Old Sweet Song » get in my belly!

An act of Kind(ness)

amyferg — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:15:33 +0000

I’m not a huge power bar/granola bar kind of girl but I love me some Kind Bars. Have you tried one? They have them at Starbuck’s by the register which is where I usually fall prey to their delicious, wholesome power. If I’ve skipped lunch or am especially peckish this is the perfect thing to keep my spirits up and my growling tummy at bay. They’re really just a mix of nuts and dried fruits all stuck together with some type of sticky sweetener. No biggie, and at three-ish bucks a pop I figured I’d better attempt my own before I go broke.

So I did. I used this recipe from enlightened cooking. I made mine with almonds, pistachios, figs and cherries, but as the recipe points out, you could do any mix of things (which gets the mind a’racing, no?). I used brown rice syrup as my bonding agent and it was perfect, just sweet enough. There was one little mishap in that there just wasn’t enough stuff to fill the pan, so I quickly made some extra nut/dried fruit/brown rice syrup mixture and threw it in to fill up the pan a bit more.

These were delicious and as good as the buy-able ones. I think you should definitely make these. Okay? Okay.

Super Special Salad

amyferg — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:57:05 +0000

This is deliciousness, my friends and so easy. I made a big bowl and ate it for several days. And I loved it. I could feel the healthiness seeping in. That’s how it works, right? Healthy stuff just seeps in. I know my science. So, I think you should make this wholesome aweseomeness asap, pals. Here’s how you do it; chop up some kale, radicchio and fennel. Add some canned chickpeas. Make a quick dressing of olive oil, lemon zest and juice, a dash of rice vinegar and salt and pepper. Mix it all together and toss some chopped walnuts on top. Enjoy! p.s. I’m officially obsessed with fennel. This was my first at home fennel experience and there will be plenty more where that came from.

Edamame Hummus

amyferg — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:58:25 +0000

I’m a part time vegetarian. Which has me constantly concerned about protein. And last night when I needed a quick dinner I whipped up some protein packed edamame hummus. So easy. And so delicious. I loosely used this recipe. And dumped some hot sauce on top because I’m a lady who likes some spice. Now that I’ve tackled edamame hummus, what’s next? Perhaps butter bean or black eyed pea. So many options.

Let’s Make Brittle

amyferg — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:53:10 +0000

I love love love peanut brittle. But I’ve never made it. Of course that’s all about to change because I am going to attempt some holiday brittle making this week. Things are getting pretty exciting around here, dudes. The question is; traditional peanut or something more unique? Have y’all ever made brittle? Any tips for a newbie?

Two basic peanut brittle recipes from Martha Stewart (1 & 2)

Pepita Brittle from smitten kitchen

Rosemary Cashew Brittle from Onions and Chocolate

Salted Macadamia Nut Brittle from Parlour & Pantry

Bring us some figgy goodness

amyferg — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:57:38 +0000

I’m craving figs. Like a lot. And to be honest (and I’m all about honesty) I’ve never prepared anything with fresh figs. And I’ve only made a few things with dried figs. Why is this? Figs are delicious, Amy! Quit acting like an idiot and buy some figs already. Jeez. I can be so difficult sometimes.
Oh and p.s. today is your last day to enter the ooh pretty shiny giveaway!
And p.p.s. Happy December, my friends.

baked black mission figs with honeyed goat cheese from The Paleo Projec t

homemade fig newton s from I made that!

fig & prosciutto grilled chees e from Wright Time for a Schnack

crunchy fig granola from A Crafty Lass

rustic fig and ricotta tart from Proud Italian Cook

fig and raspberry upside down cake from FoodTaste

bacon wrapped figs stuffed with goat brie from Food-G

party time is the best time

amyferg — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:53:17 +0000

Hi friends. I hope you enjoyed your respective weekends. Mine was lovely. As I mentioned last week, Natalie and I hosted a little dessert party at my place on Saturday afternoon for NYC bloggers. It was a fantastic time with plenty of delicious desserts to go around. It was so nice to meet so many fascinating, creative lady bloggers. My pal (and photographer extraordinaire) Katie Murphy was there and she took some real pictures that I will share with you just as soon as I can get my hands on them. But until then here’s the invite we sent out and a few candids I snapped with my camera. All in all, a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Did I mention we had some pretty fantastic gift bags, to boot! And guess what? There were a few extras so in lieu of each and every one of you being able to attend I’ll be giving away one of these awesome gift bags right here. It’ll be like you were there! So in keeping with the theme, leave a comment with your favorite fall dessert and I’ll pick a winner at the end of the week. Don’t miss out, everyone loves a gift bag!

——

I designed this invite that we sent out.

Co-hostesses looking festive.

Natalie made these insane caramel sea salt brownies. And we used these little flags to identify each delicious treat. Aren’t they cute?

Here are the GIFT BAGS I mentioned! Come on, don’t you totally want one of your very own?

My table was covered with delectable treats… each one more mouth watering than the last. (pictured: chewy molasses cookies, pine nut anise pie, apple cider candy corn rice krispie treat cake, caramel sea salt brownies and miniature pear pies)

Coke ‘n Peanuts

amyferg — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:05:07 +0000

File this under possibly very odd southern traditions that might be totally insane but I still love. The tradition in question is putting peanuts in your coca-cola. Anybody? Let’s cover the ground rules: it has to be a regular coca-cola (preferably from a glass bottle) and the peanuts need to be salted. Some folks just drop them in the bottle but I like to drink this concoction out of a glass (or mason jar in my case since I’m low on glasses) better because it makes it easier to get the peanuts into your pie hole. I know it sounds crazy but it’s a thing. People do this! The salt from the peanuts mixes with the coke and the result is sweet and salty goodness. Why there’s even a restaurant in Atlanta that has coke and peanuts flavored soft serve on the dessert menu and it is magical (thanks for reminding me, Kelly!) Okay so have you heard of this? Have you tried it?

famous eats

amyferg — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:20:15 +0000

You know those foods that you absolutely love but can only get at a store or a restaurants. It’s the kind of craving that plagues you for days, weeks even and everything else sort of pales in comparison. Once you have a taste for it you have to have it. Well I’ve put together a little collection of recipes for some of my favorite restaurant foods that fall into this category. And who knows, maybe I can recreate some of the magic at home. This would be so fantastic because three of the recipes listed are from eateries that we don’t have in ol’ NYC (see, we don’t have everything here). What about you? Any go-to restaurant cravings?

Sweet Chicky Nuggets from My Name is Snickerdoodle

homemade Wendy’s Frosty from The Motherload (first learned of this concept from my pal Kelly via another pal Erica on pinterest)

Houston’s spinach and artichoke dip from The Frickin Chicken

Rudy’s creamed corn from Bluebonnets and Brownies

homemade York Peppermint Patties from Joyful Abode via Craft

(Almost) Chuy’s creamy jalapeno dip from Tasty Kitchen

Samoa Girl Scout Cookies from Too Much time on my hands

Recipe Collection

amyferg — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:11:29 +0000

I have a shelf of cookbooks, which I love flipping through from time to time. But these days the majority of my recipes come from right here on the interwebz. Sometimes I print the recipes and keep them tucked next to my cookbooks, but other times I’ll just read them off of my iPhone. (I guess an iPad would be nice in this situation, huh?). Anyways, there is nothing wrong with this. It’s the digital age and this is how we do things now. But isn’t it sort of sad to lose the authenticity of hand written recipes? There’s something so great about writing out an entire recipe and then referring to it time after time. My grandmother was a fantastic cook and had a massive collection of tried and true recipes. Luckily for me (and the rest of my family), my aunt is an incredibly dedicated archivist and she scanned in all of my grandmother’s recipes (plus millions of photos and other documents) and gave each family member a digital copy. It’s amazing! And she could have just typed in the recipes and sent around a massive word doc. But I’m so glad she didn’t. I just love seeing my grandmother’s handwriting. It makes me smile.

A Chocolate Cake

amyferg — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:33:36 +0000

I find baking incredibly therapeutic and soothing. So yesterday when I was missing my big sister (and the rest of my family) so much it hurt I decided to bake something. A from scratch chocolate cake with chocolate icing because that was my sister’s favorite. And baking always makes me feel better. There’s something about the creation process, even on a small and temporary scale like this one, that quiets and calms the mind. In sadness it feels good to be able to control and create something. And hopefully that something is very delicious. In my case, it most definitely was.

What I craved was an insanely simple chocolate cake so using a Hershey recipe made sense. I used this one and it worked perfectly! My grandmother was a frosting genius so I used her recipe for chocolate lovers’ frosting. I highly recommend it (find the recipe below). And moisture is incredibly important to me in a chocolate cake. And while this cake was nice and moist, I say add some extra moistness just in case! (moist! some people HATE that word). So, instead of putting frosting between the two cake layers, I put chocolate pudding! That’s right, just good ol’ fashioned Jell-o chocolate pudding (just make sure to follow the recipe for pie filling as it will be thicker then and more suited for a cake filling). The other thing I did at the last minute was sprinkle a little sea salt into to the frosting just to keep the sweetness at bay. So special little twists aside, this cake is pretty simple. I will tell you this, I procured a mini offset spatula yesterday and it really did make frosting this beauty so easy. Like an idiot, I used to try and frost cakes with a butter knife. But no more! I am totally a convert to this new mini offset spatula lifestyle. Oh and I still have about 3 quarters of the cake left so please someone come help me eat it! I’ll serve you up a slice with a cold glass of milk.

My Grandmother’s Chocolate Lovers’ Frosting
-3 cups xxxx sugar
-1/2 cup cocoa
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-5-6 tablespoons milk
-1 tsp vanilla

In small bowl, beat 1 cup sugar, cocoa, butter, 2 Tbsp milk and vanilla until creamy. Gradually add rest of sugar alternating with milk. Beat until smooth.