Dylan & Erica’s Place…

Let me tell you a story about when my husband and I started dating. Dylan worked at a big public accounting firm and had to go out of town a lot. I was quite upset and sad whenever he left and always needed something to do to take my mind off of it. I just missed him a lot. Everyone say together.. Awwwwww. Well one of these times he had to leave to go to I believe it was to Chicago. I decided I would go to build a bear (I know real grown-up of me, I should have went to a wine bar instead), with a friend and build a monkey. I have no idea why. Monkeys are so interesting to me and they always look so happy. They are amazing creatures.

I stuffed this piece of cloth shaped like a monkey and created our friend, Roger. Yes I even named this stuffed monkey. Roger is his name and he sits on my dresser. I’m sure he loves it. He gets to sit there every day and watch TV. Yes, I am acting like a child with a huge imagination but at least I still have one. Ahhhh what it was like to be a child again.

Now to talk about Monkey Bread, also known at our house as Roger Bread (hence the reason why I told the story above). My older brother Garry came down to visit one day and he was talking about this bread he had at a house party that someone made. He said it had cinnamon, brown sugar, and maple syrup in it and it was ooey and gooey. Hmmm what was this boy talking about? We googled it and found it to be Monkey Bread. We found a recipe online at all recipes and the boys went to the store and bought all the ingredients and made it. Within 2 hours it was devoured. There was nothing left.

Recently Dylan and I were watching the Food Network and ran across a show, Sugar Rush, and they were making Roger Bread!! But with a slight difference. They added cream cheese. NO WAY. My favorite. Cream cheese.. inside this Monkey Bread. I have to make it. Well I made a few changes and my new “Roger Bread” was created. Enjoy this with some vanilla ice cream and I won‘t tell you how many calories is in it. You can just imagine it is fat free. Enjoy our Roger Bread!

Roger Bread, adapted from Vita Shanley 2005

Flour or spray for coating the bundt pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup of maple syrup
20 buttermilk canned refrigerator biscuits
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into 20 cubes
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups walnuts — I omitted co-workers with allergies. I don’t want to kill anyone!

Lightly grease a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Separate biscuits and flatten each slightly with your hand. Coat each biscuit with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. (There will be some sugar mixture left over)
Place one cube of cream cheese in center of biscuit and fold in half to resemble a half moon.

Melt the 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar, maple syrup and bring to a boil; remove from the heat.

Place 1/2 cup nuts on the bottom of the bundt pan (if applicable) and then line the pan with a row of cream cheese filled biscuits.
Sprinkle with half of the leftover cinnamon and sugar mixture. Drizzle half of the butter mixture on top and then repeat steps, beginning with nuts (if applicable)

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Remove from the pan when it’s still hot to avoid sticking. Place three scoops of ice cream in the center hole and enjoy!

Recently I found this website, Blake Makes from Foodie Bride which gives out free food. Yes free food. I saw on Foodie Bride’s blog that she made some yummy yummy brownies with Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche. Who on earth would make such a thing. Doesn’t that person know there probably is 1,000 calories in one serving of that stuff? Seriously? There has to be. Well I don’t know exactly. I haven’t tried it…. YET. I should be receiving this finger licking goodness pretty soon. I heard its in the mail.

I was one of the lucky 40 or so people to get my hands on some Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche. Problem is.. What do I make with this goodness? I will only have one jar and man I want to make EVERYTHING and anything with this. Or wait, I just want to eat it. Darn it, I need to make something. Hmmm so I got to pondering…I thought about my dad. Let me tell you a little about my dad.

My dad is amazing. He is a wonderful baker (my mom is the “cook” in the family, my dad and I only know how to bake and fry stuff. Wow, we are alot like Paula Deen). Back to my dad. My dad is also a little nuts. He loves ice cream. Ice cream .. any kinda of ice cream. This man eats a bowl of ice cream every.single.night before he goes to bed. Every night. Every night. To make it even better he even has a candy bar with it. Yes this isn’t healthy but the man gave up drinking beer and started eating ice cream. I’m sure his doctor is happy :-).

I remember growing up my favorite thing to do on weekends is making homemade ice cream. My dad used to go to the store and get TONS of ice and rock salt and hours later we would have homemade ice cream. It was so good and yummy and Oh.My.Goodness CREAMY. Gosh I miss that. I got to thinking PBDDL ice cream.. this is going to be the best ever!!! I can’t wait to make it. You have no idea. With some sprinkles on top.. Thank you for stretchy pants and gym shorts.

First item of business make some ice cream with PBDDL. I have a feeling Ben and Jerry’s might be calling up Blake and me and wanting our recipes. Hey if Steven Colbert can do it, we can right?

First of all lets clarify for everyone out there is it, PRAY - LEENS or PRAW-LEENS? You tell me? Pralines. Actually it can be pronounced either way you prefer. Lets just say my crazy husband from Louisiana says, PRAW-LEANS along with my good ole’ co-worker Sarah. I should believe them. They know. I don’t. Regardless of what they are called for this time being, we can call them “pecan of goodness”.

So I never really had pralines growing up. Most likely because I thought they looked ugly. Yes I was one of those kids. If it didn’t look pretty, I wouldn’t eat it. Let me tell you my Godmother’s Dirt Cake was my favorite favorite dessert ever and all it was… oreos, pudding, and whipped cream. Amazing what would make me happy.

Well I am bigger now and my eyes have opened and now I know what this “pecan of goodness” is. Amazing. When I first met my husband all he could talk about was his momma’s cooking. I thought to myself, “Oh no, I have one of those on my hands”. Whenever I went to visit them for the first time she made us what my husband would call, “her famous rolls”. (One of the many things he misses from home). I took a bite and thought to myself. There is no way in HELL I can compete or meet his expectations. No way. I even had her shrimp bread which my husband talked about ALL.THE.TIME. He said I HAD to try it. Even though shrimp makes me get hives and visit the toilet and throw up. (Thank you God for the allergy to shellfish). I just couldn’t compete with this woman. She is like Paula Deen just about 100 lbs thinner. How she stays thin and cooks all these wonderful treats… I HAVE NO IDEA! Beats my mind, except for the fact I know she visits Curves religiously.

Now off to talk about her pralines. Dylan, my husband, used to talk about how his mom ALWAYS sent out Christmas Candy at Christmas. Well ummm yeah I just buy Christmas Candy what are you talking about? Luckily we got some and Oh.My.God the fudge, the chocolate covered pretzels, the haystacks, and the PRALINES. Yes for the first time I had a PRALINES!! I love her. I really do. If she lived with us I would be a 500lb blimp but I would still love her. Her food is Louisiana Goodness. Yummy. Okay now off to post about these.

My co-workers were lucky enough to try some of her famous pralines and well everyone knows I have her wonderful book of recipes so guess what? I’m gonna try to make some. Here is my experience. They came out wonderful. Even Dylan said, “Awww tastes like my mom’s”. Mission Accomplished. Thank you Momma Kathy for these wonderful recipes. Your daughter loves you =)

Pecan Pralines, adapted from Momma Kathy

• 4 cups of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of evaporated milk
• 1 stick of butter or margarine
• 4 cups of chopped pecans

Cover a large area of a smooth surface (table) with saran wrap or wax paper. In large pot with deep sides, add 3 cups of granulated sugar, milk, and butter. In small pot add the remaining sugar (1 cup).

Cook both pots over high heat, stirring constantly. Keep a watch on the small pot (be careful not to let it burn as you are melting the cup of sugar to a light caramel color).

When the sugar in the small pot is melted (do not leave on heat, it will burn) and the contents in the large pot is bubbling around the edge, pour the contents of the small pot very slowly into the large pot, stirring constantly. Add pecans and place a candy thermometer in the pot, keep heat on high. Continue to stir the candy until the temperature reaches 234 degrees.

Remove from heat and set to cool for 5 - 7 minutes. Remove the thermometer and stir candy until it starts to thicken slightly and the shine of the candy dulls slightly about 5-10 more minutes. It will become a duller color. Scoop out the pralines onto the prepared saran wrap or wax paper. If the candy in the pot starts to get too thick, scoop the rest into a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds, stir and scoop out the rest of the pralines.

The Kitchen!!

I sometimes feel Hearts Day is overrated. We aren’t in high school. I feel like its a high school holiday. I hate how people ask what did your boyfriend or husband get you? Or “What?!? You didn’t get anytyihng for Valentine’ Day? He must not love you.” Ummm yes my relationship is built around Valentine’s Day. Ummm I think NOT! Sorry I really just don’t like all the hype. Every day should be Valentine’s Day. We should love and show each other THIS much everyday. Right? But yet I do like Heart’s Day. I ALWAYS tell Dylan I don’t want anything. I mean deep down inside I do but I don’t. You all know what I am talking about girls. ALL OF YOU! Don’t lie. Well Dylan and I just bought our first house and this is my Valentine’s Gift. No going out to fancy overrated resturants to wait in line for 2 hours this year! We are making dinner and dessert at home! In my nice kitchen. As a sneak peek of dessert…

Well everyone will be happy to know I got a huge @ss kitchen. Sorry for the derogatory comment but my kitchen is so BIG! You have no idea what I used to bake / cook it. I will show you. Just so you know.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

First item of business.. making some good ole pralines. I promise I will make some and post pictures soon! Thanks everyone for understanding and soon enough I will be baking again in my new house / kitchen!

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