This is what I used to tell my nephew in my futile attempt to get him to eat slower. I tell you, elementary school aged boys can plow through a plate of food.  But, I am saying this now to prove I eat things other than dessert. It's not all cakes, cookies, and pies in my kitchen. Sometimes I try to eat a well balanced meal. Here are some non-dessert things I've made recently....

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes!

You take buttermilk pancakes and add some poppy seeds and lemon zest. I also threw in the juice of said lemon because otherwise it would have sat on the counter making me feel guilty.

"Egyptian" Tomato Soup

I tagged this recipe last year and was able to make it as a shooter appetizer for a dinner party my friend was having. He made Ethiopian food... including homemade injera. I made this soup. I know that they're different cuisines but I figured many African nations have similar spice profiles so I'd take some liberties. I'm not sure how authentic this is. But, I will say it was delicious and super easy. Plus, I got to use my immersion blender! It's soup season... holla!





Step 3: Blend til smooth.... Enjoy!

Soup and Sammie lunch! 

Oh Rachael Ray... get outta my head with all your made up words! I didn't get either of these recipes from Ray Ray though. The Farmer's Sandwich came from Kitchen Therapy. Gotta love that blog! Since it was a dreary day I toasted mine in the oven. Who knew apples, cheese and onion makes such a great sandwich? The soup is Curried Lentil w/ Chickpea puree, and I got the recipe from Serious Eats.





So yes... I do eat things other than cookies and cakes. This is proof! I've got some more fall soup recipes up my sleeve too. As the weather turns cooler and the evenings get darker sooner what will you do to find a bit of cold weather pleasure?

So remember how I made those oatmeal cookies with malt powder? I had some left over right? So what's a girl to do? I needed to cull my pantry in order to make room for more, newer, ingredients. I decided to take my malt powder and turn my favorite ice cream into a cupcake. Enter the Chubby Hubby cupcake.

For those not in the know... Chubby Hubby is a Ben & Jerry's flavor. It's got malted vanilla ice cream, chocolate covered PB filled pretzels, chocolate swirls and PB swirls. In short. It is awesome. Sweet, salty, and malty!

First task... integrating the pretzel element. I chose the crumb crust route. I figured it'd give a bit of texture to the cupcake experience in the form of a buttery, crunchy, bottom layer. So I took out my food processor and crushed up some pretzels.

Then I mixed them with a couple table spoons of melted butter and smooshed them into the bottom of my cupcake liners.




Next up? Chocolate! I used a chocolate cupcake recipe from How Sweet It Is. I wanted something with actual chocolate and cocoa powder. I'm a glutton like that. I also recently realized that I left my hand mixer's beater blades at the summer rental house my family stayed at so I wanted something that didn't require creaming butter and sugar for the batter.







Now let's get to the best part.... make some plain old vanilla butter cream.... Dump the remaining malt powder into it.... Beat the hell out of it with a fork. As you work on your arm muscles don't be upset you left your beaters in Michigan City, because now your forearms get that work out they've been needing!


 Cupcake assembly line!

Finally... it was time for a garnish? What's my rule about garnish? It should give you a hint as to what flavors to expect in your food. Is this what Alton Brown would do? Alex Guarnaschelli? I'm not sure. But it's how I role.