Spicy Guacamole {Secret Recipe Club}

When I got my email for the Secret Recipe Club I eagerly browsed through my assignments site (More Please by Margie) and fell upon her guacamole recipe. My family and I are huge guac fans, so I immediately was drawn to this recipe.

Guacamole tends to be a 'taste as you go' recipe.  Everyone has their own variations and measurements.      

I've used many existing recipes and tons of my own creations but none have used hot sauce.  Seems like a given since jalapenos are widely used in guacamoles, alas, I've never heard of it...but so glad I did!

I used a combo of Tabasco and Pico Pica (hot sauce) and it turned out awesome!!

Thanks Margie for your inspiration!

Spicy Guacamole 
Recipe Adapted from More Please


Ingredients:
4 Haas Avocados
3 chopped roma tomatoes, 2 tablespoons reserved for garnish
1/2 tablespoon cilantro, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup minced onion
1/4 teaspoon granulated onion
1/4 teaspoon dried garlic
1/2 teaspoon tabasco
1 teaspoon Pico Pica (hot sauce)
2 small limes, juiced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 mined jalapeno (optional)

Preparation: 
Scoop the avocado into a medium bowl and mush.  Pour the juiced lime into the avocado and sprinkle the granulated onion, dried garlic, tabasco, pico pica salt and pepper.  Mix until well incorporated.  Add the tomatoes, cilantro, onions and jalapeno, and mix well.

Serve garnished with diced tomato and cilantro.

Enjoy!

{Good Life Eats} Guest Post

I absolutely adore Katie from Good Life {Eats} and am so honored to be Guest Posting on her blog today!

Before I started Epicurean Mom, Good Life Eats was one of my favorite reads and, of course, still is!  Her photography, posts and food are stunning and divine!! 

When Katie asked me to guest post for her I was beyond excited!!

Head on over to Good Life {Eats} to see the recipe for my latest quiche!

Don't forget to follow Good Life {Eats} on Facebook and on Twitter!

Egg Nog {Greetings to the start of Fall}

Ah, it's finally starting to feel like Fall here in Southern California. After the last few hot weeks, I'm eagerly greeting Fall!! The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Fall and Winter is Egg Nog and cute coats and boots...I can't wait to pull mine out!

This delicious spiced egg drink isn't for everyone, but I promise you'll love mine! A friend was over for a play date, and I offered a small glass to her. She immediately refused and stated she didn't like the overly creamy drink. After repeated offers, she reluctantly agreed. Needless to say, she loved it!

I've made many batches of egg nog from various recipes, none I was extremely excited about. I'm also slightly finicky about raw eggs, and most recipes call for the traditional raw eggs. Yikes! I cringe just thinking about it!

Since raw eggs give me the hebby gebby's I par-cooked the eggs, which really adds (to me) a far less eggy taste. I'm also slightly obsessed with spices so I added lots of them!

Bring on the Fall weather and enjoy this seasonal drink! It's always nice to half this recipe with rum and half virgin to share with your kids. My girls loved it!!

Enjoy!

Egg Nog {Cooked}
Adapted from Epicurean Mom


Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cinnamon stick
generous pinch of ground clove
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup rum (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:
Over low heat combine milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, cinnamon stick and clove in a medium saucepan. Rise the heat slowly and bring to a slow boil (it takes about 7 minutes to bring to a boil.) Once the milk mixture starts to boil take off heat and let the cinnamon stick seep for 2 minutes, remove cinnamon stick.

In the bowl of a standing mixer combine egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together until pale and fluffy. With the mixer on low, pour the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks (tempering the yolks) whisk until well incorporated. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat on med/med-low for about 5 minutes, continually stirring, until thickened and creamy.  Do not let it boil, or the nog will curdle.

Stir in the rum, heavy cream and nutmeg and refrigerate over night. When ready to serve garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

White on Rice Couple Photography Workshop {Giveaway Winner}

A few weeks ago the Diane and Todd at the White on Rice Couple offered an amazing photography workshop to 10 readers.  I was lucky enough to be one of them.

The workshop was extremely fulfilling in so many ways. I was able to meet amazing, sweet and very talented bloggers, ate wonderful food that Diane and Todd made for us; also, it was not solely photography based. It was also about Jennie Perillo at In Jennie's Kitchen. All proceeds from the Workshop went to her and her children.  Bloggers Without Borders.

It was incredible to meet all these lovely people that I have come to know and very much appreciate! 

Melissa and Trent (soulonaplatter.com) Carol (inmediasrecipe.com)

Diane and Todd are the most knowledgable, friendly and sweet people I've ever met. They love the thought and passion behind photography.  During the workshop they mentioned many times photography is not about the food, blog hits or money. It's about capturing the true essence of the subject and appreciating it's true depth and soul.  Wow, how true this is!

They taught us about 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock light.  Each angle really changes the entire picture.  I, personally, never knew about this 'photography clock'.  Essentially, play with your food.  Find the best light angle that makes your subject standout; sometimes it's just personal preference.  I'm a big 12 o'clock fan (backlight), and most of my food photos are taken with this natural light.  

All the beautiful food Diane and Todd made for us

A very very small section of their prop closet/area (jealous??!) 

 Gloria (thegingersnapgirl.com) Tina (scalingback.com) Melissa (soulonaplatter.com) Shawnda 
(Foodiebride.com)

The amazing dinner table

I feel so blessed to have shared such a special day with so many wonderful and talented bloggers/photographers! 

Thank You Diane and Todd!!

Congratulations Brittany R! You won the McCormick Giveaway!! I'll email you shortly! :) 

Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm absolutely over the moon about chocolate chip cookies!! 

I haven't posted a chocolate chip recipe recipe I absolutely love, until now!

Alton Brown's 'chewy' is amazing...

.

but I added a whole (scraped) vanilla bean to the recipe and we adored it!

I do love the fresh vanilla taste!

Wait?? Real vanilla beans in a cookie??

Yes, I thought I was being original, no...not so much!  I looked (on the web) for vanilla bean chocolate chip recipes and found tons!

*Sigh*

Although, I must say, combining Alton's recipe and my addition is amazing!

Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe Adapted from Alton Brown


Makes approx. 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks)
12 ounces bread flour (about 2 1/4 cups)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ounces granulated sugar (about 1/4 cup)
8 ounces brown sugar (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 ounce whole milk (about 2 1/2 Tb)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 whole vanilla bean, seeded
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation


Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.


Melt the butter in a saucepan and set aside.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl stir the melted butter and sugar together, until well combined.  Whisk in the egg, egg yolk, whole milk, vanilla and vanilla seeds.

Whisk the flour into the egg mixture slowly.  Lastly add the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate for around 1 hour.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Roll the dough into 1-1/2 / 2-inch balls.  Half way through turn the baking sheet  (so the cookies bake evenly.)  Let cool and set aside.  Be sure to let the pan cool thoroughly before baking the next batch.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown.

{McCormick Giveaway!} Graveyard Ghost Cupcakes

That's right...A GREAT Halloween Giveaway from my friends at McCormick! 

McCormick kindly offered to sponsor a very generous Halloween Decorating Package to 1 of my readers.  

It includes:

-McCormick assorted food color

-McCormick black food coloring

-McCormick vanilla extract

-Cupcake Liners

-Silicone baking sheet (I use mine for everything) 

-Le Creuset spatula

-Mu Kitchen oven mitt

-Assorted Halloween Candy

-"Trick for your treats" Halloween decorating ideas

I got the fun idea for my Halloween Graveyard Cupcakes from McCormick found here

To Enter:

-Leave a comment (yes, that's all!) about your favorite McCormick Halloween decorating idea...seen here 

*YOU MUST leave your email, in order for me to contact you*

To earn credit for each additional entry leave separate comments for each step (listed below.)  If you don't leave a separate comment for each step, I will not be able to include them. 

For additional entries (Please leave separate comments for each entry):

-"Like" Epicurean Mom on Facebook

-"Follow" Epicurean Mom on Twitter 

-Subscribe to Epicurean Mom by Email Subscription (On my blog homepage) or via RSS 

-"Follow" McCormick on Facebook 

-Tweet or Facebook this Giveaway!

*Giveaway Ends Oct 16th, 12 midnight PST*

 One winner will be chosen via random.org and will have 2 days to respond, or a new winner will be chosen.  Only open to the residents of the US.

Perfect Lemon Bars

As I was making my daily (sometimes twice a day) stroll through the local grocery store, the lemons seemed to jump out at me. They were gorgeous!

Bright, vibrant color (way more appetizing then they have been the past few months) and HUGE! They nearly stopped me in my tracks. The first thing I envisioned was tangy lemon bars. I haven't had a lemon bar in a long time. Quite honestly, I can't remember the last time I had one, sad I know.

Before our house burned in a California Wildfire, we had beautiful lemon trees. Homegrown fruits and veggies always seem to taste much better then any organic store bought. Luckily, we have a very small tree in our backyard that produces small lemons and was able to incorporate a few into my lemon bars!

I prefer my lemon bars to have a pretty similar shortbread to lemon topping ratio. I've tried many recipes, finding it was either too gooey, too tangy, too eggy, too thick, too bitter etc..

I just love these lemon bars and I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!


Now...*drum roll* the Giveaway Winner is Zoe Packman! Congrats Zoe! I'll email you shortly with further info! :)

Don't fret if you didn't win....I have an awesome Sponsored Halloween Package full of lots of goodies in the next few days!

Lemon Bars
Recipe Adapted by Epicurean Mom


Ingredients


For Shortbread:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Topping:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 large lemons, juiced
zest of 1 or 1/2 lemon (I used 1 whole lemon, since I love the tang)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x11 or 9x13 inch pan.

Sift the flour and confectioners' sugar in medium bowl. Add the salt and melted butter. Mix until well incorporated and, evenly press into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until just a light golden brown. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk eggs until light, pale and fluffy. Add the sugar and salt, stir well. Sift the all-purpose flour into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Using a sieve, strain the lemon juice (adding some pulp if you desire) into the topping. Whisk in the lemon zest, until smooth. Pour mixture onto warm or cold shortbread.

Bake for 25-35 minutes. The topping should be set but slightly jiggly and a slight golden brown. Cool completely before cutting the bars into squares.