Southern Sunday Y'all

BryGuy wanted one thing for Father's Day and that was homemade coconut cake. Seeing as though it was his first Father's Day, I thought granting his dessert wishes would be a nice thing to do. And since the weather forecast looked pretty good, he decided to smoke some ribs and some pork butt. While the meats were cooking, I whipped up some coleslaw, and Bry mixed up some tasty bourbon cocktails... and my friends, Southern Sunday was born. Check out more photos from our Father's Day below. Also, if you're interested in making the most refreshing bourbon cocktail in your own home, here's the recipe for a Whisky Smash.

Cinnamon Roll Popcorn

What do you do when you have a serious sweet tooth but you don't have any sweets in your house? Work with what you've got people! I got a little creative with a bag of popcorn and whipped up this creation that I've been thinking about ever since. You can eat it for breakfast (since it's inspired by a popular breakfast pastry) or dessert, or both -- live life on the edge people! Get the recipe below and make this fancy popcorn for a special treat or gift. 

For the love of olive oil

If my first love is butter, my second love is olive oil. Nothing beats a good quality olive oil -- you can dip bread in it, drizzle it on your cream soups, use it to dress your favorite salad, cook with it and even bake with it. And outside of the kitchen, sometimes I even use it on my chapped lips or dry hair. The key to a good experience with olive oil is investing in a quality product. I know, I know, it's expensive! But I recently learned of a reasonably priced olive oil that tastes like a million bucks. So today, I've got two recipes that showcase this most special of ingredients.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes a chewy, gooey, classic chocolate chip cookie is exactly what you need to brighten your day. I make desserts all the time in varying shapes and sizes, but when I had to bring something to a friend's house recently I thought, why not stick to the original crowd pleaser! In case you're too lazy to Google the recipe yourself, or look on the back of your oatmeal container... get the full recipe below. 

Apples & Salted Caramel Bridal Shower Favors

One of my co-workers is getting married this weekend so we wanted to put together a little bridal shower before her big day. We gathered for a nice luncheon and I was in charge of putting together favors for the occasion. I immediately turned to the interwebs for some inspiration. Since it's fall and all I thought an autumn-themed gift would be appropriate and I personally like favors that are edible. That landed me on this cute idea, and apple with a little jar of homemade caramel. You would think that caramel would be too tricky to make at home, but believe me, it's really easy (no candy thermometer needed) and probably tastes better than anything you can buy in a store! Get the full recipe for the homemade salted caramel plus links to make the favors below. 

Grilled pineapple with cinnamon whipped cream

This recipe is very complex. Basically, you grill some pineapple and then top it off with fresh whipped cream. Sounds impossible doesn't it? I kid. It's super easy. The hardest part is whipping the heavy cream (which, if you have a decent stand mixer, isn't really hard at all.) What I love about this dessert is that it feels rich and decadent, but it's simple and on the scale of really unhealthy to not-that-unhealthy, this one definitely falls in the latter category. Oh, and I must mention, this may or may not be the pineapple that was featured in my Memorial Day Weekend post. Check out more photos below.

Tres Leches Cake

I've loved tres leches cake ever since my very first bite in high school. I had a volleyball teammate whose mom made it for a few different occasions and ever since then, I just have to order it if it's on a menu. I really never thought about making it myself. I figured if there's three kinds of milk (that's what tres leches means...) then it must be super complicated. I mean, come on, that's a lot of types of milk! But, when I asked BryGuy what dessert I should make over the weekend, he immediately said tres leches. So I looked it up, and low and behold, it didn't appear to be all that complicated. 

And, can I just add, there actually are four kinds of milk in this recipe. FOUR. KINDS. OF. MILK. Cuatros leches! I feel like I've been fooled all of these years. 

I was so happy with how this came out, it's moist (because it's soaked in leches) and not too dense and not to light, and not sickeningly sweet either, it's juuuust right. Also, I do not recommend this cake to those with a lactose intolerance. You might be able to handle one leche, but not tres or cuatros. Full recipe and additional photos below.

Cookies, cookies, and some more cookies

It's national cookie month. No, it's not, that's actually October. But I have no idea why it's not December! There has to be more cookies made and consumed in the month of December than all of the other months combined. At least that's how it goes in my house. I've been working hard in the kitchen these past couple of weeks to make up some delicious cookies to give out as gifts. Also, I have a policy that for every cookie I give away, I get to eat one as well. It's doing wonders for my waistline...

This year I made an assortment of treats -- Polka Dot Merigues which are my father's favorite and surprisingly not that difficult to make (even though meringue gets a bad rap.) Shortbread Bites, which are my personal favorite, they are so simple and so buttery. And lastly, I added Oatmeal Caramel Bars to my repertoire this season. I brought them to a party and they were a huge hit, so I whipped up some more to share with others. Get all the recipes and see more photos below. 

Pumpkin cupcakes with maple cinnamon frosting

Yes, I know it's cliché. Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, bitches be loving pumpkin this time of year. I'm aware that it's the official "flavor of fall" and it makes everyone feel really warm and cozy inside. But the thing is, I actually really do like pumpkin...like all year round, not just for two months of the year. I also love cupcakes (also cliché - I'm such a girl) but I'm very particular about the cake consistency and the frosting. 

Well, I've been itching to use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for the first time since receiving it as a bridal shower gift over a year ago. We were heading over to a friend's house and I needed to bring a dessert, so I decided that pumpkin cupcakes with a flavored frosting would be just the thing. The cupcakes turned out better than I could have expected, they were moist and fluffy and the frosting was the perfect compliment and not too sweet.

Homemade pistachio and coffee ice cream

We have had a beautiful ice cream maker sitting in storage for about a year now. It was one of those things that we I put on our wedding registry because we I thought it would be so cool to make homemade ice cream and frozen yogurt. Picture this scene in Bed, Bath & Beyond "Bry, of course if we had an ice cream maker we would use it all the time! It will be awesome because there won't be any preservatives, we can make crazy cool flavor combinations, and instead of buying a whole gallon we can just make individual servings!" (That last part was a bold faced lie.) BryGuy just shakes his head. 

But alas, the poor machine just sat there in storage, just waiting to be taken out of it's box. 

The Last Supper...Before Sandy

We weren't really sure what to expect from Hurricane Sandy, turns out, we were graciously spared from her wrath in our neighborhood of Philadelphia. However, in preparation for the storm I thought I would cook up a big dinner and hopefully have some leftovers that we could dig into if we lost power. 

Whenever I'm in need of a real rustic home-cooked meal, I turn to a great recipe for braised short ribs (courtesy of Bon Appetit magazine) made in the slow-cooker. Also, I whipped up a cauliflower mash and brussels sprouts with bacon and onion. AND since we had picked up a bag of apples from the orchard - purchased during our quest for cider doughnuts, I thought I might as well make some apple crisp to wash it all down. 

Braised short ribs - see full recipe

Apple crisp a la mode

See more photos of this dinner after the jump!