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a balanced plate with room for dessert


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Baked Sweet Potato Chili Cheese Fries

I. love. fries. Like, really love fries. I like to pretend that I’m not fully aware of how bad they are for you and always get fries at restaurants. Well, not always… more like 90% of the time. The last time I turned down fries was a couple months ago at a German restaurant. I opted for liver dumpling soup instead :-P. The last time I was out and had an option, Mike and I were in Milwaukee. I could choose between cottage cheese, fruit, or fries. I actually asked about the fruit first, but it had cantaloupe in it and I found out about a year ago that whenever I eat cantaloupe my throat and ears get really itchy. So… that wasn’t going to happen again. Long story short, I chose fries. 

I could have fries with every meal and be happy. In fact, I could have fries as  my meal and be happy. 

Yup. 

That’s what I did. I made a meal out of these and I don’t regret it one bit. 

baked sweet potato chili cheese fries | doughseedough.net

Baked Sweet Potato Chili Cheese Fries
adapted from Joy the Baker

2 pounds sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean
1/4 cup corn starch
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Mexican chili powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 fresh jalapeño, thinly sliced
2 green onions, sliced

  1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Lightly grease two large baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. 
  2. Cut sweet potato into 1/4-inch slices. Stack slices and then slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch strips. Repeat with remaining sweet potatoes to cut fries. 
  3. In a  medium bowl, whisk together corn starch, chili powders, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, ground cumin, and chipotle chile pepper powder. 
  4. In a medium bowl, toss fries with olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and grill seasoning. Sprinkle cornstarch mixture over fries and toss to combine. 
  5. Divide potatoes between the two prepared baking sheets. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes, until fries are crispy. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for about 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and place fries onto serving platter. Sprinkle with jalapeño slices and green onions and serve hot. 


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Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars | doughseedough.net

I’m going to be honest: this was my second attempt at making these bars from the Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook. You see, the first time I didn’t make it too far. I started with the crispy rice cereal base and cooked the sugar base exactly as written. I used my candy thermometer and everything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t cooked long enough. The sugar water mess remained, well, a mess. It never got to the point where it became beautiful and syrupy. I mixed it into the cereal anyway, but the cereal turned into mush.

Take two was much more successful. I do think that I will make these a third time with a new modification: double the cereal base. These treats are decadent. The authors of the cookbook say that these can be cut into 9 squares. I say they should be cut into 16 squares. Or 25 squares. The chocolate:peanut butter:cereal ratio was just a little off to me. Mike loved them, though.

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars | doughseedough.net

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

for the crispy crust:
1 3/4 cups crisped rice cereal
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the milk chocolate peanut butter layer:
5 ounces milk chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter

for the chocolate icing:
3 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

  1. Make the crispy crust: Lightly grease an 8×8-inch baking pan. Set aside. Place cereal in a large bowl and set aside.
  2. Pour 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan. Add sugar and corn syrup to the center of the pan, being careful to not let to let it touch the sides of the pan. Using a small wooden spoon, gently stir the mixture until just combined. Place a candy thermometer in the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 – 245°F.
  3. Remove mixture from heat and stir in butter. Pour mixture over cereal and stir until thoroughly coated. Pour into prepared pan and using the palm of your hand, gently press mixture into the bottom of the pan (do not press up the sides). Let the crust cool to room temperature while you make the milk chocolate peanut butter layer.
  4. Make the milk chocolate peanut butter layer: in a large nonreactive metal bowl, stir together the chocolate and the peanut butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove bowl from the pan and stir for about 30 seconds to let it cool slightly. Pour evenly over crispy crust. Place into the refrigerator and chill for one hour.
  5. Make the chocolate icing: in a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine all ingredients. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until mixture is smooth.  Remove bowl from the pan and stir for about 30 seconds to let it cool slightly. Pour mixture evenly over peanut butter layer. Place into the refrigerator and chill for one hour.
  6. Cut into 16 squares and serve. Or, store in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 4 days.


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BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ chicken pizza | doughseedough.net

This pizza kicks some serious butt. I stumbled across it in Food Network magazine a while ago (ahem, a year ago) but never got around to making it because our pizza stone cracked in half. I don’t even know what happened. I baked a loaf of bread on it, took it out of the oven, set it down and… it died. We actually kept the larger half for a while, baking sad little loaves of bread on it. We finally got around to buying a replacement, but it just sat on our kitchen cart for months. I finally got around to using it this weekend!

Anyway, this recipe is supposed to be the copycat of California Pizza Kitchen’s BBQ Chicken Pizza. I can’t attest to whether or not this tastes like CPK’s pizza (I’ve only been there once a million years ago), but I will say that it is really, really good.

I opted to make the pizza dough and BBQ sauce from scratch, but store bought will do just fine! I don’t think I will ever buy bottled sauce again – I absolutely love the recipe that I have now. It’s tangy with the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. I’ve retyped the recipe for dough and sauce below. The dough recipes yields about 1 pound of dough and the sauce will yield 1/2 cup of sauce.

BBQ Chicken Pizza | DoughSeeDough.net

BBQ Chicken Pizza
adapted from Food Network

for the pizza dough:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 – .25 ounce package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water (~110°F)

for the barbecue sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

for the pizza:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast
3/4 cup grated smoked peppercorn gouda cheese or smoked gouda cheese
3/4 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

  1. To make the dough: Fit stand mixer with dough hook. Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Pour in oil and water. Mix on low speed until dough pulls away from side of bowl and gathers around hook and is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a large lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Set aside and let rise for 30 – 40 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, make the BBQ sauce: combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 – 40 minutes or until thick.
  3. Preheat oven to 425°F and position rack in lower third of oven. Place a pizza stone on rack and let heat for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper and lightly grease with olive oil. Transfer dough to parchment and roll and/or stretch it out into a 12-inch round. Gently roll up edges to form a crust. Lightly brush with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 30 minutes.
  5. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Cook chicken until juices run clear. Remove chicken and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Lightly toss with 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce. Set aside.
  6. Uncover pizza dough and spread remaining barbecue sauce on top. Top with gouda, mozzarella, red onion, and chicken. Slide pizza (on parchment paper) onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake for 25 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned and cheese is bubbly.
  7. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.


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Honey Mustard Chicken Skewers

Happy Friday! It’s time for another recipe swap! Before I get into that though, I have a funny story. I had first typed up this post over the weekend and (stupidly) wrote about how wonderful the weather was and how excited we were to start grilling again. Fast forward to Tuesday night/Wednesday. Ice storm. What the what?!?!

That said, Mike was such a trooper and grilled this for me so I would be able to post this as planned. I’m just thankful he didn’t get impaled by a falling icicle or tree branch. When is winter going to be over?

ice storm appleton | doughseedough.net

I loved that Jen at Becoming Pigzilla used a chardonnay jalapeno mustard, but I have no idea where I would even find something like that. I also don’t think I can justify another jar of mustard in my fridge, taking up very valuable fridge real estate. When I get around to buying more mustard, I’ll have to keep my eye out for more interesting flavors! I ended up using a small jar of sweet & hot mustard that we received a long time ago as part of a gift basket. It was absolutely perfect! I’m hoping to make this again soon… without the nasty weather!

honey mustard chicken skewers | doughseedough.net

Honey Mustard Chicken Skewers
adapted from Becoming Pigzilla

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup mustard
2 teaspoons curry powder
salt and pepper, to taste
3 – 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 2-inch pieces

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together olive oil, honey, mustard, and curry powder. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Place chicken in a large dish and cover with 3/4 of the mustard sauce. Reserve the remaining sauce in an airtight container for serving.
  3. Marinate chicken for 4 – 24 hours in the refrigerator.
  4. Soak skewers for 30 minutes before grilling. Preheat grill to medium heat. Skewer chicken and grill until cooked through, about 12 minutes, turning every 3 – 4 minutes.
  5. Serve hot with remaining sauce.

Thanks to Taste of Home Cooking for organizing! Make sure to check out the other recipe swap posts!




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Chicken Gyros & Homemade Pocketless Pita

chicken gyros | doughseedough.net

I love gyros. I love watching the cooks shave off pieces of the tender lamb from the… meat cone or whatever you might call it. This time, I tried making my own at home. I chose to make the pita versus buying it, but if you’re looking to save some time then by all means use a pocketless pita from the grocery store!

pocketless pita | doughseedough.net

The entire process took me just under two hours, but the results were so worth it. My schedule was like this: marinate chicken and refrigerate, mix dough for pita and let rise for 30 minutes, make tzatziki while waiting for chicken and dough. Refrigerate finished tzatziki, roll out dough for pita, cook chicken and pita simultaneously. In between flipping pitas, slice tomatoes and onions. Assemble and serve.

Sure, it’s quite a bit of multitasking, but I think I made pretty good use of my time and when I got around to assembling, the chicken was still piping hot and the pitas were perfectly warm. The best part? I had all ingredients on hand already. Yes, I do keep a huge tub of Greek yogurt in my fridge at all times.

chicken gyros | doughseedough.net

Chicken Gyros
adapted from Elly Says Opa and Kalofagas

For the chicken:
1.25 pounds chicken breast
4 cloves garlic, smashed
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper

For the tzatziki:
1 – 17.6 ounce tub of plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 cucumber, seeded
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

For the pita:
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cup warm water (110°F)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
canola oil

For toppings:

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

  1. Make a marinade for the chicken by whisking together garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, yogurt, oregano, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and rub the marinade in. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. 
  2. Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and lightly coat with olive oil. Brown chicken on both sides and cook until juices run clear, about 4 – 6 minutes per side.  Let rest before slicing into strips.
  3. To make the tzatziki: shred or grate the cucumbers and squeeze excess moisture out. Make sure to get as much liquid out as possible! Mix together yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld.
  4. To make the pitas: in a large bowl, mix together yeast, salt, sugar, olive and water and let stand for 5 minutes or until top is foamy.
  5. Using your hands, gradually add in flour 1/2 cup at a time to the wet ingredients. Knead until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
  6. Divide dough into 6 pieces and roll out on a floured surface into 8-inch rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Lightly poke the surface with the tines of a fork, being careful not to poke through the dough.
  7. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly coat the skillet with oil and place one dough round into the skillet and fry the bread until it starts to puff and bubble, about 1 – 2 minutes. Flip and fry the other side. Repeat with remaining dough.
  8. Assemble gyros by piling a pita with chicken, tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, and onions. Enjoy!


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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Monday! If you’re anything like me, you’re probably having post-weekend blues. I guess that’s the downside to having really great weekends. This weekend was more fun than most. In addition to baking and cooking like I do every other weekend, we did something that I haven’t done in probably 10 years – we went laser tagging. It was fun to be a kid again 🙂 We ended the night with a terrifying four episodes of American Horror Story. And then we watched four more episodes on Sunday.

peanut butter chocolate chip cookies | baked with love by doughseedough.net

I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I’ve been hearing how good it was for a while now. Mike and I attempted to watch it last weekend but I made him turn it off after 7 minutes of the first episode. I couldn’t handle it. Why I decided I wanted to try watching it again, I don’t know. Stupid. But now I’m hooked. Thank goodness I have these cookies to comfort me.

These cookies are ridiculously good. They’re the perfect combination of crisp edges with a chewy center, not overly sweet, and I seriously cannot get enough of them.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

  1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. 
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and mix in eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated. Mix in vanilla and peanut butter and beat until well combined.
  3. Add half the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Repeat with remaining half of the flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.
  5. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart.  Gently press down and very slightly flatten the tops with the palm of your hand.
  7. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sugar and bake for 10 – 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the tops just begin to brown.
  8. Remove pan from the oven and let cookies cool for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.


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Grilled Kimcheese Sandwich

Is there such thing as too much kimchi? I don’t think so. Or at least I haven’t reached that point yet. Today I have yet another kimchi dish. This time, in sandwich form. Yeah, you read the title right. It’s a grilled cheese sandwich with kimchi. Grilled kimcheese. See what I did there?

So, this dish doesn’t really need a recipe because nothing is easier to cook than grilled cheese, but… why not? I just  had to. Imagine it: ooey, gooey cheese with crunchy, tangy, spicy kimchi.

grilled kimcheese sandwich | doughseedough.net

Grilled Kimcheese Sandwich
makes 2 sandwiches

1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 slices sourdough bread
1/2 cup kimchi, chopped
4 ounces havarti cheese, sliced

  1. Heat a large pan over medium heat. 
  2. Butter bread slices with butter on one side and place 2 of  them in the pan butter side down.
  3. Distribute the 1/4 of the cheese onto each bread slice in the pan. Top with 1/4 cup kimchi, remaining cheese, and the remaining 2 slices of sourdough bread, butter side up.
  4. Cook for 1 minute or until golden brown and cheese has started to melt. With a spatula, flip sandwiches and cook until other side is golden brown and cheese is completely melted. Serve immediately.


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Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

I love banana bread. Banana bread with chocolate chips? Good. Banana bread with nuts? Even better. Banana bread with Nutella? Best. I wonder if this bread can get any better. Maybe next time I’ll do Nutella, chopped hazelnuts, and chocolate chips. Boom. Taste explosion.

I especially loved eating the crust on this bread. Poor Mike was left with crustless pieces…

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I’m going to warn you all: I am not an expert swirler. Evidence of this can be seen above. Beautiful swirls throughout the loaf? Not so much. It kind of looks like a heart, actually (awwww!!). Swirl or heart, this bread is good.

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread
slightly adapted from Sugar Plum Blog

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium)
6 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Nutella

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan with butter and set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, with a mixer set on  medium speed, beat together banana, butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until well combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs until well combined.
  4. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just combined. Remove half the batter to a medium bowl and stir in Nutella.
  5. Take turns spooning Nutella batter and plain batter into the loaf pan. Swirl the batters together gently with a knife.
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with clean.


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Korean Steak & Mushroom Tacos with Kimchi

korean steak & mushroom tacos with kimchi | doughseedough.net

Have you ever eaten something so good that you wanted nothing more than to eat it alone?

Not because you didn’t want people to distract you from the deliciousness, but because you were ashamed at the rate in which you were shoveling the food into your mouth.

No? Well, that happens to me once in a while. Most recently with these tacos. These tacos were a-ma-zing. One of my favorite ways to get kimchi into my mouth, I think. These tacos were so good that I couldn’t decide if one was enough. If I only had one that meant I would have more leftovers for future meals. But… one just wasn’t enough. And if I ate only one that meant I might have to share the leftovers with Mike. Hmm…

I mean, seriously. These tacos are the perfect balance of sweet, savory and crunchy. And they were super easy to cook.

korean steak & mushroom tacos with kimchi | doughseedough.net

Korean Steak & Mushroom Tacos with Kimchi
adapted from Eating Well

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons gochujang
5 cloves garlic, minced
1.25 pounds skirt steak, trimmed
1 teaspoon canola oil
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
8 flour tortillas
1 cup kimchi, roughly chopped
2 large carrots, shredded
4 scallions, thinly sliced

  1. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. 
  2. Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, mirin, gochujang, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Cover and keep warm.
  3. Add oil to heated pan and cook steak until browned and desired level of doneness is reached (I cooked about 3 minutes on each side). Remove from pan and set on cutting board to rest for 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, add mushrooms to skillet and cook until heated through and slightly soft, about 1 – 2 minutes on each side. Remove mushrooms from skillet and slice. Slice steak across the grain. Add steak and mushrooms to sauce and stir to combine.
  5. To assemble tacos, divide and steak and mushrooms among the tortillas. Top with chopped kimchi, shredded carrots, and scallions.

Ok, now get off your computer/iPad/phone and go to the grocery store and pick up the ingredients you need to make this. Then, kick everyone out of your house and eat in silence and with reckless abandon.

I swear I’m not an animal…


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Thin Mint Brownies

thin mint brownie | baked with love by doughseedough.net

Girl Scout Cookie Season is one of my favorite times of the year. This year, I bought 7 boxes of cookies. Three boxes of Peanut Butter Patties (for Mike), one of Caramel DeLites, one of Mango Cremes, one Lemonades, and one box of Thin Mints.

One. Thin. Mint. What was I thinking?! Why in the world did I only get one box of my favorite cookie?

thin mint cookies | doughseedough.net

That brings me to this week’s recipe swap. It was blogger’s choice, so I got to choose a recipe of my liking from Cookies on Friday. I combed through every single one of her posts going all the way back to 2008. I bookmarked a bunch of recipes and settled on making these triple ginger cookies. Then, she posted Thin Mint Brownies.  And I knew in my heart that I had to make them. Even though I wanted to cry at the thought of sacrificing one precious sleeve of my single box of Thin Mints.

But, this was so worth it. If I had a whole sleeve of Thin Mints left, I would make a second batch. But the second sleeve is residing happily in my stomach now. RIP.

thin mint brownies | baked with love by doughseedough.net

Thin Mint Brownies
slightly adapted from Knead to Cook via Cookies on Friday

1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup of boiling water
2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup of canola oil
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints, roughly chopped
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9” x 13” pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a large mixer bowl, blend the cocoa powders, baking soda, boiling water and the first 1/3 cup of oil. Stir on low until blended.  Add the sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup oil, stirring again on low until blended.  Finally, add the flour, vanilla, mint extract and salt.  Stir until just combined. With a spatula, stir in the chopped Thin Mints.
  3. Spread into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Allow to cool completely in pan. Remove the brownies from the pan by lifting the parchment paper. Peel away the parchment paper and cut into bars.

Be sure to head on over to Taste of Home Cooking to check out the recipe swap round-up!