Chocolate Chip Coconut Bread

My Mom-in-law makes the most deeelish coconut bread ever. Today I made a variation of it with some chocolate chips and walnuts. Hubby didn't think it sounded it good...but I told him it would be kinda like an Almond Joy in bread form and he opened up to the idea :)
And it came out as good as I hoped. Nom!

Chocolate Chip Coconut Bread
Makes 1 large loaf or 4 mini loaves

• 2 eggs
• 1c sugar
• 1/2c oil
• 1tsp coconut extract
• 1-1/2c flour
• 1/4tsp baking powder
• 1/4tsp baking soda
• 1/4tsp salt
• 1/2c buttermilk
• 1/2c sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2c walnuts
• 1/2c chocolate chips

Glaze:

• 1/4c sugar
• 2T water
• 1T butter
• 1/2T coconut extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease pan(s) and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil and coconut extract. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the dry mixture and buttermilk to the wet mix, alternating between the two (start and end with the flour mixture). Then fold in the coconut, walnuts and chocolate chips. Fill pans 3/4 full and bake.
For mini pans: 25-30 minutes.
For a large loaf: about 45 minutes.

While that is baking, make the glaze. In a small saucepan on med-high heat, mix together the sugar, water and butter. Let that boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add the coconut extract. Pour this over the loaves while they are still hot.

Heath Coconut Puppy Chow

Made some treats for our Primary class. Everyone loves puppy chow, right??
I jazzed it up with some of our favorite add-ins: heath and coconut.
So yummy~!

Heath Coconut Puppy Chow

• 7-8c Chex mix
• 1c milk chocolate chips
• 1T vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2c peanut butter
• 1-1/2c powdered sugar
• coconut flakes
• Heath bits

Directions:

Pour chocolate into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds then stir. If it needs more time to melt, microwave in 15-second intervals stirring in between until smooth. Mix in the oil, then stir in the peanut butter. Gently mix in the Chex until coated. Let that bowl sit in the fridge for a bit until cooled to at least room temperature.
Place the powdered sugar into a large ziploc bag and add the Chex. Blow up the bag with as much air as you can and shake it around to get all the cereal coated. Let sit to harden, then sprinkle with Heath and coconut.

Blogs to Follow & a Lemon Strawberry Summer Cake

Whew! I'm a little bit technologically handicapped...I'm slow at learning anything having to do with computers.
But guess what I finally have on my blog...a followers widget!
So now I can be followed! Woot

These are some of my favorite blogs to follow:

Song of Style
Sugar Hero
Joy the Baker
Wendy's Lookbook

And today I went for the first time to this international club that my Vietnamese friend Thuy invited me to. It was so fun to talk with people from all around the world. We ate lots of delicious German food and I'm hoping I can grab the recipes soon.
But in keeping with the international spirit, (kinda...lol) here is a recipe from my favorite Frenchie, Mr. Pierre Herme:

It's a lemon cake with strawberries (according to my source, Herme made it with raspberries and a different olive oil) and it's perfect for the hot weather we've been having lately because it's nice and light. I just topped it with some fresh whipped cream and it was perfect.

Lemon Strawberry Summer Cake

• 1-3/4c flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1c granulated sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 3T milk, room temp
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 7T unsalted butter, melted and still warm
• 2/3c extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
• whipped cream for topping (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 10-in. round pan and set aside.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the lemon zest and sugar and rub them together with your fingers until it becomes moist and crumbly. Add the eggs and beat on med-high speed until pale yellow, about 3 minutes.  Then beat in the milk on low speed. Add the dry ingredients and mix only until combined. Then pour in the lemon juice, melted butter and olive oil. Mix until combined.
Pour about 1/3 of the batter

into the pan and then place 1/3 of your strawberries on top. Cover that with more batter and repeat until you've used up the batter and strawberries. Bake for 30-40 minutes and cool completely.
Tastes great with a dollop of whipped cream :)

Strawberry Crumb Bars

I have another new favorite blog. It's called Crunchy Creamy Sweet and it's where I got this recipe.
I love her photos, they are beautiful.

And her recipes too, of course :)

Strawberry Crumb Bars
Ever so slightly adapted from Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Crust:

• 1/2c butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1-1/2c flour
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 1/2tsp baking soda
• 1/2tsp baking powder
• 1/4tsp salt

Filling:

• 1c strawberry pie filling
• 1/2c sour cream
• 1/4c granulated sugar
• 1T flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a square 8-in. pan and set aside.

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients for the crust. Then add the melted butter and mix until a dough forms. Take about 1/3 of that and press it down on the bottom of the pan to form the crust. The rest will be sprinkled on top.

For the filling, mix together all of the ingredients and pour over the crust. Sprinkle the rest of the dough on top and bake for about 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let cool completely.

Cafe Rio Pork Salad

Was craving Cafe Rio so I went all out today. Made it from scratch from top to bottom.
I don't know if it's possible to duplicate it exactly at home but I bet this is the closest you can get, it was really yummy~ hubby usually doesn't like sweet meats but he loved this.

I got all of the recipes from HERE. My pork recipe was from elsewhere but ends up it's almost the same as this one anyways.

Here are some tips:

• Make sure to use real mayo for the sauce. I used Miracle Whip because that's what we had but mayo would taste much better.
• The only thing I didn't make was their guacamole; I used a mix for that. This meal is so time-consuming I'll probably do that in the future too.
• Their recipe doesn't specify a type of rice and it doesn't really matter but I personally prefer long-grain rices in Mexican dishes.

Peach Lemonade Crumb Muffins

Peach Lemonade Crumb Muffins
Makes 25-30

Muffins: (adapted from HERE)

• 3c flour
• 2c sugar
• 1/4+1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/4+1/8 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 1c vanilla yogurt
• 1c butter, melted
• 1-1/2T lemon zest
• 1T lemon juice
• 1-2c chopped peaches (I used frozen)

Topping:

• 1/4c+2T flour
• 1/4c+2T sugar
• 2T cold butter, cubed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, yogurt, butter, zest and juice. Add to the dry mixture and stir until just combined and then add in the peaches.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour and sugar for the topping then cut in the cold butter (a pastry blender is best for this).
Fill muffin wells 3/4 full and sprinkle the batter with the topping. Bake for 20 minutes.
 

Nutella Raspberry Trifles

A couple of nights ago hubby was experimenting with whipped cream. He made a rose-flavored one and a raspberry one.
The next night we had breakfast food for dinner so I took those out along with some raspberries to put on our waffles. That combo with Nutella...is money.
So to use up the rest of my raspberries I did a similar combo in trifle form...with these layers:

brownie
Nutella cream (recipe from Martha)
raspberries with juice
whipped cream

Mmm. So good.

 

Nutella Raspberry Trifles

• 1/2 pkg brownie mix
• 1/2c Nutella
• 2c whipping cream, divided
• 1pkg (12oz) frozen raspberries, thawed
• sugar

Directions:

Bake the brownies and let cool completely.

For the cream, place one cup of whipping cream in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the Nutella. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl and place in the fridge until chilled.
Meanwhile, in a separate mixing bowl beat the rest of the cream until stiff peaks form, adding sugar to taste.
Once the Nutella mix is chilled, beat until stiff peaks.

To assemble:
Cut brownies into cubes and form a layer on the bottom of each trifle dish.
Spoon about a half-inch layer of Nutella cream on top of that, then follow with a thin layer of raspberries, then top with the whipped cream.
Let refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.