Blue Apron - Baked Cod Over Summer Squash & Quinoa

I recently subscribed to this catering program called Blue Apron.  They basically send to your doorsteps, pre-fixed uncooked meals.  All the ingredients are there (except maybe salt, pepper and oil) with instructions for you to prepare your meals. 

Yesterday was the first day we received the box.  It comes in a big box of about 16 lbs, wrapped pretty well with lots of ice packs.  This week's menu is fish, chicken and pork.  We figured it's best to cook the fish first for freshness.  The instructions are pretty thorough.  I would suggest reading through the instructions first as there are short-cuts that someone that is more seasoned can take.

The menu states the calorie count for this meal was about 615.  Not bad.  It is quite healthy.  The husband said he would eat it again.  As for me...I would over rice.  I prefer quinoa in my salads. 

Things I learn from this meal - making garlic butter!  YUM!!  So easy and so tasty.  Salt, pepper and olive oil is added to almost everything.  Prep time can be stream-line more.  We will see on the next meal prep.          

Club Baked - Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

Wow...it's been quite awhile since I have done any blogging and BLOGGER has gone through a facelift of some sort. 

It is my turn to bake and post and I selected Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie for this week's Club Baked installment.  I must say...this recipe is a bit cumbersome in that it required taking out the food processor, cooking and taking out the mixer as well cool down time so you have to wait at least 3 hours after the completion to taste your pie!  I am sort of an instant gratification type of girl!

Anyway....overall I love the crust made out of vanilla wafers and would definitely use that for my next pie recipe (whenever that may be).  I also like the cream as it's not super sweet.  I can see myself using the pie crust and cream for another pie.  As for the banana and peanut butter....I'll be honest....I am not a fan of peanut butter in my baked items (except maybe the occasional peanut butter cookie but that is the extent of it) nor banana other than banana nut bread.  I do like that the pie itself is not overly sweet so I don't feel too bad feeding a bit of this to my 14 month old. 

I wished I could take more pictures but these days, my baking usually happens at about 9 pm at night (after my kid goes off to bed) so the lighting is not at its best.

I took this picture in the morning when the pie had time to sit in the fridge.  

Is there a secret to cutting pies so that they come out a nice clean slice?  Look at my terrible work below.

I did make one modification to the recipe.  Instead of using vanilla bean (which I did not have on hand), I used two teaspoons of vanilla extract.  Thanks Karen for letting me bake this week's installment!

Club Baked -Devils Food Cake w/Angel Frosting

This week's baking was hosted by me!

I was on maternity leave when I initially joined this baking club and I thought I was going to have all this free time to bake and cook. Well....I went back to work in August and there holds the problem. Juggling a full-time career and coming home to an addition in the house has basically meant there is very little free time to do much (sleep included).

However...I did promise Karen that I would bake at this for the beginning of 2012! So here I am baking Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting. I did not have a candy thermometer (something I should really consider buying one of these days) so I decided to skip the angel frosting and just use confectioner's sugar.
I did an 8 inch one layer cake as well as these bite sized cupcakes. I must admit that the bite sized cupcakes are a lot easier to eat that I find myself popping more into my mouth than I really want to devour given all the caffeine that is in this recipe.
We do not have a coffee maker at our house nor do we have instant coffee, however, the husband occasionally drinks French-pressed coffee so I ended up having to make coffee that old-fashioned way using Vietnamese coffee. Anyone who knows Vietnamese coffee will know how strong it is...I've had about three of these cupcake bites. Gosh...I hope I can sleep tonight!

Verdict: The husband and I like devil's food cake. The cake was moist and not super sweet. I almost forgot the brown sugar and ended up adding it to the recipe all the way at the end! I did not use angel frosting so I cannot comment but I found confectioner's sugar to work wonderfully with the cake. I would make this recipe again and opt for all cupcakes rather than the 8 inch cake pan.

Club Baked - Farm Stand Buttermilk Donuts (Three Ways)

This week's baking was hosted by Gloria, The Ginger Snap Girl.

I haven't baked in awhile given all the events that have taken place in my life over the past few months. We welcomed our baby boy in May and life as we know it now, is no longer the same. The day just seems to fly by taking care of a little munchkin. Given that I haven't cooked or baked in awhile, I decided to join Club Baked to help motivate me to get back into the baking or cooking.

Donuts - I've never made donuts before. Actually, I don't regularly eat donuts. The last time I had donuts was about a week or two before my baby was born and that was because I was enticed by some friends to stand in line for an hour for blueberry donuts at this current "happening place" but I am digressing from the original post.

For this baking event, I made half of the recipe and decided to do vanilla glaze, cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar toppings. I did not have whole milk for the vanilla glaze so I used 2% lowfat milk. Tasted fine to me but glaze was a bit more runny.

I also did not have a thermometer on hand so I basically ballpoint the temperature of the oil for frying. After making this recipe, I am not sure I want to eat another donut again. :P There is a ton of oil used in frying donuts! Here are all the donuts fried and ready to be dipped.

TaDa! The finished product! Donuts!

And the donut holes!

Verdict: I had the husband tried them fresh and he thought they were pretty good. Cakey and moist which reminded me of the blueberry donuts I had two months ago. I just might attempt to make donuts again and use blueberries. They are definitely tastier fresh versus next day. I would also make smaller donuts or just make donut holes because those are the easiest to eat. I used a cup for the donuts and a shot glass to make the donut holes.