If you don’t know what simple syrup is, it’s just a mixture of sugar and water….equal parts. So, in other words, if you use 1 cup of sugar, you would add 1 cup of water. Many restaurants and bars use it to sweeten drinks, rather than adding sugar. Sugar granules take awhile to dissolve, whereas simple syrup mixes right in, since its liquid. Bakeries brush it on cakes to keep cakes moist. You can flavor (infuse) the water sugar mixture with just about anything. Some of the flavors that I have made, are coconut, lime, lemon, raspberry, cinnamon, chili, and my all time favorite…….ginger…..fresh ginger. If you follow my blog, I guess you know by now, how much I LOVE ginger. This batch that I just made, is lemon ginger. Oh yummmm. I love to mix it in my iced tea. So refreshing and delicious. Simple syrup will keep in the refrigerator for about a month. But you will use it long before that!

So, let me give you some ideas as to what you can do with simple syrup.

– add it to hot or cold tea, coffee and alcoholic beverages
– drizzle over fresh fruit or salad
– moisten cakes…poke holes all over a cake and drizzle on the simple syrup, or you can brush it on. Gives the cake great flavor and keeps it moist
– brush over chicken or fish
– did I mention mixing it with alcoholic beverages? oh, yeah, I guess I did. 🙂
This makes great gifts too. Pour it in some pretty little bottles and add some ribbon. Pair it up with a bottle of vodka, rum, or even a box of tea, in a gift basket.
It’s really great stuff.

Lemon Ginger Simple Syrup

2 cups sugar
2 cups of  water
Zest of 2 or 3 lemons (depending on size of lemons)
2 Tblsp fresh grated  or sliced ginger

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cook on medium heat, just until the sugar is dissolved, turn off heat.  Allow to sit covered, for a few hours. The longer it sits, the more intense the flavor is. But you don’t have to flavor your simple syrup at all.

If you are a fan of shortbread, you know how you get that buttery crunch when you take a bite. I love shortbread. It’s delicious and so easy to make. I have made so many kinds of shortbread….orange, cranberry, lemon, chocolate chip, pecan, pistachio…..oh wow, so many kinds. But my most favorite is oatmeal shortbread. If you are not a fan of oatmeal, don’t be turned off by this…don’t wrinkle your nose. You’re not going to get a mouthful of gooey, mushy oatmeal. Instead, you will get a mouthful of toasty, buttery, crumbly cookie with a bit of oatmeal crunch. You will love it! I just know you will. You may want to even drizzle some melted chocolate on these buttery little wedges of yumminess.

Pour yourself a hot cup of tea or coffee to go with your shortbread and sit back and spoil yourself.

Oatmeal Shortbread

1  1/2 sticks of cold butter, cut up in cubes
1  cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup oatmeal, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
3 Tblsp brown sugar
3 Tblsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

In a food processor, add the flour, oats and salt. Pulse until finely ground. Add the sugars and give it a quick pulse. Add the butter and extract and pulse until you have a clumpy mixture. Dump it all into a  lightly buttered cake pan or 8×8 square pan. Gently press it down evenly until the mixture reaches the edges of the pan.  Sprinkle on the remaining 2 tablespoons of oats and about a tablespoon of sugar.

Bake at 325 deg, for 35-40 minutes, or until its golden brown. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, cut into squares or wedges.

All I can say is this….this is THE best chocolate pudding I have ever had. Very decadent, creamy, heavenly.  Seriously.

Simply said……..Simply made. I am happy….

  Best Chocolate Pudding

5  Tblsp cocoa powder (6 if you like a stronger, darker chocolate)
3  Tblsp corn starch
1/8 tsp salt
1  cup heavy cream
2 large egg yolks
2 cups WHOLE milk  (none of that low fat, watered down fake milk) trust me.
1/2 cup sugar

Sift the cocoa powder, cornstarch, salt together in a medium sized bowl. Mix in the heavy cream, smooshing out the lumps. It’s going to be thick. Mix in the egg yolks until well combined. Set it aside.

In a medium sized sauce pan, heat the milk and sugar over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Let the sugar dissolve. Just when you see the little tiny bubbles forming, remove from heat and stir in half of it into your cocoa/cream  mixture. Once it is smooth, pour it into the sauce pan with the rest of the milk. Bring it to a soft boil, whisking slowly and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching. Your mixture will start to thicken. Let it come to a big boil. Start whisking for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Transfer the pudding into a shallow baking dish or ramekins and chill for at least an hour. YES, 1 hour at least. Now you must know that I didn’t wait. I LOVE hot pudding. But I also saved some, that I did let chill. I conduct strict quality control, you know! Oh my….I am in love.

This recipe is based on a recipe that I found awhile back in a magazine. But I don’t remember who to give credit to…sorry. But whoever you are, your pudding is fantastic.

I have been craving pasta. Actually, I am always craving pasta. But I didn’t want the standard tomato sauce….I didn’t  want anything  too heavy either. So I made a wonderful pasta with fresh mushrooms, garlic, and rondele Cheese. Rondele cheese comes in a round little tub and it is creamy and flavored with herbs. It is great to stuff chicken breasts.

I used ground chicken too. No beef!! Now, that is a huge deal for me because I am a beef loving girl. I like chicken, but chicken bores me and what could be more boring than ground chicken! Normally I would use Italian sausage in this dish, but I gotta tell ya, the ground chicken worked. It was mild enough to not compete with the wonderful, earthy flavor of  the mushrooms.  The mushrooms are the star of the show, here. This dish is all about those mushrooms. Oh, and that creamy, delicious rondele Cheese. Yes-sssssss. I broke up some lasagna noodles and it was perfect with this sauce. Big folds of pasta coated with this creamy sauce. To top it all off, I sprinkled it with some grated Romano cheese. The only thing that was missing was some crusty French bread to dip in that sauce! So make sure you have some good bread with this dish. Enjoy..

 Pasta with Mushrooms and Cheese

1  1/2 lbs of fresh mushrooms (I used button mushrooms and baby portobellos)
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup of vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup of rondele cheese
1/2 lb of ground chicken or Italian sausage (meat is optional) This is just as good as a vegetarian dish
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup grated romano cheese
approx. 3 cups of your favorite cooked pasta (I used broken lasagna noodles)

In a large skillet, fry chicken or sausage in a little bit of olive oil. Add the minced garlic and mushrooms. Allow mushrooms to cook. Add the stock. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the Rondele cheese, black pepper and about 1/4 cup of the romano cheese. Add cooked pasta and stir until everything is mixed. Allow to cook at low heat for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining romano cheese and serve with some good, crusty bread. Yum

What can I say about lemon bars? Everyone loves them. I think most people have made them. Some are super sweet, some have that sour pucker…..which I like. Some have a graham cracker crust but most are made with a shortbread crust. That is what I like. But I put a little bit of almond and vanilla in my crust. I also slightly undercook my crust, so that it is soft and tender and just melts in your mouth. M-mmm. I also use extra lemon zest. A dear friend of mine had a birthday today. I told her that I would bake her anything that she wants. She didn’t even hesitate. She wanted lemon bars……and lemon bars she got. Happy Birthday Stephanie.

Lemon Bars

For crust:
2 sticks of softened butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1  3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup ground almonds (food processor makes this easy)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For filling:
6 large eggs
3 cups of sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon zest
1 cup of fresh lemon juice
1 cup of flour

For the crust: Heat oven to 350. Mix together the butter and sugar. Add the flour, almonds and vanilla. When it all comes together into a nice dough, place it into a 13×9 baking dish and press evenly until the dough covers the entire bottom of the pan. Chill for about 15 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes, until light brown. Allow to cool.

For the filling (oh yum, the best part): Whisk the eggs, sugar and zest together until well mixed. Add the lemon juice and the flour. Whisk, whisk until really smooth and all the little flour lumps are gone. If you have to smoosh the lumps against the side of your bowl, do that. You want a smooth filling! Pour the filling onto your cooled crust and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. A very thin sugary crust will form on top. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Ohhhhhhhhhh, you are going to love, love these.

Note: you don’t have to use almonds in your crust. Just replace the almonds with flour. But its really good with almonds. Pistachios are great too. Maybe you should make two batches! one with nuts, one without! yes!