German’s Chocolate Cupcakes

My cousin Heather always gets me the most adorable little gifts. Last year as a housewarming gift she sent me these terrific heart shaped silicone heart shaped cupcake molds. What’s great about these not being in a tray is that you can layout the individual molds and make almost 20 cupcakes at a time instead of your usually 12 cup-capacity tray. What’s even better is the fact that they’re heart shaped. Today being Valentine’s Day, it was obviously the perfect occasion to break them out.

how awesome are these baking cups!!

Since I started dating Ariel his office has been reaping the benefits of my baking. We always split the spoils in half and take to our respective work places. Last week I asked him what his co-workers wanted for Valentine’s Day and German Chocolate Cupcakes were requested. Challenge accepted, I present to you… German’s Chocolate Cupcakes. If you want to know why they are German’s Chocolate and not German Chocolate.. check out Wikipedia. Read the rest of this entry »

SimplySlacking

Friends, foodies and loyal Simply Sifted followers,

You may have noticed SimplySifted has been on a brief hiatus or perhaps you think we’re just Simply Slacking. Well it’s a little embarrassing but we’ve been on a bit of a diet. Too many dips in the cream cheese frosting I guess. I (Joanna) have also recently switched jobs complete with a new much longer commute, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my air conditioning unit so turning on the oven does not turn my home into the Depths of Hades. We hope to get a post up soon and back to our regularly scheduled programming of bringing you along on our culinary expeditions.

Thank you for supporting us and we’ll be back to you all very soon!

Wishing you all sweet and savory days til then.
Joanna & Jessie

At the 4th of July Fireworks, NYC

Happy Hanukah – Butternut Squash Edition

Last night marked the first night of the Jewish festival of lights!! I realized I didn’t have a menorah in my new apartment so I got out a butternut squash, a phillips flathead, and candles. This is what I came up with.

Butternut Square Menorah

Yay for creativity in the kitchen. I also came across a recipe for Butternut Squash Curried Latkes. Yum!! I’ll be working on those later this week. Have a great holiday!

Happy Birthday, Auntie!

Last month it was my Aunt’s 50th birthday.  Auntie is so funny and kind so I thought she deserved a really special present.  She is also the only person I know who has a bigger sweet tooth than I do.  It had to be candy.

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CSA Week 3, 4, and 5

In addition to the veggies I got meat and jam from Lewis Waite farm.

The variety of vegetables we’ve received over the past few weeks has increased dramatically.  In addition to greens, we’ve gotten carrrots, zucchini, kohlrab, beets, brocolli, dill, parsley, cippolini onions and fennel.  It’s a lot of food and there have been moments when I was overwhelmed.  To be honest before I joined the CSA if I ate one serving of vegetables per day – it was a good day.  Now to keep up I have to eat at least 4 servings EVERY day.

I thought the dirt on these carrots was really exciting. Pat found it gross.

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CSA Week 2 – That’s a lot of lettuce

Don’t get me wrong I’m still incredibly psyched about our CSA, but boy oh boy do we have a lot of lettuce to eat.  I’m eating lettuce like it’s  my job.  Luckily I really like salad.

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We’re in Glamour!

Exciting News! SimplySifted.com got the chance to do some food styling for Glamour Magazine. Check us out in the July Issue on page 176! Starting on sale this week! To make the above cupcake we used our standard vanilla cupcake recipe (posting soon), Jessie’s cream cheese frosting, and decorationg from NY Cake & Baking Distributors on 22nd street in NYC.

Five Boro Bike Tour and attempted Mounds Cake

On the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge.

This weekend my Mom and her boyfriend visited for the Five Boro Bike Tour.  The Five Boro Bike tour is a yearly, car-free 42 mile ride organized by Bike New York.  It kicks off Bike Month in New York City, and is a really amazing way to see all five boroughs.

Getting onto the FDR.

You get the chance to ride places that are normally off limits to cyclists such as FDR Drive, the BQE, and the Verrazano Bridge.  This is my third year riding and it’s something I look forward to for months.

There is a reason this picture didn't go first. The cake doesn't look very good and only tasted mediocre.

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National Food Bloggers Bake Sale – Visit us this Saturday!

Joanna and I are participating in this bake sale on Saturday.  It’s from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm at the Brookly Flea in Fort Green.  Joanna and I will be at the table from 11 am to 12 pm.  All proceeds benefit Share Our Strength a nonprofit fighting to end childhood hunger.

Please come and enjoy the Brooklyn Flea, meet us, and support the fight against childhood hunger.

Three Cheese Sausage Lasagna

This lasagna is impressive. It is delicious. It does take some time to make. It also makes many of my friends very very happy.

You can easily serve 10 people on this lasagna. The ricotta mixture always makes a lot so I usually stretch this to make two trays, one large and one 8×8. The only thing you need to double is the sauce. I always run out of sauce when stretching. If i had a family to cook for, I would assemble both, cook one and freeze the other prior to cooking. I also have a confession.. since the invention of no-bake lasagna noodles, I have never looked back. That kind of convenience I just can’t pass up, especially when I’m making my own meat sauce. With all the ingredients and cheese the cost usually comes to maximum $30, which may seem like alot, but like I said, it feeds 10 people easily.

This recipe is adapted from a Bon Appetit one which uses carrots. I have made some adjustments, carrots just don’t seem like an Italian food to me. I added in crimini mushrooms, and this time instead of ground beef I used just sausage. Last time I made this I used a combination of ground turkey and sausage and it was delicious as well. This is a winner and sure to impress. Make sure you watch the cook time at the end, mine got a little crispier than I would have liked.

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