think you can still enjoy them throughout the winter. Although the cookies don’t need to be baked, they can be pretty messy. They’re very easy to make, though, and the hardest part is coating the cookies with chocolate. Although they are addicting, these cookies freeze well so they can last a while if you can restrain yourself.

Homemade Iced Coffee

Now that the awful weather that makes you want soup is over and Boston’s starting to feel like it’s supposed to in June, it’s time to talk iced coffee. When it’s hot and sticky and humid out, the last thing I want to do is reach for a boiling hot cup of coffee. I love Dunkin Donuts’ iced coffee, but they rarely get my order right and buying iced coffees every day can really add up. So, like with many things, I make my own iced coffee and it’s actually a lot easier than I thought and cheaper. 

The key to making iced coffee is to cold brew it. There’s a lot of articles out there (including this one, if you care to read about it) that tell you that cold brewing is the only way to go. I personally haven’t tried other methods like making it hot and letting it cool down, because the cold brew method works really well and I didn’t need to try anything else. The one thing to note is that this recipe makes a coffee concentrate that is pretty strong. Depending on your tastes, you can dilute it with equal parts water and coffee or more or less. Then sweeten as you like. Me, I just add a splash of skim milk pop in a straw, and I’m good to go.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

I don’t know how the weather is where you are, but the crappy weather we have in Boston now is pretty miserable. It’s 50 degrees out and raining. The heat is on in my apartment. And it’s supposed to stay like this all week, even though it’s June. In times like these, you definitely need some comforting soup, but not something too heavy like what you’d reach for in the winter when it’s 30 degrees out and snowing. Enter cream of asparagus soup: Now I know that might not seem like the most exciting soup, but trust me, this stuff is good. It’s also vegetarian (perfect for meatless Mondays, if you do that type of thing), easy, and only calls for a few ingredients. Moreover, there’s very little cream in the soup so it’s still pretty light. I had two bowls for dinner along with toast – one slice cheesy per Martha’s suggestion and one with just butter – but I think it would be best as a first course. It’s not heavy at all and I’m really surprised at the flavor, especially given that it uses water as a base instead of chicken or any other kind of broth. Basically, if you’re stuck with crummy weather like we are, this spring soup is a good idea to warm you up while using seasonal ingredients.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Good morning sunshine! It’s the weekend and you know what that means, right? Awesome breakfast food, like this muffin right here: See, at the weekends, you can actually take time to make breakfast instead of grabbing something as you run out the door. Since you also don’t want to work too hard, these muffins are great because they’re pretty easy and quick to make. You don’t even need fresh blueberries, frozen ones work great. In fact, I usually buy a lot of blueberries in the summer when they’re on sale and freeze them for later use. It’s my grown-up, city version of picking blueberries. When I was younger, my whole family would pick pounds of blueberries that would allow us to have delicious blueberry muffins and pancakes all winter.

This recipe is actually from the farm where we used to pick blueberries. Before we found this recipe, my mom used to make a very sweet, unhealthy muffin made with shortening and lots of sugar. These muffins are made with whole wheat flour, less sugar, and oil instead of shortening. Plus, you can keep the leftovers for weekday breakfasts- perfect to grab when you’re running out of the door.

Traditional Irish Brown Bread

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up tomorrow, I know you’re probably getting ready to celebrate. For lots of my fellow Americans, this mostly means dying foods green: green beer, green bagels, and this awful Burger King promotion for green ketchup to go with free fries. Me, I like to keep to my roots and make some Irish brown bread.

This bread is ridiculously easy, super fast to make, and also pretty healthy. Even better, it doesn’t require a stand mixer or yeast. Pair it with some Kerrygold Irish butter (available at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Shaw’s in the Boston area) and it makes me feel like I’m back at my Granny’s house in Dublin, preparing to go out with my cousins to celebrate.