Mango Salsa and Chipotle Black Bean Tostadas

I made a big batch of mango salsa last week but have been a little slow eating it up, so I picked up a sleeve of tostadas to put the salsa to good use. I layered seasoned black beans, 4-cheese blend and a squeeze of lime with the salsa to make these for a quick dinner.

Start by warming the tostadas for about 5 minutes in the toaster oven at 375 F.

Spoon seasoned black beans over the tostada shell. I cooked 2 rinsed cans of black beans (to attempt to lower the sodium) with 1 small can of chipotle peppers in adobo for about 20 minutes, then used an immersion blender on the beans.

Sprinkle with cheese and a squeeze of lime juice. I only had 4-cheese blend but crumbled queso fresco would have been nice too.  

Finally, pile on the mango salsa and enjoy! 

RECIPE (makes about 6 cups of salsa)

Mango Salsa

4  to 6 ripe mangoes (should be very soft to the touch)

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1/2 medium red onion

1 bunch cilantro

1 jalapeno 

2 limes (more if they're on the small side)

pinch of cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Dice the mango and squeeze the lime juice over. Set aside while you chop the remaining ingredients. 

Rinse the tomatoes well and add to the mango. 

Dice the red onion and jalapeno (remove seeds if you like it less spicy), then finely chop the cilantro. 

Toss with the mango and tomatoes and season with cayenne and salt to taste. 

The flavors in this salsa are better the next day. Keep refrigerated up to one week. 

#LetsLunch: miso-glazed grilled veggies and polenta

Happy July edition of #LetsLunch!!

This month's theme for my LetsLunch group is grilled foods. I was a little bummed when we first chose this, because in our move we had to leave our giant grill behind during the move last month.

But, as my LetsLunch friends pointed out on Twitter, it just meant that much more of a creative challenge.

So, I broke out my cast iron grill pan and went to work in my new smallish, DC kitchen.

First, I made some polenta and chilled it for a few hours. I grilled the pieces on both sides, using my other cast iron as a weight.

I whisked together a quick garlicky honey-miso glaze and grilled spears of eggplant and zucchini squash in batches, soaking them in the glaze before throwing them in the pan.

Use the left over glaze to brush the polenta and sprinkle the veggies with toasted sesame seeds just before serving.

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LetsLunch is a monthly "meeting" of food bloggers from around the world. We select a theme and each blog our lunch on the first Friday of every month. Interested in joining? Just search #letslunch on Twitter and send us a tweet introducing yourself!

Recipes:
Grilled Polenta Wedges
(Adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist)
2 cups coarse ground cornmeal
2 cups water (or milk for creamier polenta), plus 1-2 cups more
Optional: 2 bouillon cubes
4 TBS olive oil or butter
1/2 tsp red chile flakes
salt to taste

Melt butter (if using) in a medium saucepan, otherwise bring the water and olive oil to a boil.

Lower heat slightly and add the bouillon (if using), a generous pinch of salt and the chile flakes, then pour in the cornmeal while whisking continuously.

Continue stirring the polenta, adding more water a few tablespoons at a time as the mixture gets too thick. Cook 15-20 minutes until the polenta tastes cooked.

Pour into a cake pan or pie plate and chill for a couple hours. Slice into 8 wedges.

Brush a cast iron grill pan with oil and heat over medium high heat. Grill polenta wedges 2-4 at a time, using a second pan to weigh them down. After five to seven minutes, flip the polenta and grill the other side.

Keep warm until ready to serve.


Honey Miso Glaze
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBS miso paste
1/3 cup soy sauce
2-3 TBS honey
1 tsp red chili flakes
up to 1 TBS water (to take the salty edge off, add slowly to taste)

Whisk ingredients together, brush on zucchini and eggplant spears before and after grilling.

Brush onto polenta just before serving.

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Happy 25th birthday to us!

A couple of weeks ago, over Memorial Day weekend, Jake and I celebrated our 25th birthdays, mine on a Friday, his on a Monday.

Having our birthdays this close together usually means we're willing to up the ante a little how we would normally otherwise celebrate, since it's a group effort.

Back in January, I came across a great deal on plane tickets from MSP to LGA and decided to surprise Jake with a trip to one of his favorite places: New York City.

After laying down false track (Jake thought we were going to his parents' on Saturday and out to lunch with friends on Sunday to celebrate), I proceeded to pack a suitcase in secret, then wake my husband up at 4 a.m. to give him the news we were running away for the long weekend.

It was insanely hot in the city, so most of our photos turned out to be of food, rather than snapshots of us enjoying the city. So, here's a quick rundown of our delicious food tours of NYC:

Our first stop after dropping our bags in our hotel (we stayed near Penn Station) was a walk over to K-Town on 32nd St. where we had bossam and oysters for lunch.

Jake found a description of the Landbrot Bakery in the current issue of New York magazine during our flight, so we stopped in for brezeln and a beer. The staff were incredibly friendly and we had a great mini-meal.

After grabbing pizza at Brookyln's famous Grimaldi's, we went to the Brooklyn Brewery with a college friend. We took the "tour," which was more like "The History of Our Brewery While Standing in a Production Space."

Ordered the Cheese and Crackers at McSorely's Ale House (and I also discovered that I enjoy porter beers)

Veselka's pierogies -- a longtime favorite! Great way to start out the meal. I also snagged the cookbook so we can make more Ukranian food at home now.

Was very thankful not to have to hunt down the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck in the heat. Just waited in the line outside their new shop for a bit. Tasty stuff!

Inspired by this post on Amateur Gourmet's blog about the Second Avenue Deli, we met my cousin here for brunch one day. We had the absolutely delicious matzoh ball soup (not something Jake or I had had before, having grown up in Minnesota). At the end of the meal, they brought us tiny chocolate sodas!

While wandering the East Village, we stopped into Murray's Cheese just to gawk and enjoy one of the best smelling stores I had ever been to.

To celebrate Jake's birthday "officially" we went back to K-Town and had a huge table full of Korean barbecue (before and after shots)

And we liked Second Avenue Deli SO MUCH we went back a second time.

The very awesome pickles and coleslaw. Below, our first ever knish, Jake's grownup chocolate soda, and another plate of pierogies.

My foodie souvenirs! What could be better than picking up the cookbooks at two of the awesome restaurants we ate at? The 2nd Ave Deli book has been a great read so far -- lots of cool stories about the owner and the history of the restaurant.

Happy birthday Jake!! Your turn to plan something awesome for 26.... :)

#LetsLunch: Food to Honor Dads

(photo by Glen Stubbe) 

Ah, my poor neglected food blog. It's been a busy couple of weeks. The biggest news of the last month is that Jake and I are on the move yet again and are currently in the process of moving our lives back to Washington, D.C.

So, due to packing up our home, wrapping up my current job, and a host of other blah blah blah reasons, I almost sat this round of #LetsLunch out. But, we're doing posts about food to honor our dads (in the U.S it is Father's Day on June 17th), and I really like my dad, so I am pulling this one together for him.

Above is a photo of my dad (and my mom) giving a toast at our wedding in September. We skipped a lot of the dad-ly duties like giving me away or a father-daughter dance, so I somehow do not have a photo of just me and my dad from the wedding.

The funny thing about picking a food to honor my dad is that the man doesn't really like food all that much. He's been gluten intolerant since he was about 18 or 20, or approximately 30 years before companies started pumping out half-way decent GF options.

So, the recipe I'm sharing today isn't a gluten-free one, but it's the closest thing to an "old family recipe" we have. Ham and Rice is a leftover from my parents' broke and newlywed days, and it is exactly what it sounds like. It embodies a lot of the things that come to mind when I think of my dad and food: simple, not a ton of ostentatious flavors, and easy to make.
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To start, measure out about 1 cup of rice per person (yes, uncooked rice). It's a very generous portion but trust me on this. Feel free to use whatever white rice you have in the house, but my dad swears by Kokuho Rose rice. If long ago your kid insisted you own a rice cooker for her benefit, then start your rice cooker and set it aside. If not, go about your business making rice however you normally do.

Next, take a large amount of ham, cube it and fry it in butter or margarine. This gives the butter a nice hammy flavor which goes toward seasoning the rice. The trick here is not to make the pieces of ham too big or too small. About the size of an M&M (but square-ish, obviously). The amount you make will vary, but at our house, this is a family favorite, so when we make it for 4-6 people, we usually make enough to actually feed 10. This is an old step-shot, but I think this is about two hamsteaks.

The final step is pretty easy. Mix the two parts together. We usually do the ham in a large skillet with high sides and dump the rice in. What's the correct ham to rice ratio? You're looking at it. Basically, you want to be able to get one, two, maybe three cubes of ham in every bite of rice you scoop up.

That's it, folks. No further seasoning (but we do serve ours with salt and pepper at the table), nothing. Just serve it up in bowls and enjoy. And, if you're health conscious at all, consider serving with a large green salad.

The "recipe" as it were:
Ham and Rice
* about 2 hamsteaks to feed 4 people, or maybe 1/2-2/3 cubed ham per person.
* about 1 cup uncooked rice per person (you'll probably have leftovers, but it's great leftover
* 1 stick of butter per 4 people

Cook the rice according to directions or in a rice cooker. Set aside and keep warm.

Cube the ham and fry over medium heat for 8-10 minutes.

Toss the rice into the ham mixture until fully combined and rice is coated in the butter.

Serve with salt and pepper.

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#LetsLunch is a monthly "lunch date" of food bloggers from around the world. We meet on Twitter and would LOVE to have you join us! Just send us a tweet on the hashtag (I'm @emmacarew) and introduce yourself.

In place of listing everyone's posts, I've started a Pinboard round up of all today's posts, which I'll update throughout the weekend.

See you next month!

May LetsLunch: Food across two cultures

Source: pingram.me via Emma on Pinterest

It all started here. Wildly delicious kimchi bulgogi fries from a food truck in Austin.

When my LetsLunch group mentioned doing fusion foods for this month's virtual lunch date, I knew that this was a perfect time to try and adapt this recipe.

Where I landed instead was a little further from the basket of deliciousness I first bit into back in January, but an equally tasty option, I think.

Source: pingram.me via Emma on Pinterest

Kimchi bulgogi nachos.

The thing you have to understand about me is that I really love nachos. And they don't even have to be good ones at a halfway decent Mexican restaurant. I actually really love the super salty chips with the questionably plastic cheese product dispensed from a warm bag that you get at the town hockey rink. (Can you tell I grew up in Minnesota?)

I adapted the cheese sauce recipe found here. We already had a giant bucket of homemade kimchi.

If you have those two things, you are more than halfway there (and really, for the average person, a perfectly nice storebought kimchi works well too -- just get it a good Korean market, not that crap they sell in mainstream grocery stores!)

So, start by draining about 1 1/2 cups of kimchi. You can squeeze some of the extra liquid out with your hands if you like. Chop this coarsely and set aside.

The rest of your toppings: beef bulgogi (marinate rib eye or other nice cut of beef in 3 parts soy sauce, 1 part each: sugar (or honey), sesame oil, rice vinegar, then grill), diced onion and cilantro.

Throw down your chips (I used Trader Joe's multigrain and low-fat blue corn) then drizzle your cheese sauce on top.  I added a few dashes of cayenne and a teaspoon or two of mustard powder to my cheese sauce to give it a little kick.

Then pile on the toppings (be extra generous with the kimchi!). I also gave mine a good squirt of Sriracha rooster sauce for a little extra kick.

I actually liked these better than the french fries I had in Austin - the crispy chips were a good base to really load up each bite. And the Korean-Mexican fusion trend has been popular elsewhere, with Korean tacos and the like, so the flavors complement each other really well.

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Be sure to check the LetsLunch hashtag throughout the day Friday (and into the weekend, we often have stragglers --hell, I'm usually one of them) to see the delicious fusion offerings of the rest of our gang!

edit: Or check out my Pinterest Board, where I've pulled all of the links together!

Interested in joining us? Send us a tweet with #LetsLunch and introduce yourself! I'm @emmacarew.

The start of grilled pizza season!

It seems like pretty much everyone on the internet was talking about pizza at home and grilled pizzas this week. Inspired by the New York Times dining section's Pizza Issue and this post from Amateur Gourmet.  

So, Jake and I made big plans (which were threatened by the on-again-off-again rain all weekend) to make grilled pizzas. 

This morning, I made Mark Bittman's pizza dough recipe and let it sit for a few hours. I subbed 1 cup of whole wheat flour into the recipe and it was a little shaggier than I expected (it didn't come together quite as firmly as in the video), so I ended up making a second batch. 

We used the cheese-sauce-toppings method described on Serious Eats' Pizza Lab post. My best pairing of toppings is this one: brussels sprouts, garlic and bacon. 

Action shot of Jake checking the pizzas.

Four delicious mini-pizzas, grilled to perfection. 

 

Cardamom Pavlova with Pistachios and Lime Whip

You're looking at our Easter 2012 dessert -- which followed an impressive spread from Jake's dad Dave (fried risotto balls, garlic spaghetti, pancetta-wrapped pork loin... and so on).

Jake and I finally got around to trying Bachelor Farmer a couple weeks back, where we we thought we might run into our "neighbor" the governor (his two sons own the restaurant) but instead, almost brushed elbows with Sen. Al Franken (he was two tables over).

We had a dessert that was similar to this, and I knew I needed to learn how to make pavolova -- which is essentially a ginormous meringue.

I've had ground cardamom from Penzey's for a few months now that I haven't really found a good use for. I followed this recipe from Chow.com as a reference. I added 1 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom in the last step.

Having never really worked with meringue before, I decided to to a dry run the night before (as we were making our Easter pierogies):

Here's the dry run. I kept poking at this one every few minutes between 55 and 65 minutes of bake time to see how well done it was in the middle. In our Breville toaster/convection oven, 65 minutes at 250 F with convection on was perfect.

I didn't have enough heavy whipping cream to make two batches, so I just topped this version with some boozy berry sauce I threw together (1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup mixed frozen blackberries and raspberries, 1/2 cup sweet white wine, 1/4 cup sugar, combine over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently).

I mixed the zest of two limes, some powdered sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract into one cup of heavy whipping cream to make the whipped topping. I would have liked a little more whip, but this was the perfect amount to cover the 8-ish inch pavlova.

So, after the pavolva comes out of the oven, allow to cool slightly, spread the whipped cream, sprinkle with 2-3 good handfuls of shelled pistachios, then top with 1-2 cups of sliced strawberries.

RECIPE:
Adapted from chow.com

For the pavlova:
4 large egg whites with no traces of yolk, at room temperature
 Pinch fine salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

(use a stand mixer with wire whisk attachment)

* Beat egg whites and salt until bubbles start to disappear (1-2 minutes), then slowly stream in the sugar. Increase whipping to medium and beat for 3-4 more minutes until stiff peaks form. Your mixture will be glossy and sticky, like marshmallow fluff.
* Sprinkle cornstarch over the surface, then pour in vanilla, vinegar and cardamom. Fold in gently until combined.
* Turn the mixture out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a rubber spatula to make a nice round shape and try to smooth it out as best you can.
* Bake at 250 F for 65 minutes if you have convection, about 75 if not.
* Cool slightly, then top with lime whipped cream, pistachios and berries.

Eggs In A Hole for April LetsLunch

Just in time for Easter, our Let's Lunch group chose to make egg dishes for our monthly "lunch date" today.

I just got back from a great week in Orlando covering the 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off and visiting some friends (including my first trip into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!). So, I knew I wouldn't have much time this week for prepping a fancy egg dish.

Since joining Pinterest a few months back, I've been amazed by the number of eggs-in-a-hole style dishes I've come across. Eggs baked into toast. Eggs in a potato. Eggs in half of an avocado. It became kind of a joke for me, and I dedicated an entire Pin board to Eggs-In-A-Hole.

So, I thought it would only be fitting for me to finally try my hand at a fried egg in a toast hole today.

The bread I have at home right now is on the smaller side so I first made the hole using a small biscuit cutter.

The method for this delicious breakfast treat is super easy: you cut a hole into each slice of bread, then butter each piece. Heat a non-stick skillet, place the bread butter-side down, then crack an egg into the hole.

The first attempt: you can see the egg white sort of overflowed here. So I went back and used the next size up on my second toast.

When the egg sets on the bottom (three to five minutes), flip the whole slice of toast gently. I only left it on the other side for about a minute to let the other side of the egg set. But I'm a fan of runny egg yolks.

The best part about Eggs-In-A-Hole? Saving the cutouts to make an itty-bitty grilled cheese sandwich. I also sprinkled the leftover shredded cheese over my egg toasts.

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LetsLunch is a monthly "meetup" of food bloggers from all over! Each month we choose a theme, set a date and post on the day (it's usually the first Friday of the month).

Check out the posts from the rest of our group today:

– Cheryl's Chai Poh Scramble at A Tiger In The Kitchen

– Denise‘s Beet Dye & Pink Deviled Eggs at Chez Us

– Felicia‘s Perfect Sandwich at Burnt-Out Baker

– Grace‘s Scrambled Eggs & Tomatoes at HapaMama

– Joe‘s Kim-Chi Deviled Eggs at Joe Yonan

– Linda‘s Home-made Cadbury Eggs (Maple Chocolate Eggs) at Free Range Cookies

– Linda‘s Taiwanese Tomato Eggs at Spicebox Travels

– Lisa‘s Legendary Egg & Onion at Monday Morning Cooking Club

– Lucy‘s Old-Fashioned Boiled Dressing (& Chicken Salad) at A Cook And Her Books

– Rashda‘s Bombay Toasts (Spicy French Toasts) at Hot Curries And Cold Beer

Want to join us? Send us a tweet and introduce yourself using the hashtag #letslunch

What's your favorite egg dish?

Baking marathon: red velvet cake, funfetti cake, mocha cake and salted caramel cake.

Last week I embarked on my second largest baking project ever. My high school journalism program, ThreeSixty Journalism, asked me to donate a few cakes to their mid-winter fundraiser for people to win as prizes.

Last Saturday, I baked a red velvet cake, two batches of the chocolate cake I made for Karyn's wedding, and a funfetti cake, based on this recipe. I also baked a batch of red velvet cupcakes to bring along for volunteers or anyone else to nibble on. I wrapped the cooled cakes in plastic wrap and left them in the fridge until Wednesday.

Wednesday, I made three large batches of vanilla buttercream and a double batch of cream cheese frosting for the red velvet. I flavored two batches of the buttercream with espresso and salted caramel sauce (I doubled this recipe from Michael Ruhlman's blog). I was very impressed with both of these flavors. You can see all of my favorite cake gear here: the cake boards stacked in the back, our awesome cupcake carrier (a wedding gift from a great friend), lot and lots of plastic wrap to keep the cakes fresh and safe between baking and decorating, offset and flat spatulas for icing, my cheap but reliable cake turntable, and in that white plastic bin in the front, that's where I keep my decorating tips and pastry bags.

I was also testing a product for the Food Now! newsletter, a cake slicing kit. I was able to make the funfetti and red velvet cakes into four layer cakes (I thought they looked very nice), and the single 10-inch layer of mocha cake into a slim two layer. The kit worked really well - but definitely better with the funfetti cake, which was a butter cake and much more firm.

Here's the salted caramel getting the crumb layer of icing. I filled between the layers with the rest of the caramel sauce. I think it was a bit too thin though, it was hard to keep it from running out the sides.

My freezer is jam packed, but thankfully it was a chilly day outside. I used my porch as a freezer to help firm up the icing after the crumb coating. This is the 10-inch mocha cake and the 8-inch salted caramel.

Not surprisingly, I was in a rush on my way out the door, so I forgot to take photos of the finished and decorated cakes. I was worried about transporting them, but each finished cake sat outside for probably 30 minutes before driving, so the frosting was firm, and the dollop of frosting between the cake board and the cake carrier had time to set, which minimized sliding. 

Here are the cakes out for display with some of the others donated by volunteers and staff. On the far left, my four-layer red velvet, topped with cream cheese frosting, and decorated with strawberries and pecan halves. In the middle an M&Ms and KitKat bar cake baked by one of my former editors. On the far right, the 10-inch mocha cake, decorated with crushed Oreo pieces. 

Top left: the 8-inch salted caramel chocolate cake, with caramel sauce filling and salted caramel buttercream, decorated with a star pattern around the edge. Top right: a vanilla frog cake by one of the staff. Botton: the 8-inch vanilla funfetti cake with vanilla buttercream and topped with tons and tons of sprinkles. 

The fundraiser was a success and I had a ton of fun baking all of these cakes. 

Recipes: 

RED VELVET CAKE 

(adapted from Paula Deen's Food Network recipe) 

*Note: After baking this cake a few times per year, I can tell you purchasing red food color each time is a pain--also somewhat expensive. I finally purchased a large bottle (maybe 20-30 ounces) of red food color in bulk at my local Asian grocery (Twin Cities friends: I bought mine at the Shaung Her in Minneapolis) for $8, or the cost of 2 or 3 of those little bottles.

For the Red Velvet Cake:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I like natural cocoa from Penzey's Spices)  
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups canola or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 ounce (1-2 TBS) red food coloring*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 TBS white vinegar, at room temperature)

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 2 sticks butter at room temperature
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese at room temperature
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar (about 1 lb, or half a bag)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 TBS milk or cream, as needed.

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two cake pans with nonstick spray, flour and parchment paper. 

* In a medium sized bowl, sift together dry ingredients until completely combined. 

* In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, mix eggs, oil, color and buttermilk. 

* Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches. Drizzle in vinegar and vanilla and mix only until fully combined. 

* Split evenly among the cake pans then bake for 24-26 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. 

* Cool completely before frosting. 

>> To make cream cheese frosting: beat butter and cream cheese on medium high until fluffy and fully combined. Add the vanilla then lower mixer speed and add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Mix on medium 5-7 minutes, then test texture. If the frosting still feels grainy, mix another 3-5 minutes until smooth. 

CHOCOLATE CAKE

(Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe)

Serves 12 or makes 24 cupcakes.

Note: This is a time to break out the really good cocoa powder. From "The Barefoot Contessa," by Ina Garten, who recommends extra-large eggs in her recipes, though large will work fine.

• Butter, for greasing the pans

• 13/4 c. flour, plus more for pans

• 2 c. sugar

• 3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• 1 c. buttermilk, shaken

• 1/2 c. vegetable oil

• 2 eggs, at room temperature

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 c. freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment; mix on low speed until combined.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. (If brushing with Raspberry Glaze, see directions at right.)

Place one layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

(Source: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/recipes/131156498.html) 

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM (the starting point for 3 of my cakes): 6 sticks of butter (room temperature), one 2 lb. bag of powdered sugar, 1-2 tsp clear vanilla flavoring (you can use regular vanilla for the salted caramel and espresso batches), 1-2 TBS milk or cream as needed. 

> Mix the butter on medium high in a stand mixer for 7-10 minutes until shiny and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar with the mixer on low 1/2 cup at a time. When desired consistency has been reached, turn the speed on the mixer up to medium again, and mix 5-7 minutes, then test for graininess. 

Variations: Mix 2-3 TBS very strong espresso (I used 4 TBS Cafe Bustelo coffee grounds with about 6 ounces of water, then strained.) with the butter on low before adding the powdered sugar OR mix 1 1/2 cups salted caramel sauce with the butter before adding the powdered sugar.