Happy Valentine's Day: Have Some Love Brownies!

You're probably gonna get chocolate today, either as a direct gift or from the movie theater. Wanna do something different this Valentine's Day?

Try our Valentine Brownies! This one is Natalie's concoction... What else do you do with a heart-shaped baking pan?

These delicious and gorgeous brownies are from a fantastic recipe, courtesy of Natalie, again. Check it out:

• 1 1/4 sticks of butter
• 1 1/4 cups of sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of almond extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup of flour

Preheat oven to 325. Mix butter, cocoa, sugar, and salt in heatproof bowl. Set bowl in barely simmering water on stove. We've seen versions of this with a skillet of water, a pan of water, etc. We find it works best with a pot filled maybe 1/4 of the way with water. Stir until butter is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Remove bowl and set aside until lukewarm (not stove hot).

Mix remaining ingredients. Your oven should be preheated by now so pour the batter into this super cute heart-shaped pan (from the geniuses at Sur La Table, I've been told).

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before placing on a red plate and sprinkling on some powdered sugar.

An angelic, Cupid-inspired glow...

The perfect Valentine treat for couples or a girls' day or even a day with the guys. Who doesn't love brownies, man?

Dish and enjoy with a glass of milk!

Yum! This recipe was made with lots of love! Happy Valentine's Day to our friends, family, and interested parties. Don't forget to check out our social media for to the moment updates on our kitchen kraziness. You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter for exclusive updates and upcoming giveaways. Stay tuned for more from the College Kitchenettes!

Grammy Celebrations: Marshmallow Cupcakes a la Yum

Welcome to the Grammys! As many American families do, we are having a Grammys party. Nachos for dinner and something ultra-new for dessert! I've had this gluten-free chocolate cake mix for a while now and really wanted to do something with it today but I had to find something creative to do with it. And then I looked at Pinterest - on the top of the page was a picture of epic proportions: Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes. I had to do it.

Let's get started!

This is one of our easier recipes because it's not from scratch. I didn't have time today to get some of the required 'from scratch' ingredients.

• Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Chocolate Devil's Food Cake Mix
• Jello Chocolate Fudge Pudding Mix
• 1 cup water
• 3 eggs
• 1 stick of butter, softened

Put all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and pull out your mixer. We have a small handheld mixer, not one of those fancy KitchenAid ones. The batter should be extremely smooth after about 5 minutes of mixing on the second lowest setting.

Smooth, soft, and scrumptious!

Start spooning the batter into each cupcake spot, about 3/4 full, and then add the marshmallow standing straight.

Bring on the marshy-mallows!

Put in the oven at 325 for about 22 minutes. The marshmallows will poof up and then spread out across the top of the cupcakes. This can get messy.

S'more goodness!

I did marshmallow filled and non-marshmallow filled. The marshmallow filled turned out nicely (and delicious), even before I frosted them.

Frosting and sprinkles to the front!

I frosted the cupcakes with whipped vanilla frosting, to sort of match the marshmallow consistency. Then, I used red and silver sprinkles, and white pearls. They turned out elegantly delicious.

Grammy-winning deliciousness!

Stay tuned for more yummy kitchen kreations this month and next month. Don't forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter to stay up to date on recipes, holidays, events and even upcoming giveaways. Check us out on Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest, too! 

Kale Omelette! (Delicious!)

Hey guys! So, while I was at college, my friend Callie bought a GIANT bushel of kale, which is a vegetable I always thought tasted absolutely gross. As we walked to meet our friends in the lobby of our favorite building, she implored me to take a huge bite, and her eyes got really big with excitement, so of course I complied. She ensured me it was organic and locally grown and tasty, but it was horrid, and it made my tongue green for like six hours. Then she let me try this new type of purple kale she bought at the farmer's market... and it was STILL gross! How could this raved-about superfood be consumed so happily and so widely?

I actually discovered that kale is INDEED delicious when cooked because of this recipe I got from the lovely Callie, who made a few of These Here Omelettes for some of our friends one night. Callie had sautéed some kale in olive oil until it was almost crispy, and then poured egg on top of it. I cooked the recipe today, doctoring the food up with a few spices I found in my kitchen. This recipe took just a few minutes, and it hit the spot right before we went to a huge party, because we're in college!

This recipe is perfect, because it takes like two seconds, which actually means about 10 minutes total. And there are only three primary ingredients, all of which are stupid cheap and easily accessible. Yay studentry!

3 main ingredients, man.  I garnish omelettes with hummus because hummus is love

I obtained a pan that was the size of my stove's burner, to prepare a single omelette. Estimated a handful of olive oil, and inserted that into the pan for fryin'. Cool. I then put in a bushel (teehee bushel) of kale that just about filled the small pan. This looks like a lot of kale before the kale is cooked, but greens SHRINK like nobody's business when they're cooked. I can't emphasize this enough, kale SHRINKS like there is LITERALLY NO TOMORROW. 

But I'm not kidding when I say that sautéed kale in olive oil is the most delicious food I have ever tried in my entire life, doe. And then I added some spices, and MMM MMM MMM, I concluded that I would be happy eating kale by itself for literally all 3 (or 7) meals today. 

Ever since discovering sautéed kale my home life has just been like

So yeah, I added a few spices too! A lot of spices. But really just a few. Here they are. The little white one on the left is Lemon Pepper, which sweetens the dank vegetable. So does the ginger. And olive oil is a delicious Butteralternative, for preventing Egg Stickage and cooking and stuff like that. Oh and Galric is Flavr too, just don't add too much of this or food will taste icky. You want this to taste kinda sweet, really.

Pepper Spice, Big Spice, Baby Spice, Oil, Corner Spice to cover a spider

So, this is what the kale looks like cooked! It shrinks A LOT, I swear I didn't eat more than three leaves. Kook the cale (I had to) on medium-low heat, for just a few minutes until it looks like this picture. Once bits of kale start turning brown and crispy, you've gone too far, so stop cooking before you get kale chips. 

THIS IS REALLY REALLY GOOD

The next step, of course, is mixing up some eggs to prepare for Omelettery! I used two eggs for this particular endeavor.

What my soul did after I played the same Smash Mouth song on repeat for a week

Somebody once told me the world was gonna roll me So I mixed up the eggs really well in this cup before I poured them on top of the kale. I then kept the heat on low, and used a rubber spatula to lift up the sides of the omelette, so any uncooked egg on top could run underneath it. The olive oil had the pan lubed up and ready fo' cookin. Also dat olive flavor is so good with this dish.

Thinkin bout dat rabbit food omelette

I flipped it onto a plate and it was GORGEOUS! The kale leaves are beautifully intertwined with the golden egg, and it looks like... a vine. A gorgeous vine growing on a gorgeous house. Or like a Vine® of a gorgeous omelette.

I love to garnish with hummus, since it's really tasty and kind of like a cheese substitute. This is entirely, absolutely, unintentionally vegetarian as well as powerfully healthy.

That heart shaped hummus was an accidental blessing from the universe

Delicious! Until next cooking time!