Opening Day of Boating is this Saturday! Is it a big deal where you live? It's a big deal for me. It means that it's almost summer. It's almost time to hang out on the boat. To have cocktails in the sun. To smell the ocean. I adore being on the boat.
Even if you aren't on a boat this weekend, you can still feel the call of the ocean with a little Fish Food.
What is Cinco de Mayo without tacos?! If you have time, then my
are a fab choice {or sub out beef for pork!}. If you don't have time, that's where fish tacos are a marvelous choice. Fish tacos cook ridiculously fast and require very little prep. You can literally get home from work at six and be eating by seven - with time in there to set the table, drop some flowers in a vase, and pour yourself a cocktail!
Follow Alexandra Hedin's board Inspired by Cinco de Mayo on Pinterest.
have fun. be fun.
Have you made Pineapple Upside Down Cake recently? Or ever? Do you know how simple it is? Totally fabby and worthy of a weeknight party. Any night of the week.
Topping ::
3 ounces butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
5 pineapple rings
5 maraschino cherries
Cake Batter ::
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped pineapple
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom of an 8x8 pan and line with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer whip together butter and brown sugar until light in color and fluffy. Using an offset spatula, evenly cover the bottom of the prepared pan with the brown sugar mixture. Place drained and dried pineapple rings on top of the brown sugar mixture and place one cherry in the center of each ring.
Clean out the mixing bowl and whip together eggs and sugar until light and airy. Add vanilla. In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients and add them to the egg mixture. Mix in flour with as few strokes as possible. Add pineapple and combine.
Pour batter over pineapple rings and smooth out with an offset spatula. Bake 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let rest 5 minutes before inverting. When slightly cooled, place a platter on the top of the pan and flip over so cake lands on the plate.
Serve warm.
I am so excited to let you in on a project we've been working on for the past two weeks - Black Cod videos + recipes with Metropolitan Market! I'm totally in love with Metropolitan Market, their gorgeous stores, their amazing staff, and I feel totally honored to get to work with them to create these short videos that help you feel more confident when you buy groceries.
Black Cod is especially delicious. It's a rich and buttery fish from Alaska that's almost impossible to screw up. Because of the high oil content {the good kind - Omega 3} the fish is really lenient when it comes to over cooking. It can be over cooked - don't get me wrong - but if you stay within the window of cooking time you will be ok.
You can check out the entire Black Cod promotion + videos and recipes on the
. And then come back and let me know what you think! I love your feedback.
A classic cake never goes out of style. But sometimes you want something more fun than a 'classic cake.' That's why I turned the salted caramel frosting in this dreamy cake pink. A few drops of gel food coloring and we're not just having a party, we're having a P.A.R.T.Y.
1 cup butter
2 cup sugar
4 whole eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of four 8 inch cake pans. Line each pan with a round of parchment paper and butter the parchment paper. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add cocoa powder and whip until creamy.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients.
Equally divide batter among four prepared pans and bake 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Salted Caramel Frosting
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups butter
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat sugar over medium heat. When edges begin to turn brown, stir gently {only once or twice} with a wooden spoon. Let the sugar continue to heat until all of it has turned into an amber syrup. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in one tablespoon of cream. The mixture will sputter and steam. Be careful. Continue whisking cream in a slow steady stream until completely incorporated. Pour into a heatproof dish and let cool to room temperature.
In the bottom of the heat proof bowl from a stand mixer, heat egg whites and remaining sugar to 160 degrees on a candy thermometer whisking often. When the mixture reaches 160 degrees, attach the bowl to the stand mixer and whisk on medium high speed until the egg whites form a stiff peak. Switch out to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. When all butter is incorporated, beat on high for 3-5 minutes. Stir in room temperature caramel and beat on low until fully combined.
Use immediately on cooled cake.
I'm also not wild about trying to frost the whole cake. I get really OCD crazy trying to make every angle of it perfect. So I've take to just frosting the middle layers. It calms my perfectionist tendencies and still looks cool. Plus, you can lump loads of frosting in the middle layers which is dreamy.
1. Fill a piping bag, fitted with a large opening tip, and pipe a 'bumper' of frosting around the edge of the cake.
2. Drop a spatula full of frosting in the center of the cake and spread evenly out to the edges with a offset spatula.
photography by Brooke Clark
Follow Alexandra Hedin's board I love birthdays on Pinterest.
How are you spending Valentine's Day? Check out the video to see how my family celebrates how much we love each other.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Totally perfect for Super Bowl! And if you are also allergic to shrimp, try steak bites instead!
So technically, not a Weeknight Party, but the Super Bowl is one of the ultimate 'simple' party times of the year. We gather, we toast, we cheer, we eat. But we must eat in front of the television because even the ads can't be missed. And so, by the nature of the event, we must eat and entertain as if it were a weeknight. The great thing is that you have more time to prepare for the weekend which makes my Slow Cooked Street Tacos the absolute perfect snack. The meat cooks for three hours {start when you get up} and then it's done. Guests help themselves, you watch the game.
1 (7.75) ounce can El Pato Salsa de Chile Fresco
1/2 cup ketchup
8 whole cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
:: to serve ::
corn tortillas
fresh chopped cilantro
sour cream
salsa
shredded cheese
guacamole
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a heavy cast iron pot with ketchup, El Pato, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir to combine all ingredients. Chop meat into 8 even sized pieces and place in the pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat rotating pieces of meat to coat completely in sauce.
Cover pot and place in preheated oven. Bake 3 hours.
Remove from oven and shred beef with two forks. Serve along side toppings and warmed tortillas.
Serves 4
