The Modern Housewife

Vanilla Bean Syrup

2011-04-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is a horrible picture of something wonderfully delicious and something that has changed my morning routine! I recently discovered that I can get fresh vanilla beans at my local Henry's for close to nothing - I got three beans for $1.27 because they charge per pound. Since discovering this wonderful fact I have been loading up my life vanilla beans - I have a batch of homemade vanilla extract "brewing" right now along with a vanilla sugar that should be ready soon!

The one thing that has transformed my life is this vanilla syrup, which used a vanilla bean pod that I had already scrapped for a cookie recipe, however you could make this with a whole unused vanilla bean pod. This has also made my goal of cutting back on Starbucks even easier! I add a dollop of this with my soy milk before heating - add a couple of shots of espresso using my stove-top espresso pot that I got as a gift a couple of years ago and I have a delicious and really inexpensive vanilla bean latte! While I still get in a Caramel Macciato a couple times a week, these vanilla bean lattes have made almost made me a morning person!

Vanilla Bean Syrup

1 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 used vanilla bean pod

Place water and sugar in small saucepan, heat until sugar is just dissolved. Add in vanilla bean and heat additional minute. Turn off heat and allow vanilla bean to seep in the simple syrup until room temperature. Once cooled store in airtight container in the refrigerator - use as needed.

Oatmeal Spice Cookies

2011-03-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

I have had a box of Spice cake mix in my cupboard for a couple of months waiting for some inspiration. When I saw these cookies on the Confessions of a Cookbook Queen earlier this week, I knew that I needed to try them out. These cookies are SO unbelievably delicious that I have made these twice this week! The first batch was for a boat ride that we took with our dear friends and their son - I gave them half of what was left over and my hubby ate the other half. I do admit to eating one for breakfast...... The second batch was for the office and across the board everyone LOVED them!!! They are so easy to make, the only change I made was to add white chocolate chips and I didn't have any cream cheese frosting so I left that part out.

These cookies have a wonderful warm spicy taste - the addition of cinnamon chips, which I love to add into my oatmeal cookies, give it a great cinnamon flavor. The oats are enough to give it some texture and the addition of the white chocolate gave it a nice sweetness. I am so glad that I found this recipe!

Oatmeal Spice Cookies

Recipe from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

1 box spice cake mix

1 stick softened butter

2 eggs

1 cup cinnamon chips

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together cake mix, butter and eggs until smooth. Add in both chips and oats, scrapping down the sides.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll these into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 9 - 10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes on the sheet and place on cooling rack.

ENJOY!

March Baking Gals

2011-03-09T22:56:00.000-08:00

It's that time again! This months care package included S'mores granola bars, chewy chocolate chip cookie bars and Oatmeal Spice cookies from my kitchen. We also included some Chex mix, Planter's trail mix, Black Licorice and a couple of boxes of instant drink packets. We also included two issues of Snowboarder magazine - hopefully this will be something that they enjoy!

We hope that these care packages let them know how much we appreciate the sacrifices and support that they give our country!

My First CSA Box!

2011-03-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to incorporate more vegetables in our diet and decided to find a local CSA to join. I have been debating if this is something that I would like/use for a while and finally decided to start out with baby steps. I am signed up with Tanaka Farms for a small box bi-weekly. I am hoping that this won't be too much and that we won't have a lot of waste. I think this is just perfect and am excited to try out some new recipes!

This week my box came with a huge head of romaine lettuce, a bunch of radishes, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of swiss chard, 4 pink lady apples and a jar of strawberry jam made from their own strawberries. I am excited to incorporate these into our menu this week, I am planning on making a yummy salad of some sort, sauteed swiss chard and a radish chutney.

YUMMY!

Nutty Pumpkin Granola

2011-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have been on a serious yogurt kick! I have just discovered the wonders of Greek Yogurt and I can't get enough. The hubby and I go thru a carton from Costco in a little over a week! We have been getting the plain yogurt which I doctor up with some agave syrup, cinnamon and granola. Most granola is pretty pricey so I decided that I would try to make my own - a quick internet search and I discovered a quick and inexpensive recipe for pumpkin granola on Ella Says Opa, most of the other recipes I found linked back to her recipe so I decided to try it out.

The process couldn't be simpler - mix all the ingredients together and bake on low heat - but the results were amazing! I decided to add in only silvered almonds because I don't really like walnuts but otherwise I left it the same. I spent about $3.00 total for a container of granola that is not filled with preservatives and that I LOVE! I went to my local Mother's Market and was able to get the nuts and dried cranberries from the self service bins which is a money saver and has allowed me to try out some new products with little risk if I don't end up liking it. Another bonus is that I was able to make the entire house smell delicious!

Nutty Pumpkin Granola
Recipe from Ella Says Opa

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup pepitas
pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each ground ginger, allspice and nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup agave maple syrup
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven 300 degrees.

Mix together oats, nuts and spices. Add in pumpkin, vanilla and syrup, mix well until all ingredients are coated. Add in cranberries and mix well. Spread over greased cookie sheet and bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until golden and crispy. Cool completely before storing in airtight container.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

2011-03-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

This was another goodie that I made this Sunday in honor of the Oscar's - you can't watch a show about the movies without some popcorn! Since this is a night where Hollywood gets dressed up - I decided to dress up my popcorn! This isn't my favorite caramel corn recipe - I wish that this had a LOT more caramel, but it was still yummy! This was an easier caramel corn recipe that was perfect since I decided to make it about an hour before we left for to go watch the Oscars.

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn
Recipe from The Craving Chronicles

1/2 cup popcorn kernels
15 unwrapped caramels
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 Tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 Tablespoon butter

Pop popcorn in air-popper, place in large bowl.

Add caramels, heavy cream and 1/2 Tablespoon butter in saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently until caramel is melted. Drizzle popcorn with caramel mixture and stir to coat evenly. Scatter popcorn on baking sheet lined with waxed paper.

Melt chocolate chips and remaining butter in double boiler. Drizzle over popcorn.

Let sit at room temperature for at least an hour until chocolate hardens.

ENJOY!

Shared on Sweets for Saturday!

Boston Creme Cupcakes

2011-03-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

We watched the Red Carpet and Oscar's at a close friends house this Sunday and since I always bring the dessert and she has been asking for these cupcakes for a couple of months I decided to make these VERY easy and delicious cupcakes. I have been making these for years - the inspiration is a making an easy to transport version of the classic. I have made them a couple of different ways, using both store bought cake mix and homemade yellow cake. I have used both traditional vanilla pudding as well as branched out with a white chocolate pudding and cheesecake pudding filling. All of them have been really tasty and I don't really have a favorite way. I decided to make this version the traditional yellow cake with vanilla pudding and chocolate ganache. I used a cake mix because I didn't want to make a lot of them, and instant vanilla pudding with some vanilla beans thrown in to increase the vanilla flavor. The result was very well received and these are a delicious treat that I highly recommend!

I forgot to take a picture of the inside!!! Trust me they are filled with vanilla bean pudding!!

Boston Creme Cupcakes

12 prepared yellow cupcakes - either cake mix or homemade
2 cups vanilla pudding - either homemade or from the mix
1 cup chocolate ganache

Fill a pastry bag with a cupcake filling tip (Wilton tip 230) with prepared pudding. Insert cupcake tip into cooled cupcake - fill cupcake, careful not to overfill. You will start to see the cupcake expand - if you overfill it's okay but you will need to clean off the top of the cupcake. Alternatively you can use an apple corer to take the center out of the cupcake, fill with pudding and replace top.

Once all cupcakes are filled, prepare chocolate ganache. I used 1/2 cup heated cream, do not allow it to boil poured over 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips. Allow this to sit 1 - 2 minutes and then stir until chocolate is melted. With an off-set spatula spread ganache on each cupcake, smoothing to create a shiny smooth surface. Place cupcakes in refrigerator for 1 hour to allow the ganache to cool and set.

These cupcakes stay good in the fridge for a couple of days before they start to get a little soggy inside.

ENJOY!

Shared on Cupcake Tuesday and Sweets for a Saturday!

Double Decker Pumpkin Bread

2011-02-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

I love all things pumpkin and I love to make it all year long, not only in the fall. This bread is a great way to get my pumpkin fix! The bread is filled with spicy pumpkin flavor and the cream cheese is a nice creamy filling that complements the pumpkin. It fills the house with delicious pumpkin smells and making these in a mini loaf pan makes this easy to share! Even if you don't have mini loaf pans you can make this in a regular sized pan - just increase the cook time.

Double Decker Pumpkin Bread

Recipe from How Sweet It Is

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Mix together pumpkin and sugars together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then mix in vanilla and oil. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Alternately add in dry ingredients and buttermilk, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Pour into mini loaf pans halfway to the top. Spread a third of the cream cheese mixture over the batter and cover with more pumpkin batter until it reaches about a 1/2 inch to the top.

Bake 35 - 40 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan before turning out onto rack.

Cream Cheese Mixture

8 ounces softened cream cheese

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together all ingredients until well combined.

Linked up on Sweet as Sugar Cookies and Real Sustenance

Pasta e Ceci Soup

2011-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

We have finally got some cold weather here in Southern California and I have been loving it! Granted my cold is 55 degrees with a slight drizzle but my thin blood is freezing! It has been a perfect opportunity to whip up some hardy soups that warm you up.

I found this recipe in a search to try and find more meatless dishes to incorporate at least once a week. This is largely in part to Oprah and her recent show on the Vegan Challenge that she and her staff were a part of. While I will never become a vegetarian or vegan - I love my yogurt and steaks too much - it made me think about my eating habits, and I am trying to incorporate meatless lunches into my work week and at least one meatless dinner into my week. The hubby is trying to gain weight/bulk with this workouts (must be nice) and so I need to make sure that these meatless meals have a lot of protein. Not only do the chickpeas in this soup have a lot of muscle building protein (one cup has 14.5 grams) but they are full of heart-healthy folate, fiber and iron which makes this a healthy addition to my meatless recipes. The best part is that I had all of these ingredients in my pantry already and so this made for a very inexpensive main course!

I pureed the soup with an immersion blender but left some chunks of chickpeas and carrots intact so that it wasn't like baby-food. The pastas gave the soup wonderful texture and I sprinkled with a little bit of mozzarella cheese to add richness.

I paired this with some cheesy crostini's and it was a hardy meal that we both enjoyed!

Pasta e Ceci Soup

Recipe from Family Bites

2 tablespoons oil

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, diced

3 celery ribs, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup white wine

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon dried sage

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

6 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup ditalini

Over low heat, warm oil. Add carrots, onion, celery, and garlic. Saute until the become soft. Deglaze with white wine, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Add chickpeas, salt, sage, tomato paste and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender or in batches in your blender. If using your blender be careful as always with hot liquid. If you soup is too thick you can add some additional chicken stock. Return to heat and add pasta. Cook until pasta is al dente - 5 - 8 minutes.

Serve immediately with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

ENJOY!

Wordless Wednesday - Newport Harbor

2011-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy National Margarita Day!

2011-02-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

Yummy! Enjoy one with someone you love!

Rosemary Focaccia

2011-02-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

This was another adventure in making my own bread, that turned out wonderfully! You can see the wonderful air pockets that developed in the focaccia making this light and airy. I added dried rosemary to the top of mine but this bread base lends itself to a great number of topping. I think this would be great with some slow roasted tomatoes and maybe some feta cheese. I strongly recommend making this to go with a bowl of tomato soup or along a steaming bowl of pasta!

Rosemary Focaccia

Recipe at Epicurious

1 package dry yeast

1 2/3 cups luke warm water

5 cups flour

1/4 cup olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoons table salt

1 tablespoon dried rosemary (recipe calls for fresh but I didn't have any)

1 tablespoon coarse salt

Sift together water and yeast in bowl of mixture and let stand about 5 minutes. If yeast is not active and blooms, restart with new yeast. Add flour, 1/4 cup olive oil and table salt and beat with paddle attachment at medium speed until a dough forms. Replace paddle with dough hook and knead at high speed until a soft and smooth, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl lightly oiled and let rise covered until doubled in bulk 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Press dough evenly into jelly roll pan, generously oiled. Let dough rise, covered with kitchen towel until doubled in bulk about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Stir together rosemary and 3 tablespoons oil. Set aside. Make shallow indentations all over dough with your fingertips then brush oil over top of dough. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake until golden brown, 20 - 25 minutes.

Immediately invert onto rack, turning right side up. You can either serve warm or allow to come to room temperature.

Wordless Wednesday - My office this weekend

2011-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Soup-a-Palooza - Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo

2011-02-15T21:01:00.000-08:00

I don't want to make anyone angry but it has been really warm in Southern California the last couple of months, which has meant that I haven't really wanted to make soup. So when I heard about Soup-a-Palooza hosted by Tidy Mom and Dine and Dish I decided to pull out an old favorite recipe that I have posted before.
I love the lemony tang of this soup and with a crusty piece of bread this is a delicious and satisfying dinner.

Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dishsponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers!

Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo
Adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food you Crave

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 cup white wine
5 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup orzo
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in large saucepan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to saucepan. Once cooked through remove to a plate. Add onion, celery, carrot and dried parsley. Cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Deglaze with the white wine, making sure to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add 4 1/2 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Check seasoning and add salt or pepper if needed. Add orzo and simmer about 8 minutes until orzo is tender. Reduce heat - do not let soup boil from this point.

Warm remaining 1 cup of broth until hot but not boiling. In separate bowl beat eggs. Whisk lemon juice into eggs. Slowly add warmed broth into eggs, whisking while incorporating. Gradually add egg mixture into the soup stirring until thickened. (You need to be careful at this point because the eggs can cook - trust me I had to skim out some cooked eggs this time! Be careful not to let the soup boil)

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day - Faux Hostess Cupcakes

2011-02-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I decided to make something special for my hubby and these fit the bill! I had to work today and wanted to have something easy to pull together, and using my new favorite cake mix - Trader Joe's these came together really quickly.

Once the cupcakes were cooled I used a melon baller to scoop out a section on the middle of the cupcake. I used the marshmallow filling in a pastry bag to fill the middle of the cupcake and then replaced the cupcake top. I topped with the chocolate ganache and then piped a design on the top. While it was a little more involved then a simple cupcake but well worth the effort! DELISH!

Marshmallow Filling

Recipe from Annie's Eats

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup marshmallow fluff

1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat together until well combined. I used this to fill the cupcakes as well as the classic hostess swirl on top.

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup chocolate chips

Heat cream until warm but not boiling. Pour over chocolate chips and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until smooth and all chocolate is melted.

ENJOY!

This was shared on Cupcake Tuesday and Sweets for a Saturday!

Pioneer Woman Cooks - Marinated Steak

2011-02-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make a Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing for quite a while. I finally stopped procrastinating when I saw this recipe for Marinated Flank Steak I know it would make a PERFECT salad!

I added the marinade to a Tri-tip instead of Flank Steak only because it was a sale at my grocery store and it was such a good deal that I could not pass it up! I would love to make this again for some soft tacos I think it would be delish! This salad was a home-run! The combination of the spicy dressing with smokey tri-tip was wonderful. I added some corn tortilla chips that I baked in the oven and Queso Fresco to make a delicious combination. I got the smallest tri-tip at the store but still had enough left over for both of us to have salads for lunch the next day and I made some nachos for dinner. Love it!

Steak Marinade Marinade
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Steak, of your choice
1/3 cup olive oil
Juice from 2 limes
1 can chipotle peppers
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 handful cilantro, chopped

Place all ingredients in food processor, blend until well incorporated. Place steak of your choice in a ziploc bag, add marinade. With bag closed massage marinade into steak. Refrigerate overnight. Take steak out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to cooking to allow the steak to come to room temperature. Cook steak, discard marinade.

ENJOY!

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

2011-02-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

A very good friend of ours is from Salt Lake City, Utah so when a Cafe Rio opened about a mile from our office she almost exploded with excitement! Cafe Rio is labeled as a Mexican food restaurant - although anyone from California would argue with this, the food is really tasty! I personally love the Fire Grilled Steak Salad which is a gigantic flour tortilla filled with romaine lettuce, fire grilled steak, cheese, tortilla strips and your choice of dressing. I always, always get the Creamy Tomatillo Dressing! The dressing has a wonderful spiciness that I love, which pairs wonderfully with the cool lettuce and marinaded steak.

I am obsessed with this dressing!! I knew that I couldn't go to Cafe Rio every day just for the dressing so I started looking on the internet for a recipe. I found a couple of copy cat recipes and merged them together with what I had one hand to create a dressing that is almost as good as the original! It tasted better as it sits in the fridge so I suggest making it the night before you want to use it. This will be a repeat recipe in our house - I paired it with a marinade trip tip to make my very own version of the salad!

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

2 tomatillos, peeled and quartered
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
1 small jalapeno, chopped and seeds removed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roast tomatillos for 10 minutes. Cool slightly.

Place all items into blender and process until smooth. Refrigerate until use. The flavor gets better over time. Keeps in the fridge for up to a week.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Roll out Cookies

2011-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before one of my new years goals is to practice my royal icing skills and decorating cookies. I am constantly inspired by a couple of blogs that I follow: Bake at 350; i am baker and The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle just to name a few! Take a look at their blogs and tell me you are not inspired to pull out your piping tips and give it a try!

The one problem I always have is with the sugar cookie dough - I find that it is hard to roll out even after refrigerating. I am also a chocolate girl and while the hubby gobbles up the vanilla based sugar cookies I am always sneaking in the cupboard looking for the lonely piece of chocolate that I must have left back there! When I saw these chocoalte chip roll out cookies on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle I knew I had to try them out!!! Once again Baking GALS gave me the perfect opportunity to try out this new recipe and not have dozen of cookies tempting me.

This dough was really easy to pull together and roll out really well. No sticking! I did put the dough back in the fridge when I wasn't using it to keep it cool. I didn't have any problem with the cookies spreading out while they baked, I am not sure if this is because I kept the dough really cold. The cookie wasn't too sweet which is good since royal icing is so incredibly sweet, so the combination was perfect.

I can't recommend these cookies enough!!! I can't wait to have an excuse to try these out again!

Chocolate Chip Roll out Cookies

Recipe from The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugars until light in color and fluffy. Add in egg yolk and vanilla, beat well. Slowly incorporate flour and salt mix until incorporated. Mix in chocolate chips. Place dough in medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Roll dough out onto parchment paper covered with flour and cut out shapes. Place cookies on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate cookies for 15 minutes before baking. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Once completely cooled frost with your favorite icing!

ENJOY!

Shared on Sweet as Sugar Cookies

M&M Cookies

2011-02-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

These cookies were another recipe that I decided to make for February's Baking GALS. I thought that pairing these with Valentine's edition M&Ms would make a fun and festive cookie. The cookie dough was a had a wonderful vanilla taste and with M&Ms both mixed into the batter and pressed on the top you get an M&M in every bite.

M&M Cookies
Recipe from Beantown Baker

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups M&M's

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together sugars and shortening until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients and blend well. Mix in 3/4 cup M&M's. Chill dough 10 minutes.

Scoop onto parchment sheet covered cookie sheet. Pat down and embellish with M&M's. Bake 10 minutes. Cool on rack.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Scotcheroos

2011-02-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

I have had this recipe in a special folder on my computer brilliantly called "Recipes to Try", super creative. :) It seems like this folder keeps growing and growing so when the Baking GALS teams opened up for February I knew where I needed to look for some recipe inspiration.

I loved Rice Krispie treats as a kid but now when I have one I am always disappointed. The flavors are just a little too sweet and surprisingly bland for my tastes. So when I saw this recipe I knew that I had to try it out. A mixture of peanut butter, chocolate and butterscotch, what could go wrong! The process was very easy and the resulting treats were delicious!

I decided to make these in a jellyroll pan so that they were thinner than the normal Rice Krispie treats, I think it makes me feel better about eating them if they are this size! Thankfully I mailed these over or I think I would have eaten them all! These were a wonderful inspiration and I think a Nutella Rice Krispie treat is in my very near future!

Chocolate Scotcheroos
Recipe from Kellogg's

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Place corn syrup and sugar in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add Rice Krispies and stir until well coated. Press mixture into jelly roll pan, covered in foil and greased.

Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a double boiler. Spread evenly over cereal mixture and let stand until firm. Cut into small squares and ENJOY!

Wordless Wednesday - Baking GALS

2011-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Cream Cheese Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache

2011-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

We had to buy a new TV last week - our TV of only four years died on us....

Both of us were really upset because we didn't want to spend money on a new TV, we would like to spend our money on a trip or maybe new boots..... But since it would cost just as much to fix the TV with used parts as buy a new one, off to Costco we went. We ended up with a wonderful new TV that makes me feel like I'm at the Laker's game and couldn't be happier with our purchase.

To celebrate we invited the in-laws over to watch the Laker's game and check out our newest addition to the family. I made my delicious Middle Eastern chicken, hummus and yogurt sauce to snack on during the game and this unbelievable cake to help ease our pain over the loss.

I had to work during the day and needed something easy to pull together, so I finally tried out the Trader Joe's Chocolate Cake Mix that I had in my pantry. I added a center of cream cheese mixture and topped with chocolate ganache. This was an idea that I got from my Aunt in a cupcake form but I decided to make it in a no-fuss, bundt cake.

The result was a wonderfully moist and rich cake that was impressive enough to serve when company comes over! In total it took about 10 minutes of prep and 40 minutes of bake time. This would be a wonderful Valentine's Day dessert - sure to make your love think you slaved away!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache

1 prepared recipe of chocolate cake, enough for a 10 cup bundt cake

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour prepared chocolate cake into greased bundt cake pan. Set aside.

Mix together cream cheese, egg and sugar until creamy. Mix in mini chocolate chips. Drop evenly on the top of cake mix in bundt pan. Bake 40 minutes or until cake is set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn out of pan. Cool completely.

Heat cream in small saucepan, add in chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Pour evenly over cake.

ENJOY!

I shared this post on Sweets for a Saturday.

My first Kogi Truck Experience!

2011-01-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

We attended Sugar Rush: A Cupcake Extravaganza on Saturday, which was a cupcake festival benefiting Orangewood Children's Foundation. Unfortunately by the time we got there a lot of the cupcake stands were out of the mini cupcakes - next year we will have to get there earlier! The highlight of our afternoon was the Kogi Truck! I have been wanting to try Kogi for years and it did not disappoint!

They are most well know for their tacos and their Short Rib. We had a big debate on what to order but we narrowed it down to three: Short Rib tacos, Shirt Rib Sliders and the Kogi hot dog. The short ribs were utterly delicious! I finished it all and wished I had room in my stomach for more!! The sliders were by far my favorite! I know I will began stalking them right away and trying to search the internet for the secret recipe! YUMMY!

Wordless Wednesday - Farmers Market treasure

2011-01-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

King Arthur Flour Sourdough Starter

2011-01-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to mention my new desire to make bread at home! I get so disappointed with the quality of bread in the stores that I decided to try to make my own at home. From reading other blogs it seems to be an straight forward process - I have a Kitchen Aid mixer so the kneading part should be easy, all I need is a little patience and a little instruction! Growing up close to San Francisco I grew up with the wonderfully tangy sourdough bread from the Boudin store in Fisherman's Wharf. YUM!
I did a little research on the King Arthur Flour Website I decided to try my hand at Sourdough bread with their Sourdough Starter.

I was so excited to see that it had come in today after a LONG Monday at work! I started feeding my little starter last night and can't wait to see the results! With a little help from the hubby (all I had to tell him was that the first sourdough bread was said to start in Egypt and he was all over the web researching! I guess it helps that the tv is broken!), we should be baking up some bread tonight!!!

Chicken Thighs with 40 cloves of garlic

2011-01-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

I was watching Nigella's Kitchen the other day and was intrigued with her take on Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. This is a recipe that I have seen several times before on other cooking Shows and in various cookbooks but have always worried that the garlic would be too overpowering. It must have been meant to be because the next day when the hubby was at Trader Joe's he picked up some chicken thighs, which is what Nigella uses instead of the traditional chicken breast.

I am very glad that I got over my reluctance to make this dish! The final flavor is DELISH! You can taste the garlic but it isn't overpowering. Another wonderful thing about this dish is that it is VERY easy and affordable. The next time I have guests over for dinner I will probably make this because it comes together in a flash but tastes like you were in the kitchen working away for hours!

Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic

Adapted from Nigella Lawson and Life's Ambrosia

Ingredients

2 tablespoons regular olive oil

8 chicken thighs (I used boneless and skinless because that is what the hubby brought home)

1/4 teaspoon of dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme

40 cloves peeled garlic

2 tablespoons white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil on the stovetop in a wide, shallow ovenproof and flameproof Dutch oven and sear the chicken over a high heat. Once the chicken is seared remove to a plate.

Add garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add in wine and chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Add back in chicken and cover with tightly fitting lid and cook in the over for 30 minutes. Remove lid and cook for 10 additional minutes. Remove from oven and set chicken on a plate. Add 1/4 cup heavy cream to the pan, whisk and cook 2 - 4 minutes until thickened.

Place chicken over brown rice and cover with sauce.

ENJOY!

A New Year.....

2011-01-22T23:26:00.000-08:00

Well I can't believe that January is half way done and that I haven't posted on here since November!!! It has been a crazy couple of months, I made my first Thanksgiving dinner, hosted a Baking GALS get together and sent out over 20 boxes, missed the holiday's with my parents to go to Egypt for a death in my husband's family, and worked my butt off!

It's a new year and with that I have some goals as well as a fresh new look to this blog! Many of these involve food, of course, so I thought that I would share them:

Eat more fruit and veggies: we do a really good job of this but it could always improve! We did get a wonderful juicer and the hubby has become obsessed with the new juice combinations that he can make! So far I am loving just straight apple, with one carrot only cause the hubby says I have to!
Cook one new recipe a week: I love trying new recipes and this blog has really helped to make me look outside of my usual meal plans.
Archive my families recipes in a cookbook: this is an idea that I came up with while we were in Egypt and I was getting recipes from my husbands aunts. When my grandmother passed when I was young we all got a copy of her recipes. I can't wait to start trying them out again and sharing with you and the rest of my family!
Practice cookie decorating: this is a fun one! I am constantly inspired by the blogs out there with beautifully decorated cookies and can't wait to get started!

Along with these goals is a renewed desired to share my recipes on this blog. Stay tuned!

Easy and Delicious Lasagna

2010-11-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

We had guests over this week, on a night that I had to work late. While I knew that the hubby could pull together a wonderful meal of fajitas or something on the grill, the weather has been colder and I thought that it would be nice to have a warm cheesy casserole. After doing a couple of internet searches for an easy make ahead casserole, I decided on this lasagna. After assembly I placed in the refrigerator and the hubby was able to pop it in so that when I got home dinner was ready! This was a wonderful dish and will become part of our monthly dinner rotation, which is saying a lot because I am not a huge fan of lasagna! The meat filling had a very deep and rich flavor which is surprising since it only took 15 - 20 minutes to pull it together!

Lasagna
Adapted from Real Simple

12 ounces extra-lean ground beef or ground round
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 26-ounce jar roasted-tomato pasta sauce (or your favorite pasta sauce)
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons shredded fresh basil
1 15-ounce container low-fat ricotta
1 cup shredded provolone or Italian-blend cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
12 cooked lasagna noodles
1 8-ounce package 2 percent milk mozzarella, shredded
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the beef in a large saucepan over medium heat, breaking into small pieces. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the pasta sauce, tomatoes, vinegar, tomato paste and 2 tablespoons of the basil. Bring the mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, provolone, 2 tablespoons of the basil, the egg, and the crushed red pepper. Place 3/4 cup of the pasta-sauce mixture in the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Top with 3 cooked noodles, then spread a third of the ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles. Sprinkle with a third of the mozzarella and top with 3/4 cup of the pasta-sauce mixture. Repeat the layers, ending with 3/4 cup of the pasta-sauce mixture and the final 3 noodles. Spread the remaining sauce on top, sprinkle with the Parmesan, and cover with foil.
Bake for 30 minutes; uncover and bake for 15 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

**Since I refrigerated the lasagna, I baked for 45 minutes and set the pan out on the counter while the oven pre-heated. **

ENJOY!

My first attempt at Royal Icing

2010-11-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

I have been inspired! I recently came across a great blog called Bake at 350. This wonderful blog is filled with treats that look mouthwatering and make you want to RUN into the kitchen or better yet her kitchen to try them out! After spending a really long time looking and drooling over all the creations on her site I became inspired to try my hand at making some cookies decorated in Royal Icing. Her instructions make what seems at first glance an intimidating project straightforward and uncomplicated. So when a family friend asked me to make some cookies for her daughters Hawaiian themed Birthday I know that I wanted to try these out! (I did make a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip and a batch of oatmeal cranberry just in case!)

I followed her instructions on both making the Royal Icing, found here as well her instructions on flooding and decorating found here. I highly recommend trying these instructions - once you make the first one and see how fun it is you will be hooked! My hubby even got in on the action and was having a great time decorating!

I am deciding on a theme for some Thanksgiving cookies for next week and will post the cookie recipe later this week! Jump on over to Bake at 350 for some inspiration!

ENJOY!

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

2010-11-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it has been a month since I've posted! What a busy month this has been! I have had a massive work schedule which involves weekends and evenings, a wedding for dear friends which happened to be the day before our one year anniversary, a baby shower, Las Vegas Birthday trip, Halloween and a friends Thanksgiving! I am getting tired just thinking about it!! It goes with out saying that my regular cooking and baking went a little out the window this month and it was a lot of meals of convenience (fajitas, tacos, soup and grilled cheese, etc.) and outside of making a pumpkin cake (YUM!) I haven't gotten in a whole of baking.

The recipe below was made on one of the few nights when I didn't have to work late, I was actually working from home and it was a wonderful end to our day. I would make this again, but I think I will pre-freeze half of it because it made a lot for the two of us! This would also be delicious in muffin pans, the edges would get nice and crispy! I am not sure where this recipe originated as it was emailed over to me - so I am sorry that I'm not giving credit to a delicious recipe!

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese
2 chicken breasts
12 oz. bottle buffalo sauce, divided
1 pound elbow macaroni
1 cup light sour cream
8 oz. shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz. shredded monterey jack cheese
8 oz. crumbled blue cheese
3 T butter
3 T flour
3 cups skim milk
1 cup plain breadcrumbs

Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and drizzle with a few splashes of buffalo sauce. Stir to coat and let marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. When you're ready to begin cooking, pour chicken pieces and sauce into a medium-sized saucepan and heat until cooked through. Drain and set aside, sprinkling with a bit more buffalo sauce if desired.

In a large bowl, mix all three cheeses together. (Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture to use later for the topping.) Add sour cream to the remaining cheese mixture and stir well to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat oven to 350º and begin cooking pasta per package directions. Meanwhile melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, stirring constantly until combined. Remove momentarily from heat and whisk in milk. Return to heat and whisk milk constantly until thickened. This step should be done about the time your pasta is finished cooking/
draining.

When the sauce is thickened, pour over cheese mixture and stir well. Add cooked pasta and stir until well-combined. Stir in cooked chicken pieces and all but a few tablespoons of the buffalo sauce. Transfer everything into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

To make the topping, add bread crumbs to the reserved cheese mixture, sprinkling with the reserved buffalo sauce to bring everything together. Sprinkle topping over mac and cheese and bake for 30-35 minutes until nicely browned.

ENJOY!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

2010-10-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

I love fall, it is my favorite time of the year! I'm ready to pull out my sweaters and boots and sip my Pumpkin Spice Latte! Unfortunately we have been hit with weather that is record breakingly hot so I have had to make do with just baking the flavors of fall! I was so excited to see pumpkin back in the stores that I snatched up 4 cans right away and ran home to make these cookies! The result was a very moist and flavorful cookie that smelled of all the wonderful spices that remind me of fall. Delish!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Recipe from Allrecipes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle with glaze.

Glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency. Drizzle cookies with glaze, reserving a small amount. Add cinnamon to reserved glaze and mix completely. Drizzle over glaze and let dry.

ENJOY!

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

2010-09-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

I love the peanut butter chocolate combination! As my hubby noticed I seem to be on a peanut butter chocolate kick, especially when I need to take goodies to a pot luck! Ever since I got these mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's I have been itching to throw them into some peanut butter cookies. I finally did and I can't believe I waited so long! I love the extra surprise of peanut butter when you bite into one of the peanut butter cups, I think that these might be my favorite cookies!

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Recipe Adapted from Jif

3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
HEAT oven to 375°F. Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with tines of fork.

BAKE one baking sheet at a time 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling racks to cool completely

Peach Shortbread

2010-09-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

I happened to see a recipe for these Peach Shortbread bars on Smitten Kitchen last week, right when I had two peaches that were getting VERY ripe and knew what I needed to make! My hubby loves my peach cobbler and I thought that these would have a similar flavor without as much work and I was right! The shortbread bottom is deliciously rich and crumbly which I loved and the peaches balanced this out wonderfully. I am always a fan of a crumble topping and this one didn't disappoint! Overall this was a great recipe and it easier to share than cobbler because you are able to cut them into bars that store and travel nicely. I do think that next time I will add more peaches as my bottom was a bit thicker than the one that Smitten Kitchen made and I would like more of the sweet peachy goodness!

Peach Shortbread

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup softened butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Paste
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375°F

Butter a 9×13 inch pan, or spray it with a nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices with a whisk. Use a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, blend butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. In a separate bowl mix the peaches with vanilla paste and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs evenly over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you can see a little color around the edges. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

ENJOY!

Brownie Bottom Coffee Ice Cream Cupcakes

2010-09-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's the end of summer! This weekend was the perfect opportunity to make these ice cream cupcakes, and they were absolutely fabulous! All of these ingredients were store bought and so simple to make but everybody was really impressed!

I always use Ghirardelli Brownie mix, in my opinion they make really chocolaty chewy brownies that I personally love. I used just a teaspoon of batter for these mini cupcakes and topped them with some Haagen-Dazs Coffee ice cream and a topping of chocolate ganache. The mixture was absolutely divine! I hope that you go home and make a batch for those that are special in your life!

Brownie Bottom Coffee Ice Cream Cupcakes
Recipe from Joy the Baker

Brownie Batter of your choice
Ice Cream of your choice
Chocolate Ganache - recipe below

Line mini cupcake pan with foil cupcake papers. Prepare brownie batter as directed by the box and drop one teaspoon of batter into each cupcake paper. Bake 5 - 6 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.

Transfer cupcakes to a tupperware container. Add one scoop of ice cream to each brownie - I used a mini ice cream scoop. Place all cupcakes in the freezer while you make and cool the ganache. Once ganache has cooled add a dollop to the top of each cupcake, working quickly. Once all are topped with the ganache place immediately back in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Soften about 3 - 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat up cream to a simmer. Once hot pour over chocolate chips, let sit 2 minutes and then stir until smooth. Let cool.

ENJOY!

Gardening, kind of.....

2010-09-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

I am a horrible gardener, it doesn't matter what it is that I'm trying to grow it always seems to die!!! The lavender plant my good friend gave me that she said was unkillable, it lasted a month. Basil, rosemary, snap dragons all sent to the trash within months of being in my care! I don't know what it is - sometimes I overwater, sometimes underwater - I just have the WORST luck with plants.

I had all but given up on plants, until I bought the beautiful Hibiscus below, it has lasted me for two years. There have been a couple of times when I thought that her time was up, but with a couple of days of tender care she bounced right back! I get so happy when I walk up and see her wonderful blossoms!

The second plant was left over from work, we made a beautiful centerpiece with sand, river rocks and succulents. I figured that since a succulent was similar to a cactus that it would be really hard to kill it, and I was right! These beautiful plants have been thriving for six months and I love the shades of blue green! I am so proud of my two plants that I just had to share! :)

Cupcake Challenge Round-up

2010-08-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

This is the last post in the Cupcake Challenge over at Hooiser Homemade! This month has flown by! You would think that this had turned me away from making more cupcakes but I'm actually whipping up a batch as I type away! This challenge has been a lot of fun!

First week (Taste of Summer) - Blueberry Hill Cupcakes
Second Week (Summertime Activity) - Baseball themed Cupcakes
Third Week (Cake Mix) - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Fourth Week - Devil's Food Marshmallow Flowers

Hope you enjoyed this month as much as I did, now I'm craving some fall flavored pumpkin.... maybe next week!

Baja Style Fish Tacos

2010-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have been craving good fish tacos for a while now and these did not disappoint! I love fish tacos that are fried versus grilled, I know it's not the healthiest but they are so yummy! I pulled together a couple of recipes and mixed them together to create this fabulous combination. I will definitely make this again!

Baja Fish Tacos
Adapted from Love and Olive Oil and Broke Ass Gourmet

Avocado Salsa

1 large avocado, diced
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 diced jalapeno
juice of one lime
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Lime and Sour cream Sauce

2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 chipotle in adobe sauce, finely chopped
1 minced garlic clove
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Season to taste. Set aside.

Beer Battered Fish

2/3 cup flour
3/4 cup beer, I used Newcastle
Pinch of salt
3/4 lb. tilapia, cut into 2 inch pieces

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. In a plate add a small amount of flour. Heat one inch of oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Dredge fish in flour and then drop in batter to coat. Drop fish into pan and cook until golden brown, flip over and cook other side until golden brown. Once fish are cooked, drain on paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with salt while they are still hot.

To serve, warm small corn tortillas. Place 2 - 3 pieces of fish on each tortilla, drizzle a small amount of lime juice. Cover with lime sour cream and avocado salsa. Salt to taste.

ENJOY!

Cupcake Tuesday - Devil's Food Cake Flowers

2010-08-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

It has been a really busy week and while I did a lot of cooking and baking I didn't have any time to post anything! I did have my first venture into large batch baking and made 150 cupcakes as a favor for my really good friend this weekend. That was an interesting experience and not as bad as I thought it would be - the key was organization!

These are the last cupcake in the Cupcake Challenge over at Hooiser's Homemade and I have been wanting to make these flower cupcakes for a while! They were really easy and fun to make! All you need are some marshmallows (I used minis) and colored sprinkles!

These cupcakes are the Hershey's chocolate cake with a cream cheese frosting - yum! The resulting cake is deliciously moist and chocolaty which is a great contrast to the tangy cream cheese frosting. Once the cupcake is frosted with an off set spatula, cut each marshmallow in half. Dip the sticky cut side of the marshmallow in colored sprinkles of your choice. Arrange the marshmallows on the cupcake in a flower design, the frosting will act as glue for the marshmallows.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake
Recipe from Hershey's

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into paper lined cupcake pans.

Bake 8 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

2010-08-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday! Time for another Cupcake Challenge over at Hooiser Homemade! This week the challenge was to take boxed cake mix and turn it into something special. I've been seeing a recipes for peanut butter chocolate cupcakes for the last couple of months and have been wanting to make a version of my own. I decided to try our the boxed chocolate mix in the same style as my favorite vanilla cake mix recipe. This recipe calls for sour cream and pudding mix which gives the cupcakes a really rich texture and they don't feel like cake mix at all. In addition I added these wonderful mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's that we always have around the house. Topped with come peanut butter frosting these mini cupcakes were a very rich and delicious treat. I was glad that I made these in mini form because they were so rich and I would make these again because they were so tasty! Be careful because this recipe does make a TON of mini cupcakes!

Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix

4 eggs

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream

1 package of Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together. Mix until well combined on low speed. Beat on medium speed for 1 - 2 minutes. Stir in peanut butter cups until well incorporated, reserving a handful for cupcake garnish. Scoop into paper lined mini cupcake cups and bake 12 - 15 minutes until toothpick entered in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack before topping with peanut butter buttercream.

Peanut Butter Frosting

recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth. Frost your cupcakes and garnish with a mini peanut butter cup.

ENJOY!

S'mores Cookies

2010-08-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love to bake, but I usually don't care much about eating what I bake. This is an exception! I could have eaten them all, these are so delicious that my hubby ate a DOZEN in one day! I had to make them again just so that I could get to eat one and because I had told the whole office about them and they needed to try them! So far everyone who has had them loves them, the mixture of graham cracker crumbs, chocolate and marshmallows makes you feel like you are sitting around a campfire.

They are a little time consuming but they are SO worth it! I will be making these next week for my sisters bake sale - I hope that people like them!

S'mores Cookies

Recipe from Baked Perfection

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 dash of cinnamon

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of Hershey bar into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Wilton Gum-paste Class

2010-08-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

I have been taking the Wilton Classes at the Michael's near my house for the last 2 1/2 months. I am currently in the Gum-paste and Fondant class which is SUPER FUN!!!! Today was a lot of fun - we learned how to do carnations, roses and calla lilies, which was intimidating at first glance but ended up being enjoyable! The classes are two hours long which fly by and leave me wanting to rush home and practice! I am very proud of my results so I had to share! :)

Cupcake Challenge - Small Batch Chocolate Cupcake

2010-08-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

So this is second week of the Cupcake Challenge over at Hoosier Homemade! This week the challenge is all about summertime activities. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to make until my sister invited us to an Angels game! We haven't gone to a lot of games this year but when we do it is always with family and friends and we have a wonderful time. It's hardly ever about the game for us - while my husband is a true Angels fan, I could really care less! For me it's all about the cold beer, peanuts and wonderful conversation! :)

Since neither of us need or want a ton of cupcakes hanging out I decided to try this new small batch chocolate cupcake recipe that made only four cupcakes which was perfect! The chocolate cake was deliciously moist and full of chocolate flavor! The frosting on the other hand did not work out for me and I won't even try to post it.... you can't win them all. :)

I also tried out making these fondant pieces, I am currently taking my final Wilton class - Fondant and Gum Paste and thought it would be fun to try a few things out. They definitely aren't perfect but we had some fun making them.

Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes

Recipe from The Cookie Shop

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons buttermilk

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons melted butter, cooled

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line 4 cups of muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and sugar. In a separate bowl mix the yolk, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and butter. Add wet ingredients into dry and mix until incorporated. Evenly distribute between cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

ENJOY!

Mexican Lasagna

2010-08-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe on Rainy Day Gal a while ago and thought that this would be perfect for one of the nights that I have my Wilton class or have to work late. I can get everything together the night before if I know I'm going to be home late and just have the hubby pop in the oven before I get home. I am so glad I bookmarked this one because the result was wonderfully delicious and very hearty! It had a wonderful kick from the peppers and I used Trader Joe's taco seasoning which is a little spicy. This makes a large amount that we had for lunch later in the week and that I froze in tupperware in individual portions that are perfect to take to work and pop in the microwave for a quick and filling lunch. This will stay in my recipe box and I can't wait to make it again!

Mexican Lasagna

Recipe from Rainy Day Gal

1 lb. ground turkey

1 (15 oz.) can fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles

1/2 cup water

1 packet taco seasoning

2 (4 oz) cans diced green chiles

2 (14 oz) cans refried beans

1 (6 oz.) can sliced black olives

6 large flour tortillas

3 cups grated cheese - I used a Mexican blend

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a skillet brown ground turkey, I added a small amount of olive oil to add some fat to the turkey. Add tomatoes, taco seasoning and water. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine beans, green chiles and black olives.

Coat a 9x13 pan with baking spray. Spread half of the bean mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Cover with two tortillas. Spread with a cup of the cheese and then cover with half of meat. Add an additional layer of tortillas and remaining beans. Add one more cup of cheese and the rest of meat mixture. Add a last layer of tortillas and the remaining cup of cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until heated thru. and bubbly. If you refrigerate the dish before baking as I did you will need to bake for 15 minutes covered in foil, then remove the foil and cook an additional 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving with a dollop of sour cream. ENJOY!

Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting - Cupcake Challenge

2010-08-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

I love Hoosier Homemade's site, have you checked it out? I especially LOVE Cupcake Tuesday! So when she posted the Cupcake Challenge I decided to whip out my mixer and join in!

This weeks challenge is about Summertime flavors, and putting them into a cupcake. When I think of summertime I think of all the delicious flavors that I can find at the Farmer's Market, especially the blueberries! When I saw this recipe for Blueberry Hill cupcakes on Yumsugar, I knew I had to make them! I did make a couple of changes, I didn't add the lemon in the cupcakes but used my new favorite product, vanilla bean paste. I love the wonderful flecks of vanilla bean that it leaves in whatever you add it to and it is a lot easier/cheaper then adding whole vanilla beans. I also made a lemon cream cheese frosting instead of the one that they recommended. I love the tangy bite of the cream cheese and can't think of a better combination then blueberries, lemon and cream cheese! YUM!

The result was a cross between a cupcake and muffin, the cupcake wasn't too sweet which was nice and they were very moist. I loved the burst of blueberries in the cake and the gentle vanilla background. I would make these again - maybe adding a little more sugar or maybe vanilla bean yogurt instead of buttermilk to the batter to make them feel like a cupcake. Overall they are something that I recommend making while blueberries are still in season!

Blueberry Hill Cupcakes

Adapted from Yumsugar

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries, frozen for 4 hours

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl whisk together melted butter and oil until well combined. Whisk in eggs one at a time. Whisk in buttermilk, milk and vanilla bean paste until fully incorporated. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Stir in blueberries.

Fill greased or paper lined cupcake pan 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe from Real Simple

8 oz. room temperature cream cheese

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in lemon juice and zest. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar until fully mixed. You can add more cream cheese if you want a thicker consistency.

ENJOY!

Avocado and Corn Salsa

2010-08-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to live next a wonderful produce store that gets produce directly from farmers in the area. It always has very fresh selection and living in Southern California we are lucky enough to have local produce all year long. Right now I can't get enough corn! It is so deliciously fresh and sweet that I have been throwing it on the grill, making creamed corn and this weekend making fresh corn salsa. This was a really easy and fresh way to dress up our tri-tip tacos!

Avocado and Corn Salsa
Recipe from CD Kitchen

1 whole avocado, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
5 - 10 cherry tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 whole shucked ear of corn
1/2 red onion cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 whole jalapeno, diced and seeded
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Add avocado into glass bowl and combine withe juice of 1 lime. Mix well to prevent oxidation. Add tomatoes, corn kernels, red onion, jalapeno and fresh cilantro, mix to combine. Add more lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate about 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine. Before serving mix with more lime juice and check the salt and pepper for flavor. This salsa will need a lot of salt and pepper for flavor.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Gelato

2010-07-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

Summer feels like it is never going to stay in Southern California. But since it is supposed to be really warm this weekend I decided to make some ice-cream. I have a couple of recipes that I have wanted to try - so many recipes, so little time! I started off with a Nutella Ice-cream that was super easy and delicious! Unfortunately the hubby ate it all before I got a good pic! I guess I'll have to make it again :)

I saw this recipe for Vanilla Bean Gelato on Tasty Kitchen and decided to go for it - I have some vanilla beans in my cupboard that have been begging me to work with! I am usually a chocolate girl but since trying and becoming obessed with the Trader Joe's Vanilla Bean Yogurt I have started to love vanilla!

This recipe was my first attempt at making gelato and it was wonderful! I did only make half of the recipe because it seemed like a lot! I decided to strain mine because I always get nervous when tempering eggs. Try some this weekend!

Vanilla Bean Gelato

5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium-sized bowl, crack eggs and beat lightly. In a large stockpot, combine sugar, milk and cream. Heat over medium heat just until bubbles start to form around the edges of the pan, whisking continuously. Using a large ladle, slowly add approximately 1/2 cup of the hot milk to the beaten eggs, whisking the egg while pouring it in. Repeat, adding 1/2 cup more hot milk to the eggs. Once the milk has been incorporated into the eggs, slowly pour the egg mixture into the stockpot, whisking to combine. Over medium-low to medium heat, continue to cook the mixture for another 7-8 minutes until it becomes thick, stirring continuously.

Remove the mixture from heat and strain. Allow to cool slightly. While it is cooling, split the vanilla bean down the center, and then, using a knife, scrape the seeds out. Stir the vanilla seeds and the extract into the gelato mixture. Refrigerate until completely chilled, four hours or overnight.

Once the mixture is fully chilled freeze in your icecream maker and ENJOY!

Strawberry Vanilla Popsicles

2010-07-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

You could tell it was summer this weekend! I decided to try out some popsicles based on the Firecracker Popsicles that were in the July/August issue of Everyday Food. I have a big flat of strawberries from Costco and needed to find some ways to use them up before they went bad. It can be hard with two people! This was a delicious and refreshing way to use them up! You can substitute any fruit - next I think I'm going to try blueberry and lemon! YUM!

Strawberry and Vanilla Popsicles
Adapted from Everyday Food

1 cup of strawberries
1 - 2 Tablespoons sugar, depending on how sweet your strawberries are
1 cup vanilla bean yogurt

Puree the strawberries and sugar until smooth. You can strain the seeds out if you want, I left them in.

Alternately layer the strawberries and yogurt in the popsicle molds. Take a knife and swirl in the mold. Freeze 2 -3 hours or until frozen. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

2010-07-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

My Aunt made these a couple of weeks ago and my mom was raving about them, so I decided to whip up a batch and I am so glad that I did! The recipe is super easy and the result was fantastic! The office claimed that they were the best cupcakes that I had ever made! The cupcake is your favorite chocolate cake recipe with a surprise center of cheesecakey goodness! Whip up a batch and enjoy!

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

Cheesecake filling

8 oz room temperature cream cheese

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

8 oz. mini chocolate chips

Beat together cream cheese, egg and sugar until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Fill cupcake cups half way with your favorite chocolate cake mix. Add a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture to the cupcakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool completely on a rack and once fully cooled topped with your favorite frosting, I used a combination of creamcheese frosting and chocolate.

Enjoy!

Can't Believe it's almost July!

2010-06-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! This whole month has gone by SO fast! The month of June is always a whirlwind, we have four birthdays, including both of ours, Father's Day and this year a graduation. On top of that I decided to finally take a cake decorating class! Add in a full work schedule and trying to get in gym time and I have been making some a lot of easy old standbys! I will get back into the blog soon - probably after the holiday.

This picture is of my final cake in the Wilton Decorating Basics Class that I took at Michael's. Next month I start the next class - Flowers and Cake Design! I can't wait!

Crockpot Chicken Nachos - Perfect Game Day Food

2010-06-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

GO LAKERS!!!!

As you can tell, we are huge Lakers fans! Since the next three games are on the East Coast, I need easy meals that are either already prepared or only take a couple of minutes. I only have about 30 minutes between when I get home and when the game starts, so this week will have a lot of crockpot meals!

This recipe is a variation on one that my girlfriend makes, she adds frozen corn and lime juice which is delicious! We melted some cheese over our chips, added the shredded chicken, sour cream and homemade guacamole for a homemade meal that was perfect for game night in front of the TV!

Crockpot Chicken Nachos

8 frozen chicken tenders (You can use whatever you have on hand)

1 can black beans

1 1/2 cups salsa

1/2 cup water

Add chicken tenders to the crockpot, cover with black beans and salsa. Cook on low for 6 hours, remove chicken and shred. Add chicken back into crockpot and add water, stir until mixed. Cook additional 30 minutes while you get the rest of the nacho or taco fixings together.

GO LAKERS!!!!!

2010-06-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Blackberry Pie Bars

2010-06-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Growing up we would go blackberry picking at the end of every summer. Either taking a 4-wheel drive truck up into the woods or taking the trail closer to home, but still in the woods, we would spend the day picking blackberries. Armed with our milk carton, converted into blackberry storage we would collect enough blackberries to make multiple pies and to freeze enough to satisfy our blackberry craving throughout the year. Of course your belly would be so full from the stolen berries, one for the bucket, two for me, that you didn't think you would be able to enjoy a single bite of pie. However when that first delicious slice was placed before you, it was all that you hoped it would be, sweet with a wonderful bite. This is still my favorite pie and I wish that I could have it every day!

This recipe is a good pie fake out and reminds me of the tapioca balls that my mom used to put in the bottom of the pie to absorb the extra juice. Give it a try and see if it reminds you of summer!

Blackberry Pie Bar
Recipe from Joy The Baker

CRUST

Zest of two lemons

1 1/2 cups of sugar

3 cups of flour

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of butter, chilled and cubed

FILLING

4 large eggs

2 cups of sugar

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup flour

6 cups blackberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

Combine zest, sugar and flour in a large food processor. Add butter and pulse 10 - 12 times. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of for the topping and press the rest into the pan. Bake until golden 15 - 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl whisk eggs. Whisk in sugar, sour cream and flour until well mixed. Fold in blackberries. Spoon over crust and make sure that the blackberries are in an even layer. Sprinkle with remaining crust. Bake 45 - 55 minutes.

Let cool 1 hour so that the filling can set. Cut and ENJOY!

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Spinach and Artichoke

2010-05-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

I love Real Simple magazine - they always have great articles, recipes and ideas for making life simpler! As soon as I saw this recipe in the April issue I knew that we had to try this! It looked delicious and simple to make on a busy weeknight.

We got mixed reviews in our house - my husband loved it while I thought it was just okay. I think it needed more seasonings and I wasn't a huge fan of the artichokes. I think that this is one that I will play with and see what I can turn this into!

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Spinach and Artichoke

April 2010 Issue Real Simple Magazine

8 oz. cooked short pasta - I used ziti

1 14 oz. can artichoke hearts, rinsed and quartered

1 9 oz. package frozen creamed spinach, thawed

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Combine pasta, artichoke hearts, spinach, parmesan cheese and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to 8 inch square broiler safe baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Broil until browned - 3 minutes.

Enjoy with some crusty bread or my favorite crescent rolls!

No Recipe Cherry Jam

2010-05-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

My Aunt sends out jam for Christmas, this was my first year getting my very own package. I was so excited because I love homemade gifts and the flavors sounded yummy! I decided to open the Sour Cherry Jam first and I fell in love at first bite! It was wonderful!! Full of cherry flavor and a little something else that I haven't figured out yet and will have to ask for recipe. I ate my little jar in secret, hiding it in the back of the fridge only sharing a couple of bites with my husband, taking peanut butter and jelly to work for a week.... I wish I was joking about this but I really am obsessed! Sadly I recently had my last spoonful and have tried a couple of store bought version to try and get the same taste without luck. They were good but not the same, so I decided to take it to the internet and try and find a recipe for cherry jam.

I have never made am kind of jam before and was a little intimidated, until I came across this No-Recipe Cherry Jam post on David Lebovitz's blog. It made it seem easy enough for anyone to do, so I decided to give it a try. I was also excited to use my new cherry pitter which was a gift from my mom (she has heard me talk about this jam so much that she knew I was going to have to try my hand at it.) Cherry were on sale this week so I decided to give it a try! Unfortunately they were not sour cherries like the ones in my aunts jam but I decided to give it a try. The end result was a yummy jam that was full of cherry flavor. It wasn't the same as my aunts, I think I need to try this with sour cherries but it is yummy!

Cherry Jam
Recipe from David Lebovitz

8 cups of pitted cherries
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest fo 1 lemon
3 cups sugar

Place the cherries, lemon zest and juice in non reactive pot, I used my Dutch Oven for this. Cook until cherries are wilted and soft. Stir frequently. Remove and measure cherries, add back to pan and add 3/4 the amount of sugar. I ended up with 4 cups of cherries so I added 3 cups of sugar. Stir together and increase heat to high. The mixture will bubble, be sure to continuously stir the mixture, scraping the bottom to prevent the mixture from burning. While the cherries are cooking place a small plate in the freezer. Once the bubbles begin to subside and the mixture coats the back of the spatula turn off the heat and place a small amount of jam on the plate from the freezer. Let the mixture stand on the plate and if the mixture wrinkles it is done. If not turn the heat back on and heat until this does happen. Be careful not to over cook. Ladle into containers and allow to come to room temperature before storing in the fridge. The jam will last several weeks in the fridge.

Mini Chocolate Muffins

2010-05-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

These muffins were the perfect size for my chocolate fix in the morning. What is it about mini muffins that make you feel like you can have ten without the calories counting! I have been on a huge mini muffin/cupcake kick for this reason! Try these for a wonderful breakfast treat!

Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from Nigella Lawson

1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar and chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a large bowl and stir to incorporate. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, the batter will be lumpy. Spoon batter into cupcake pans, lined with paper liners. Sprinkle tops with additional chocolate chips and bake for 10 -15 minutes.

Monster Fruit Platter

2010-05-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my sister in-law celebrated her birthday and we had a fun little party for her. Instead of baked goods, my mother in-law requested us to bring a fruit platter. First I was disappointed because I love to bake and that is what I always bring to parties. Then I decided that if I had to bring a fruit platter it wasn't going to be a simple little platter, but the best platter EVER! I looked at a couple of things on-line and my husband decided that he had to make this monster. It was really easy to make and everyone enjoyed it! I recommend playing around with your food - maybe you'll enjoy it! :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

2010-05-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Once I find a recipe that I want to try I look for any reason to make it! So when my bosses 25th Anniversary with the company came up I knew that I needed to make this Coffee Cake! It was a must! It was a wonderfully moist coffee cake, but I wish that the peanut butter flavor had come out just a little more. Everyone in the office LOVED it and I had no complaints from them! I will try this again - I think I want to try a Nutella version!

Peanut Butter Coffee Cake

Recipe from Jif & Mr. Breakfast

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup butter, room temprature

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teasppon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 13x9" pan with non-stick spray.

Mix together, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter and melted butter until crumbly. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup softened butter, cream together. Beat in 1 cup brown sugar. Add in eggs one a time, incorporating well. Beat until fluffy. Add in dry ingredients alternately with milk, begining and ending with dry ingredients.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and top with chocolate chip mixture. Bake 30 minutes. Cool in pan and serve warm.

Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki

2010-05-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it has been so long since I posted! It has been a really busy couple of weeks - I was working up in LA which can take up to 2 hours on a bad day each way, then we just got back from a really fun road trip so I have not spent any time in the kitchen. I am glad to get back into the swing of things with this wonderful recipe. This is a delicious recipe - you need to try and make this right away! It was surprisingly easy to make and the results are impressive. Paired with a wonderful Greek Salad this meal is very satisfying!

Tzatziki Sauce

16 ounces plain Greek yogurt
1/2 hothouse cucumber, grated
3 cloved of minced garlic
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
Salt and pepper
Fresh lemon juice

After grating cucumber, wrap in kitchen towel to drain excess moisture. Mix together yogurt, cucumber, garlic, white wine vinegar, dill, salt and pepper to taste and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Chicken Gyros

4 cloves of smashed garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon plain yogurt
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. chicken tenders

Combine all ingredients except for chicken tenders. Add chicken and marinate for 1 hour. Grill chicken 3 minutes on each side or until cooked.

To assemble the gyros, place chicken in warmed pitas, top with lettuce, red onions and tzatziki sauce. ENJOY!

The Best Vanilla Buttercream EVER!

2010-04-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

You will never need another Vanilla Buttercream recipe! This is so delicious, just look at those wonderful vanilla bean flecks! I won't be telling my trainer about this one - ha ha!

I made these for a Birthday in the office and they were a hit!!! The cupcake was the same recipe as they vanilla cupcakes I made for St. Patrick's Day, they have become my favorite go to cupcake! They are easy to make and the results are fabulous. I spruced them up by adding food coloring in four different colors. I then layered the batter into the cupcake liner and swirled with a toothpick to create a groovy finish! This would be a lot easier to make in regular sized cupcakes but I really enjoyed this look.

Now for the new recipe that had everyone asking for more - Vanilla Bean Buttercream! I even converted a non-frosting lover! Try this today - make something that needs this frosting!

Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

2 1/2 sticks softened butter
1 vanilla bean, split
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons heavy cream

With a whisk attachment, beat butter until smooth. With paring knife scrape seeds out of vanilla bean and beat into butter. Add powdered sugar and salt gradually. Once fully incorporated add in vanilla and heavy cream. Beat until fluffy and light - ENJOY!

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

2010-04-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

My husband is obsessed with this Dulce de Leche that I made in the slow cooker. He has been eating it by the spoonful from the jar! Every time someone comes over he tells them about it and brings out the jar so that they can have a taste...... of course he has to take a small taste along with them so that they don't feel singled out - ha ha! I knew that if I wanted to make anything out of this first batch I needed to do it quickly before it was all gone!

I decided I either wanted to make an ice cream or a cheesecake, hubby voted for cheesecake so the search began. I found this recipe on a couple of different sites and decided to try this out. The end result is very rich and delicious! The Dulce de Leche mixture gets swirled into the cheesecake, which means that you get luscious bites of this rich caramel throughout. This is a wonderful recipe but I would have liked the Dulce de Leche to be a more prominent flavor.

Don't worry we have a new double batch of Dulce simmering in the crock pot right now - about half of that will be eaten straight from the jar and I think I will try making some traditional Dulce de Leche cookies ( Alfajor) next!

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake
Adapted from Diana's Desserts

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp. butter, melted
Combine and press into a 9 inch springform pan. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
Filling:
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese (24 oz. total)
1 cup superfine granulated sugar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup ready-made or homemade Dulce de leche sauce
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and flour together until well mixed and smooth. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until smooth. Add milk and mix until well blended.

Measure 1/2 cup of the cheesecake batter and pour into a small bowl. Add Dulce de Leche sauce and stir until well combined. Pour plain batter over crust. Top batter with with Dulce de leche batter by placing rounded spoonfuls over the cheesecake batter and gently swirl into plain batter with the tip of knife or spatula.

7. Bake for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven and gently run metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cheesecake (this helps prevent cracking). Let cool 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Cool for 4 to 6 hours before serving. Enjoy!

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

2010-04-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

I love the Farmer's Market! We are really lucky to be close to several Farmer's Market that occur about 4 different times a wee.! My favorite is the one on Saturday mornings, there is a wonderful mix of food vendors along with jewelry, clothing and musicians. I love browsing the stalls, sampling the fruit and planning out what I can make during the week. This weekend there were some fabulous beets that I couldn't pass up - both the traditional deep red and golden beets. I never do anything fancy with my beets, I like them prepared so that their natural flavors shine thru!

I peeled them with a vegetable peeler and roasted them in some foil with a dash of olive oil and salt and pepper. I roast them at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Once cooled I sliced them and served with creamy goat cheese and a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar. If I have them, I usually add some tangerines or mandarin oranges. Delicious!

Muddy Buddies & Giveaway Winner!

2010-04-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that I get to share the wonderful prize pack with.......

Mami2jcn picked by random.org. She said "I love to make cake with Betty Crocker mixes."

Congrats!

I thought that I would share this fun and easy recipe, I'm sure many of you have already made this but previous to this weekend I had only had Muddy Buddies once before - someone brought them into the office for a Halloween Potluck. I remember liking them but I don't remember them being so addictive! This month the team that I signed up for with Operation Baking Gals requested Muddy Buddies, thank goodness I shipped almost the entire batch out because these things are GOOD! Six simple ingredients and these are a yummy treat for the whole family!

Muddy Buddies
Recipe from Betty Crocker

9 cups of Chex - I used Corn Chex
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Stir and microwave for 30 additional seconds until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal and toss to coat. Place half of the mixture into a large ziploc bag - add half of the powdered sugar and toss to coat. Lay cereal out on cookie sheet covered with waxed paper. Repeat with remaining cereal. Let cereal cool and store in airtight container.

Enjoy!

CEiMB - Garlic Basil Shrimp

2010-04-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

This recipe was Yummy! Thank you to Tea and Scones who picked this out this recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly.

It was a perfect weeknight meal because took me about 30 minutes from start to finish, including peeling the shrimp. I have made very similar shrimp dishes but really liked the addition of basil and tomatoes. I did make a couple of changes, I didn't have red pepper flakes and really didn't want to run back to the store so I left it out. I also added a cup of baby spinach to add a little extra goodness, my trainer would be so proud! I also cut back on the amount of tomatoes because I don't like tomatoes at all, hubby ate all of those. I served this over some parmesan orzo and we truly enjoyed this recipe.

Garlic Basil Shrimp
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and cleaned
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup white wine
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until very hot. Add shrimp turing over once until just cooked through. Since the pan is so hot this will only take a couple of minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add garlic to oil remaining and cook 30 seconds. Add wine and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes. Stir in spinach, basil and tomatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the shrimp to the pan and cook until heated through.

Cranberry Orange Shortbread

2010-04-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

My love affair with shortbread began several years ago when I was in Ireland. Right next to the tea pot in my room were these packages of Walker's Shortbread, they were so wonderfully buttery and delicious that I had to have one every morning. For some reason I never tried to make shortbread until a couple of weeks ago and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was! These have a wonderful fresh flavor with the addition of orange zest and dried cranberries!

Cranberry Orange Shortbread
Adapted from Honey and Jam

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange juice
Zest of one orange
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat butter until creamy and smooth. Gradually add in sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla, orange juice and zest and beat until incorporated. Add in cranberries. Reduce speed and gradually in flour, baking powder and salt.

Form the dough into two logs wrapped in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Slice dough into 1/4 inch slices and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Allow to cool on sheet 5 minutes before removing to a rack. Once cooled store in an airtight container.

Giveaway!

2010-04-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have a giveaway! :)

MyBlogSpark, Betty Crocker and Safeway have teamed up to offer to this wonderful Prize Pack to one of my lucky readers! Included are a silicon baking pan, stainless steel mixing bowl, oven mitt, Betty Crocker mixing spoon and a $25 Safeway Gift card!

I know that I love to use Betty Crocker for easy cakes - see the EASY vanilla cupcakes that I tried the other day! I also love to use their Brownie mix - under cook by a couple of minutes for the most delicious gooey brownies!

All you need to do is add a comment to my post with your favorite way to use Betty Crocker by April 9th! Please be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you for your mailing information.

Good Luck!

Operation Baking Gals April Shipment

2010-04-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! We shipped off our April package this weekend. This month I made a couple of new recipes, Muddy Buddies and Orange Cranberry Shortbread. I also included my favorite Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. We also included a bunch of store bought treats, sunflower seeds, gum, fun size Starburst, Oreo cakesters, Cashews.

I hope they enjoy everything! If you are interested in becoming involved visit Baking Gals!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Crispy Breaded Shrimp with Cannellini Beans

2010-03-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from a Real Simple email that featured quick meals. Not only was this meal quick but really healthy about 450 calories per serving- something that my trainer will appreciate! I didn't have some of the key ingredients, you would think I would learn to make a list BEFORE going to the market! Even though I was missing some key ingredients it was still delicious. I will make this again - I would like to add in some spinach to the beans as the recipe requests as well as maybe do a lemon vinaigrette for the top. Try it the next time you need to get a wonderful dinner on the table within 20 minutes!

Crispy Breaded Shrimp with Cannellini Beans

Adapted from Real Simple

1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 19-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Mix together bread crumbs, dried oregano, old bay, parmesan and 3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Add shrimp and toss to combine. Place shrimp on baking sheet and add the excess bread crumbs to the top of the shrimp. Bake 10 - 12 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the remaining two Tablespoons of oil and garlic. Saute about 1 minute careful not to burn. Add in beans, 1/4 cup water and salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes until the beans are cooked thru.

Serve the beans on the plate with the shrimp and extra bread crumbs. Enjoy!

Spring is HERE!

2010-03-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful weekend - first a concert, then my mom and grandma were visiting, which is always wonderful. We attended a family party for my cousins husband who will start a new tour in Afghanistan on Saturday. Sunday we decided to go to the Farmer's Market by my sisters house - it was a perfect day to be in the sunshine, 72 and breezy! There are so many delicious things that are starting to come into season and I can't wait until I get to enjoy all of it with the fresh fruits and veggies that I got! More to come this week!

Chicken Piccata

2010-03-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

Sometime recipes just don't work out the way that you had intended, that's what happened the other night when I decided to try the Chicken Piccata recipe featured on Pioneer Woman Cooks. I have tried several of her recipes with success - you must try her onion blue cheese sauce, I could eat it on ANYTHING!

The resulting dish from the Chicken Piccata recipe was really good, but for some reason my sauce didn't thicken. I still poured it over my deliciously crispy chicken and loved it. I would try it again - hopefully it will thicken up next time!

Chicken Piccata
Adapted from Pioneer Woman Cooks

2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 cup white wine
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 whole lemons
3/4 cup cream
Handful of grape tomatoes, halved

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan. Fry each breast - careful not to burn the butter. Remove to a plate.

Add in wine, chicken broth and juice of lemons. Scrape bottom of pan. Allow sauce to cook and reduce by half. Add tomatoes.

Reduce heat and add cream. Whisk until sauce has thickened. (I cooked mine for a while but it didn't thicken at all, must try again!)

I used baby bow tie pastas and added them to the sauce right at the end. Spoon pasta onto plate, top with chicken and pour sauce over the entire plate. Enjoy!

Blueberry Cheese Danish

2010-03-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

We got a wonderfully large container of blueberries at Costco and I knew that we needed to do something with them other than just add into our breakfast yogurt. This weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to do something different and delicious for breakfast. It came together in about 5 minutes and we had a super indulgent breakfast that was ready in a flash! The blueberries were wonderful little bursts of flavor in this danish and the lemon was a subtle flavor in the background.

Blueberry Cheese Danish
Adapted from Taste of Home

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon zest
juice of half a lemon
1 cup blueberries
Sugar for dusting

Glaze
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Juice of half lemon

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice until creamy. Unroll puff pastry onto a baking sheet, spray the pan with cooking spray. Place cream cheese mixture in the center of the pastry, sprinkle with blueberries. Fold ends of the pastry in and pinch edges to seal. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool 5 minutes.

To make glaze whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over danish.

Slice and serve while warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Caramel Corn

2010-03-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I love popcorn! I always have to get it at the movies - I won't eat before the movies just so I can have enough room for a tub of popcorn! We have an air popper that I use a couple of times a week - we just add some melted butter and salt and enjoy! While checking out some different blogs a couple of weeks ago I came across this caramel corn recipe and decided that I would have to try this ASAP! The best thing is that I had everything is that I needed!

The result was really yummy! I only made a half recipe in case I didn't like it and because my husband and I do need a ton of this stuff around! I do caution that you check the popcorn often towards the end - I ended up cooking mine about 10 minutes less than the recipe suggested.

Caramel Corn
Adapted from Annie's Eats

1/2 cup popcorn kernals, unpopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pop popcorn and place in two large bowls - you need a lot of room to toss the popcorn with the syrup.

Melt butter over medium heat, once melted add in the corn syrup, brown sugar and salt. Increase heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Caution - mixture will boil and froth at this point. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir to coat. You need to work quickly because the caramel does begin to harden.

Spread the mixture evenly onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 250 degrees for 40 minutes tossing every ten minutes. Test after 30 - 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely before breaking up to serve.

Impress your Date - Sake Glazed Salmon

2010-03-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week the hubby handed me the phone, on the other line was a good friend who needed some cooking advise. He wanted to cook his girlfriend a meal that was delicious, easy and impressive, preferably seafood. I was both honored that he considered me a reliable source, it must be the hubby talking me up to his friends he does like to brag about what he gets to eat, and nervous. What if it doesn't turn out right, what if she hates it and doesn't want to take more than a bite!?!

I took a moment and it then it came to me - the easiest salmon recipe that I have, Sake Glazed Salmon. I got this recipe from one of my favorite chefs - Nigella Lawson. I love the way she LOVES food! She has the best way of describing food, using adjectives that I could only hope to, relishing in the wonderfulness that is food. I own all of her cookbooks, but Nigella Express is the one that I turn to the most because they are all quick to prepare but full in flavor. This recipe is based on the Mirin Glazed Salmon recipe in this book. I really wanted to try it but didn't have any Mirin and substituted with Sake. I have made the salmon with Mirin and we actually prefer the sake version, try them both and you can decide!

Fingers are crossed that he will be able to impress his girlfriend with this - I know that my hubby is always impressed when I serve this up!

Sake Glazed Salmon
Adapted from Nigella Express

1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 - 4 oz. pieces of skinless salmon
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

Mix the sake, brown sugar and soy sauce in a shallow dish that will hold the salmon. Marinate the salmon for 3 minutes on each side. Heat a large skillet on the stove.

Cook the salmon in the dry pan for 3 minutes on the first side and flip over. Add the the marinade and cook for 3 minutes more. The salmon will be medium at this point - cook a little longer if you want it to be fully cooked.

Remove salmon to your serving plate - I usually make some rice and serve the salmon over to catch all the yummy sauce. Add rice vinegar to the pan and stir to combine. Pour the sauce over the salmon and serve immediately.

I usually add some steamed vegetables to this dish, my favorites are green beans or asparagus. Right before pouring the sauce I add the vegetables to the sauce to give them a little flavor.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

I love any excuse to bake something! I have tons of cupcake liners for just about every holiday imaginable! I saw this recipe for Lucky Green Velvet Baby Cupcakes on Tasty Kitchen and knew that they would be perfect for St. Patty's Day! This recipe didn't disappoint - be sure you have somewhere to take them because it makes a lot of cupcakes!

Lucky Green Velvet Baby Cupcakes
Found at Picky Palate

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
4 Whole Eggs
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1 small box Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sourcream
Green Food Coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, add cake mix, eggs, water, oil, pudding, and sour cream. Beat on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Slowly beat in 5-8 drops of green decorating paste until you get the desired color of green. Scoop batter into paper-lined mini cupcake tins. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool completely.

Frost cupcakes with your favorite frosting and enjoy!

Buttercrunch Toffee

2010-03-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to make Toffee, but was always nervous that it would be too hard. I finally got the courage to try it after seeing this recipe on The Noshery. I am really glad that I tried it because it was really easy and the end result was tasty. I will definitely make a couple of batches this holiday season - it would be a wonderful hostess gift! I think that I will leave out the almonds on the bottom of the pan next time because they didn't really incorporate into the toffee.

Buttercrunch Toffee
Recipe from The Noshery

2 cups sliced almonds, toasted
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 cup butter
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 oz. chopped semi sweet chocolate

Place almonds in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Sprinkle half on the bottom of a buttered 9x13 pan. Set aside.

In a saucepan combine brown sugar, water, butter and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches 285 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and temperature will rise to 290 degrees. Add baking soda and vanilla, stir to combine. Immediately pour over almonds. Sprinkle with chocolate and let sit until chocolate is soft. Spread evenly over toffee. Sprinkle almonds over chocolate and let cool.

Once cool break apart into desired shapes.

Dulce de Leche - Slow Cooker Method

2010-03-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

Our good friend just went to Argentina a couple of months ago, along with some strange herbal alcohol he brought back Dulce de Leche. The best Dulce de Leche ever made! Since having a spoonful - I have been obsessed with making some. After looking around the internet, I decided that I would try the Slow Cooker method. It seemed to be the method that was least likely to explode all over my kitchen or take hours in the oven. You just plop it in and wait, although I won't lie - every time my husband and I heard any noise from the kitchen we both wondered if the can was on the verge of explosion!

Simply take a can of sweetened condensed milk, remove the wrapper. Place the can in your slow cooker and cover with water. Cook on low for 6 - 7 hours. I left mine to cool in the slow cooker overnight and once I opened it was met by this wonderful thick caramel. Delish!

I will admit that I have had a couple of spoonfuls straight from the can/jar! I am debating what I want to make with this - I think a Dulce de Leche ice cream would be delightful, maybe a cheesecake! Stay tuned!

Wonderful Weekend

2010-03-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

We are truly blessed that we get to live in Southern California. This shot was actually taken on Wednesday while I was at work! I am lucky that I get to enjoy views like this!

Favorite Things Friday!

2010-03-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before my hubby rocks! About a month ago he saw me earmarking my Sur la Table catalog on the Kuhn Rikon Frosting Decorating Pen and to my surprise he went out and got it! This cool little gadget is like training wheels for cake decorating - perfect! It has five decorating tips, a tip for filling cupcakes (can't wait to try this on my Boston Creme Cupcakes!), three frosting cartridges so that you can have three different colors going at the same time, and this cool little mixer that allows you to mix the color in the frosting cartridge. I'm sure professional cake decorators would probably turn up their nose at this sort of gadget but I think it's perfect for someone who is just trying to get better at decorating. Can't wait to start using this!

CEiMB - Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo

2010-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

When I saw that this recipe was the Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe I was really excited! I have made this recipe before and we LOVED it! It has a wonderful lemony tang that is delicious! I made a couple of mistakes in preparing the soup this time - but it still ended up tasty! I strongly recommend this recipe - it will be a favorite in your house. I included the recipe below with my changes - the original recipe is in Ellie's book - The Food you Crave.

Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo
Adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food you Crave

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 cup white wine
5 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup orzo
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in large saucepan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to saucepan. Once cooked through remove to a plate. Add onion, celery, carrot and dried parsley. Cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Deglaze with the white wine, making sure to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add 4 1/2 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Check seasoning and add salt or pepper if needed. Add orzo and simmer about 8 minutes until orzo is tender. Reduce heat - do not let soup boil from this point.

Warm remaining 1 cup of broth until hot but not boiling. In separate bowl beat eggs. Whisk lemon juice into eggs. Slowly add warmed broth into eggs, whisking while incorporating. Gradually add egg mixture into the soup stirring until thickened. (You need to be careful at this point because the eggs can cook - trust me I had to skim out some cooked eggs this time! Be careful not to let the soup boil)

Serve immediately and enjoy!

March Shipment - Operation Baking GALS

2010-03-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

The beginning of the month has flown by - I can't believe that I'm barely making the shipping cut-off for this round of Baking GALS! I forgot to take a picture of the contents of the box but did get one of the outside before my husband took it to the post office.

I included a batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and Chocolate chip cookies - both favorites in our house! We also bought a couple of different candies, fruit leather and animal cookies because I knew I didn't have time to bake a ton this month. I hope they enjoyand realize that they are apppreciated for all that they do for our country!

Greek Style Shrimp Saute

2010-03-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

I love throwing together an easy pasta on a busy work week. This meal came together in 15 - 20 minutes and was very tasty! I got the recipe from the Fresh Food Fast cookbook by Cooking Light, and just added a couple of items to the pasta to up the flavor. This will become a regular dish in our house on those busy weekdays!

Greek Style Shrimp Saute
Adapted from Fresh Food Fast

4 Tablespoons Balsamic Salad Dressing
1 1/2 punds of peeled and devined shrimp
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
12 chopped pitted kalamata olives
1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 1/2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used a half of lemon)
1 cup cooked orzo

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 1 Tablespoon dressing and shrimp. Cook until done, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Remove shrimp and keep warm.

Add tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, and remaining dressing. Cook 1-2 minutes until all are fully heated. Add shrimp, orzo and lemon juice, toss to combine. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.

Homemade Potato Chips

2010-03-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

What happens when you leave your husband home alone watching the Food Network????

If you live at my house, that means that you are going to walk thru the door and your hubby is going to announce that we are making homemade potato chips!

I was really excited about this new project as it was a perfect chance for me to pull out the mandolin that we got for our wedding and fry away! The entire process did take a little time but we may never purchase another bag of potato chips again! They were that good! We almost didn't get a picture because we kept eating them as soon as they got cool enough - although a little burnt fingers would have been worth it to get these little suckers in my mouth!

The process was really easy - we just heated up about 3 inches of vegetable oil in my dutch oven to 350 degrees. Then we sliced up the potatoes on the 1/8" setting on the mandolin and fried them for about a minute. We did about 5 potatoes and had to fry them in quite a few batches. Once they are cooked we placed them on a paper towel lined cookie sheet to drain and sprinkled them with kosher salt.

They are fantastic on their own but I added a dollop of sour cream to my plate to dip away ~ DELISH!

I do have to warn you - do not make these if you are on a diet! You will NOT be able to stop!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

2010-03-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

This recipe is DELICIOUS!!! Run to your ice cream maker right now and make this immediately! It is hard to believe that with only about 10 minutes of prep and a good amount of patience (waiting for the mixture to get cold enough for the ice cream maker!) you can have what tastes like a peanut butter cup with the volume turned way up!

This recipe came from Annie's Eats, which is a wonderful blog that I drooled over! I feel like I marked about a million recipes from this site to try - if you haven't checked it out yet, set aside a couple of hours and take a look thru the beautiful pictures and yummy recipes! She got this recipe from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

2 cups half and half

1/4 cup Dutch Process Cocoa Powder

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of Salt

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Whisk together half & half, cocoa, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Heat mixture, whisking frequently. (Take my advise and DO NOT leave for a moment to get some water, and watch the ice dancers on tv! My mixture bubbled over and left me with a big mess to clean up!). Mixture will come to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter until completely combined. Chill mixture. (This is what takes A LOT of patience!)

Process as directed per your ice cream maker and enjoy!

Favorite Things Friday!

2010-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

It's Friday!!!! In honor of this wonderful day - I decided to share one of my favorite things - my soup and sandwich ceramic dish. I got it after receiving a cute little catalog from Uncommon Goods. After folding down a bunch of pages, I narrow it down to this cute little plate set. Everybody loves a grilled cheese and soup - what better way to serve it then on this tray. I love these plates so much that I use them all the time - as you can see from my dinner above! I recommend spending a little time on this website, it's wonderful!

Have a wonderful Friday!

Blackberry Almond Thumbprints

2010-02-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

These are delightful little cookies that are easy to make using ingredients that I already had at home! I got these from the great blog, The Feast Within and after a quick look in my pantry to make sure that I had the almond extract I began softening my butter! I didn't add the glaze cause I have been sick, which equals lazy and I didn't want to run to the grocery store for powered sugar. I can image that these would be even better with the glaze, I'll probably do that next time!

Blackberry Almond Thumbprints

Adapted from The Feast Within

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup softened butter

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups flour

1/2 cup blackberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper - this is helpful in case your jam runs over like mine.

Combine butter, sugar, and almond extract at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low and add all of the flour at one time. Beat until well mixed. (At this point feel free to eat about half of the dough - it is amazingly delicious!)

Shape dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on the baking sheet. Press thumb into center to create a well. Fill each well with jam.

Bake 14 - 18 minutes. Let rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a rack. Once cool drizzle with glaze.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

2 - 3 teaspoons water

Stir together sugar and almond extract. Add enough water to make a stiff medium glaze. Zig zag glaze over cookies and ENJOY!

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

2010-02-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do on Sunday is watch a combo of Food Network and Anthony Bourdain while prowling food blogs for new recipe ideas. This Sunday was no exception - which was a perfect way for me to nurse my cold all bundled up on the couch. I found a couple of new recipes by checking out members of Craving Ellie in My Belly that will be highlighted this week, the first is this wonderful Jambalaya that I found on Confessions of a Foodie Bride. It was destined to be made in my kitchen since I had leftover Turkey Kielbasa. I actually had everything I needed except for the bell peppers, which gave me an excuse to check out the new "Farmers Market" style grocery store that opened about 5 minutes from my house.

This has a lot of flavor, but beware as this makes A LOT of Jambalaya!

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Adapted from Confessions of Foodie Bride

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 lb. turkey kielbasa, cut into 1/4 pieces

1 teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning

1 lb. chicken, cut into cubes

3 bay leaves

3 cups rice

1 cup white wine

2 cups water

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup chopped green onions

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, bell peppers, salt and cayenne. Stirring ofter brown vegetables for about 20 minutes or until caramelized and brown in color. Add kielbasa and cook 10 - 12 minutes. Season chicken with Old Bay and add to pot, with Bay leaves. Cook 2 - 3 minutes. Add in rice and cook 2 - 3 minutes. Add wine to deglaze pan, followed by water and chicken broth. Cook 30 - 35 minutes covered without stirring. Remove from heat and let stand 2 - 3 minutes covered. Remove bay leaves and add green onions.

Best Husband Ever!

2010-02-22T19:48:00.000-08:00

I have the best husband ever! He is really enjoying this blogging experience- mostly because he is getting to enjoy all the food that is coming out of the different recipes that I'm trying. I happened to tell him that I had seen these really cool photo boxes that help people take better pictures of their food, and was thinking of making one. That's all it took for him to begin sketching and scheming! After all he is the artistic director/photographer of this blog! You can see him fluffing the rice on the yummy jambalaya recipe - that will be posted tomorrow!

Within an hour of telling him what I envisioned, I had this wonderful box that is made of cardboard, that can be folded down to store. I love it! The pictures are already looking sharper and I can't wait to continue using it!

Because I know he's reading this right now - I really do love my hubby!

CEiMB - Chocolate Mousse

2010-02-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

This weeks recipe was a low-fat Chocolate Mousse that used tofu as the main ingredient. This wasn't a dessert that worked for our house. I think that if I tried this again I would increase the amount of chocolate - this had too much of a tofu taste.

Check out the others who had a better result!

Operation Baking Gals February Shipment

2010-02-16T21:07:00.001-08:00

This year my husband and I decided that we would try and do one philanthropic act a month. We both feel that we are very luck to have the life that we have and that we need to try and give to others. After some searching to find something that I could dedicate my time to regularly - my job has erratic hours and I often have to work nights and weekends, I found Baking Gals. This is an organization that bakes and ships homemade goodies to military that are in active duty. Many of these men and women have been away from home for months and this organization hopes to show them that there we are there for support and that we thank them for their service to our country. What a perfect match for me! I love to bake - but my husband and I can't eat all that I make, we wouldn't be able to get out of our chairs! :)

This was my first month and I signed up for a team that had me tearing up while reading the description. Mind you I cry all them time - those Pedigree commercials really tug my heart strings! ASPCA forget it - the channel must be changed unless you want me to have a full breakdown! As luck might have it, this team was a wonderful man and his dog who are part of the Special Ops team in Afghanistan, it was a perfect opportunity to add in my peanut butter dog treats!

In addition to the doggies treats we added Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (recipe below), pumpkin cookies, snickerdoodles, jelly beans, black licorice, trail mix and magazines. This was a wonderful experience and I felt so wonderful when I sent off my care package! Hopefully everything will get there intact!

I tried this new recipe from Smitten Kitchen, with a few changes below. They were WONDERFUL! They were wonderful little bites of goodness, flecked with cinnamon and mini chocolate chips. I strongly recommend making a batch RIGHT now!!!

Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

24 - 30 smaller cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and flour. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Chill the dough for 1 hour. Bake for 10 minutes on parchment lined cookie sheets. Let them sit for five minutes before transferring to a cookie rack to cool.