My Madison Bistro

This recipe has been a thorn in my side.

About this time last year, my mom was watching a morning talk show that featured Paula Deen as a guest. Paula mentioned that she had partnered with Philly Cream Cheese for this contest they called “The Real Women of Philadelphia.” They challenged women to develop recipes in several categories that utilized their cream cheese.

Paula specifically mentioned they were hoping to change someone’s life with the winnings. It had been a rough few months for me financially, so my mom mentioned the contest.

I knew I could develop a tasty dessert recipe. So I started thinking. I’ve worked a lot on cake recipes the past few years, so I figured that was probably the best place for me to start.

I wanted to feature ingredients that could be found in any grocery store – nothing crazy or too expensive. My budget couldn’t handle it, and courtesy of the economic woes worldwide, I figured neither could those of others.

So I came up with this recipe.

Continue reading “Salted Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes”

Tags: cake, chocolate, cupcakes, peanut butter

Broccoli sprouts are my new favorite addition to my diet. I admit, I’ve been enjoying them regularly since last summer, when I learned about their extraordinary nutritional value.

Well, and because I’ve always been a sprout person.

Up to that point, my sprouts love affair was solely with alfalfa sprouts. These days, I’m more of a bigamist. I still love my alfalfa sprouts and enjoy them nearly every time I order a sandwich from a sandwich shop.

But when it comes to the sandwiches I make at home, you only see broccoli sprouts in my kitchen. So what makes these little things so great for you, anyway? I mean, why not just eat broccoli?

Continue reading “Broccoli Sprouts”

Tags: bread, turkey, Vegetables

When my brother and I were around junior high age (well, I was in junior high, he’s younger and was still in grade school), once a month we would get Wednesday afternoons off. I don’t recall what our teachers were doing during that time, but frankly, the half day of school was my focus.

Every month, we’d pool our money so we could order a cheese pizza for lunch. At the time, our pizza of choice was Domino’s, back in the day when they promised delivery in 30 minutes or less. We loved that pizza, but we also loved the delivery time-frame. You see, our dad didn’t want us spending our money on restaurant food, delivery, etc, so when we were finished we had to get rid of the evidence.

So every fourth Wednesday, after we finished our small pizza, we would walk to the elementary school down the road, to throw away the pizza box before Dad arrived home from work mid-afternoon.

You didn’t think we’d just put it in our trash, did you?

Continue reading “Thin Crust Pizza”

Tags: Cheese, comfort food, Pizza

Folks, I’ve found my go-to brownie recipe.

When I posted about making The Baked Brownie, it immediately became one of my most popular posts. Clearly, many of us are brownie lovers, and many of us wanted to know why America’s Test Kitchen named that particular brownie the best in the U.S.

For me, this recipe kicks the Baked recipe to the curb.

What’s so great about this particular recipe?

Continue reading “Fudgy Brownies”

Tags: brownies, comfort food