Mini Cupcakes

I got this idea from the fabulous Bakerella http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ You could spend all day looking at all the amazing things on her blog. She is really talented. These little cupcakes were really easy once I got the hang of it, but wow what an undertaking without any helpers! It literally took me all day to do this plus the night before to bake the cake. Apparently Bakerella visted one other fabulous blogger The Pioneer Woman, which is actually where I found the recipe. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/quick-and-easy-cupcake-bites/ These have more of a chocolate covered truffle taste than cake because the cake and frosting combine completely. They are very sweet, very adorable, and quite a lot of work. Try them... if you dare!

1. Bake a box cake according to the directions, 9x13 works fine. I used confetti cake and devils food cake. Red velvet is also recommended.

2. When cake is cool, crumble into a bowl. Mix in about 3/4 can of frosting (cream cheese is recommended). You want the cake to stick together when smooshed.

3. Roll cake into small balls and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. I used a small cookie scoop to gauge the size. They need to fit into your candy mold. Refrigerate for several hours.

4. In a small bowl, melt some chocolate brown Wilton candy melts. Microwave for 30 seconds stir, repeat one or two more times as necessary. You don't want to overheat the chocolate. Take a candy mold (the ones that look like Reese's PB cups) and fill half of them with the chocolate halfway. Press a cake ball in and rock it slightly to make sure the chocolate slides up the mold to the top edge all the way around. Repeat with remaining cups. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes until cooled. I recommend getting AT LEAST 2 trays of mold ($2 each), 3-4 is even better.

5. Melt the colored chocolate (directions in my chocolate pretzel entry), about a half bag will work. Carefully pop out each cake ball cup and dip into the chocolate. Press down until the colored chocolate barely touches the brown chocolate cup. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Place an M&M on top and some sprinkles. Repeat... over and over and over and over (about 50+ times). Put back in the refrigerator to cool completely.

6. Take a nap. You will need one.

Chocolate Pretzels

I had some extra chocolate from the mini cupcakes so Matt was wonderful enough to take little Murray up to 7-11 to grab me some pretzels. I need all the practice I can get for Katie's wedding! These are really easy to make and you can get really crazy with all the stuff you can sprinkle on them. Just a couple notes on a makeshift double boiler:

1. In a small saucepan, heat about an inch to 2 inches of water on low (I used a 1.5-2 on a burner tha goes up to 10). You want some small bubbles to form but you don't want it simmering or boiling. While the pot is still room temperature, place a room temperature pyrex bowl on top.

2. Place a handful of Wilton candy melts (my fave) in the pyrex bowl and stir until melted.

3. Dip the pretzel in and shake off the excess. Put on wax paper to cool. Immediately add sprinkles or whatever if you are going to. It is reeeeally easy if you don't dip 100% of the mini twist pretzels and they look cute. Just hold the bottom and do a scooping motion in the chocolate. Cool completely before removing from the wax paper.

HAVE FUN!

Party Punch

Gotta have a yummy punch to wash down all the baby shower goodies! My mom is the queen of party punches.... the secret? Just start mixing! Taste along the way and adjust as necessary.

Party Punch
Serves: about 20

Mix together the following:
+1 bottle cranberry pomegranate
+1 can frozen lemonade
+1 can frozen orange juice
+3 cans water (from juice cans)
+1 bottle (can) pineapple juice
+1/2 bottle 7-Up

To keep it cold in the bowl, make a pretty ice ring! Get a cool jello mold or a bundt cake pan and fill with the blended punch or just plain 7-Up. You can add slices of fruit too. Make sure to freeze overnight. Don't make the ring too big to fit in the bowl! Enjoy.

Wheel... of... Fortune!

I had some leftover cake from making mini cupcakes for the baby shower and my mother-in-law's birthday had just passed... hmmm... what to do?? Well, her favorite gameshow is Wheel of Fortune and I happened to see a cool WOF cake... so ta da! I didn't feel like getting out all my pastry bags and tips, so this isn't pristine, but it is super cute and eveyone got a kick out of it. It is a single tier 9" confetti cake with a crumb coat of cream cheese frosting. Then refrigerate to firm up the frosting. Then I mixed a bunch of colors and went to town! Happy birthday Deb!

Shrimp Prima-scampi

I wanted pasta primavera and I wanted shrimp scampi... sooooo tada! This was tasty! Just remember this isn't supposed to be sop-it-up-with-garlic-bread saucy.

Shrimp Prima-scampi
Serves: 2

+1/2 box linguine
+1/2 bag shrimp, thawed & tails removed
+4-5 tablespoons butter
+Splash of olive oil
+4 cloves garlic, minced
+palmful of dried parsley
+fat palmful of dried basil
+1 box of Green Giant Immunity blend veggies
+Sprinkle of red pepper flakes

1. Cook the pasta per package directions.
2. Meanwhile in a large skillet, saute the shrimp and garlic in 2 tablespoons of butter and a splash of olive oil. Add in the remaining butter, herbs & veggies and the red pepper flakes (to taste). Add the 5th tablespoon of butter if you deem it necessary.
3. When the shrimp and veggies are cooked thru, toss in the pasta.
4. Serve. Top with a little sprinkling of parm if you like.

Almost Carbonara

I didn't have much in the house (again) so I had to come up with something. The only meat we had was bacon... so I thought some kind of pasta would go well. Now this doesn't have egg in it so it's not a true carbonara... but it was yummy!

Almost Carbonara
Serves: 2-3

+1 bag frozen cheese tortellini
+8 bacon strips
+4 garlic cloves, minced
+1 1/4 cups milk
+4 ounces cream cheese
+1/2 cup butter
+1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain, then crumble. Remove drippings from the pan (leaving just a tad for some taste but not tons of fat) saute garlic until tender. Add the milk, cream cheese and butter; stir until smooth. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and bacon; heat through. Drain pasta; toss with sauce.

Chicken & Asparagus Risotto Skillet

This is a Pampered Chef recipe from Molly at http://myhappymeals.blogspot.com/ Matt liked this and even ate it leftover. I am not a huge asparagus fan so I thought this was just ok. I think I would like it more if I swapped the asparagus for broccoli, but I don't think Matt would be as happy! This was definitely an easy one.

Chicken & Asparagus Risotto Skillet
Serves: 3-6

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts I used 1 pound of tenderloins
1/2 tsp. salt, divided
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. olive oil
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 oz. fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T lemon zest I omitted
2 cups milk
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 lb. fresh asparagus cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces I used a half bunch, don't know if that was 1/2 pound
2 cups instant long-grain rice

Season chicken with 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in skillet and cook chicken 5-7 minutes on each side or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm. Add milk, soup, asparagus, onion, garlic, cheese, lemon zest and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt to skillet. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in rice; top with chicken. Cover pan; remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

Lemon Tea Cookies

I got these from fellow blogger http://senoraespanola.blogspot.com/ I needed a non-chocolate dessert for my sister-in-law's baby shower and these sounded perfect and portable. They are definitely that. They are a little on the crumbly side because they are a tea cookie, so don't expect a large gooey cookie. Thanks Ashley!

Lemon Tea Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies

+1/2 cup butter softened
+2 tablespoon granulated sugar
+zest of 1/2 lemon
+2 tablespoons lemon juice
+1 1/4 cup flour
+1/4 teaspoon baking powder
+1/8 teaspoon salt

Icing
+1/2 cup powdered sugar
+juice of 1 lemon

In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and whisk to combine well; set aside. In bowl of stand mixer, combine butter, sugars, lemon zest and beat in high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and beat to combine well. Turn mixer to low and slowly add dry ingredients. Slowly turn mixer up to medium to incorporate all the of the dry ingredients into the dough (this will take a couple minutes, but it will come together well - if you live in a dry climate, you can add 1 Tbsp water to make it come together). Remove bowl from mixer and roll cookie dough into 1-inch balls (no bigger) I used my small cookie scoop filled completely but no more, it was perfect. Place cookies onto a large plate or cookie sheet and place into fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment. I only used one sheet lined with a silpat mat and I fit 24 cookies. Remove cookies from fridge, place on lined baking sheets and place into oven to bake for 10-12 minutes (do not cook anymore - they may look underdone but they are not, do not them them brown). Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheets.Once cooled, make icing by placing powdered sugar in a small bowl and, add 1 Tbsp of lemon juice. Stirring constantly, add additional 1/2 tsp lemon juice at a time until icing just comes together and is barely pourable. I added one small dot of yellow food coloring. Using a spoon, drizzle a small amount of icing over each cookie and let run down sides. Garnish with zest of lemon, if desired and serve.

Zesty Mac

Well once again we didn't have any food in the house, so I had to think up something that didn't have any meat. We didn't want plain old mac & cheese again, so I spiced it up. We liked this a lot. It wasn't GREAT as leftovers, but it fed us. We will make this again.



Zesty Mac
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
+3 cups dry penne pasta
+1 12 oz can evaporated milk (yes, I had this 'on hand')
+1/2 cup chicken broth
+2 tablespoons butter
+2 tablespoons flour
+2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
+1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
+salt & pepper
+4 oz. cubed pepper jack cheese
+4 oz. cubed cheddar cheese (I think I had medium laying around)
+2 teaspoons chili powder
+2 teaspoons cumin
+1/2 cup salsa
+1/2 can chopped green chilies

1. Bring 2 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. Add salt and pasta. Cook per the package and drain, set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Microwave the milk and chicken broth in a 2-cup or larger Pyrex measuring cup or bowl until hot and steamy (not boiling). Melt butter in the empty pasta pot; whisk in flour, then hot milk mixture. Continue to whisk until thick and bubbly, 3 to 4 minutes. Add in mustard, Parmesan, cubes cheeses, spices, salsa, and chiles.

3. Add drained pasta to sauce, and stir until everything is well combined over low heat.

4. Dump everything into a casserole dish (like 9x13) and sprinkle just a little shredded cheese on top (optional.. just for looks). Pop in the oven for like 5 minutes, then set to broil for 3-5 minutes. WATCH IT. Broil unil it is browned and as crunchy as you like it. If you walk away, you will burn it and be very mad.

5. Serve with a green veggie or some fruit. Yum.

Tot-sserole

In trying to keep with the 'spend less, use up more' philosophy, I looked thru our cabinets and started dragging out some old standbys. I thought this was pretty darn good. Matt however was ALL OVER IT. He ate it for dinner then leftovers twice and loved it each time. Sure he kept dumping Franks red hot sauce on it... but he still loved it! He said "Put this on the regular rotation please!" Oh, and I don't know what the crap happened to the pictures I thought I took.. sorry! It basically looks like a hot mess of delicious slop!

Tot-sserole
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
+1 can drained french style green beans (peas would work too)
+3/4-1 pound ground beef
+1 onion, chopped
+salt and pepper to taste (lots!)
+about a half bag of tater tots (like 16 oz? I used Schwans tater rounds)
+1/2-3/4 can cream of mushroom soup (just do it)
+1 can condensed cheese soup
+1/2 cup milk
+1 1/2 cups shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large pan, brown the ground beef with the onions and salt & pepper. Drain fat.

3. In a 9x13 pan, spread the green beans evenly. Top evenly with beef. Arrange as many tater tots as you can/want over top.

4. In a bowl, mix the soups and milk. Dump over top of casserole. Sprinkle handfuls of cheese over top.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes plus, or until cheese is as browned as you would like.

6. Serve! Matt says to add hot sauce =)

Cookies By Design!

Awwww, my friends love me! As a thank you for a favor, some friends had a basket of cookies delivered to me from Cookies by Design. So sweet! It came with 2 decorated sugar cookies, and I think 3 each of oatmeal raisin, m&m, chocolate chip, and peanut butter cookies. I will say while they were all good, I pretty much wolfed down the peanut butter ones! Thanks girls!

Follow up to Best Lasagna

Ok so I made an extra lasagna to freeze. It was loaf pan sized and I got it out today. I wasn't sure how long to bake it but it turned out great. Sure it wasn't as good as it was fresh, but totally worth it! Much better than the Stouffers ones. When I made it, I left it uncooked (the noodles and meat were cooked) covered it in plastic wrap then in foil.





So, for a completely frozen loaf pan sized lasagna:

-Preheat oven to 350
-Remove plastic wrap, replace foil. Place lasagna on a cookie sheet
-Bake covered for 90 minutes. Remove foil, bake for 15 minutes.

Apple Dumpling

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That's all I have to say about that.

Apple Dumpling
Serves: 6 (or just me)

Ingredients:
+1 large granny smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into 6 slices
+1 roll of BIG crescent rolls (there are 6 inside)
+1/2 stick butter
+3/4 cup sugar
+3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
+2/3 cup Mountain Dew

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x9 or 8x8 baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, melt the butter. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Toss in the apple slices to coat. Roll out and divide the crescent rolls. Take an apple slice (shake off excess goo) and roll up inside the crescent, starting at the small end. Pinch the ends closed. Place in the pan. Repeat with the remaining 5.

3. Spoon the rest of the delicious butter goo over top each of the rolls. Pour the Mountain Dew over top of all of it.

4. Bake for 35-45 minutes (until golden brown). Serve after cooling for about 5 minutes.

Best Lasagna Ever

Whether or not you agree that any food can be "the best ever"... who cares. This is really freaking good. You should definitely take the time, effort, and money to make this. I made a little extra of all the ingredients and froze a small lasagna and cooked a big one. Seriously awesome.

This came from one of the best food blogs The Pioneer Woman. Here is the link to her recipe... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/ It is very detailed and there is a downloadable PDF so I am not going to even bother copying the recipe to here.

I think this recipe is fantastic because it uses all readily available ingredients. They may not be the premium ingredients that some little old Italian lady uses, but who cares. Delicious is delicious. ENJOY!!!

Pulled BBQ roast beef

Ok so that is not my picture. I didn't take a picture of this one... sorry!! I threw this in the crockpot for Matt because I wasn't going to be around for dinner. He actually liked this pretty well and ate it leftover. I just wanted to use up the frozen chuck roast in my freezer.

Pulled BBQ roast beef
Serves: 3

1. In a lightly greased crock pot, place a 3 pound beef roast. In a small bowl, mix together the following and pour over the roast:
+3/4 cup Open Pit original flavor BBQ sauce (or just a spicy classic sauce)
+3/4 cup sweet Carolina type BBQ sauce
+1 tablespoon vinegar
+1/4 cup water
+2-4 tablespoons Frank's red hot sauce (to taste)

2. Cook on low for about 8 hours. Pull apart and eat with a fork or slap some on a bun.

Matt's No-Bean Spicy Venison Chili

Most of the time I make dinner at home. But one day Matt was sweet enough to say the HE wanted to buy the ingredients and make an awesome dinner... and boy did he ever! I am actually quite impressed with his skills. We both were! I told him if he is going to show me up in the kitchen like this he might have to take over cooking full time... apparently he didn't think that was funny. Warning: This is spicy. If you can't handle it, don't whine that I didn't warn you.


Matt's No-Bean Spicy Venison Chili
Serves: 4-6

1. In a large skillet, brown 1 pound of ground venison (or ground beef), 1 medium onion diced, 1 red bell pepper diced, and 1 green bell pepper diced. Drain the fat.

2. In a large pot, throw in the following:
+Meat mixture
+1 diced jalapeno pepper, seeds and all
+1 can (14.5oz) of diced tomatoes w/ green chiles
+2 cans (15oz) tomato sauce
+1 tablespoon ground cumin
+2 tablespoons chili powder
+1/4-1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (depending on how potent they are)
+salt & pepper to taste

3. Mixture will appear thick... don't think you are smart and add water or more sauce. Just wait. You can add this in about 10 minutes if you still think it is too thick. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.

4. Serve plain with some kind of starch (elbow macaroni, bread, biscuits etc). I like mine with some sour cream and shredded cheese. Delicious!

Ranch Parmesan Chicken and Lindsay’s Red Lobster Biscuits

I needed to use up some chicken and only use the stuff I had already (since it was too cold to go out to the store). I went and pillaged Foodislove's Weblog and found this. It was pretty good.

Ranch Parmesan Chicken and Lindsay’s Red Lobster Biscuits
Serves: 3

Ranch Chicken Ingredients:
+4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
+1 cup panko breadcrumbs
+1/4-1/3 cup parmesan cheese
+1 teaspoon seasoning salt
+1 teaspoon ground black pepper
+1 teaspoon garlic powder
+1 cup Hidden Valley prepared ranch salad dressing
+1/4 cup melted butter (no substitutes)

Directions:
Set oven to 400° degrees (set oven rack to lowest position).
Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
In a shallow bowl mix together the dry breadcrumbs with Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, black pepper and garlic powder.
Dip the chicken into the ranch dressing to coat both sides (allow any excess to drip off).
Coat in the breadcrumb mixture.
Place in a single layer onto a greased baking sheet or line with non-stick foil (do NOT bake in a smaller baking dish or the bottom of the chicken will be soggy). If you have a cooking rack you can place on the baking sheet it is even better)
Lightly drizzle the melted butter over each breast (for low-fat option omit the butter or use a diet alternative).
If desired you can sprinkle black pepper over the chicken pieces .
Bake uncovered for about 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked).
**At the end of cooking, I set it to broil for about 2-3 minutes to crisp up the top.


Biscuit Ingredients:
Makes: 12 biscuits

+2 cups Bisquick mix (Matt didn't tell me we were out of Bisquick so I used buttermilk pancake mix haha, turned out fine!)
+1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (MORE)
+2/3 cup milk
+1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
+1/2 teaspoon parsley
+1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Mix bisquick mix, milk, and cheese until moist **I added 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley here too.
Drop onto greased cookie sheet
Bake for 8 minutes or until golden
Melt butter, then mix in parsley and garlic powder.
Pour melted butter over hot biscuits, then serve!

Dill Pot Roast and Potatoes

This was pretty tasty and very easy! Mad props to my crockpot for doing all the work.


Dill Pot Roast and Potatoes
Serves: 3

+3 pound beef pot roast (I found a chuck roast on sale)
+1 tsp. salt
+1/4 tsp. black pepper
+1 tsp. dried dillweed
+1 tsp. dried dillweed (yes a second tsp)
+1/4 cup water
+1 Tablespoon vinegar
+3 Tablespoons flour
+1/2 cup water
+1 cup sour cream
+3 large redskin potatoes

1. Place potatoes (scrubbed clean but not dried) in bottom of a lightly greased crock pot.

2. Sprinkle both sides of the meat wth the salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of the dill and rub in. Place in the crock pot, try to nestle the meat down in with the potatoes. Add 1/4 cup water and vinegar.

3. Cook on low for 7-9 hours or until tender. Make sure the meat isn't drying out on top, turn it over if it is.

4. Remove the meat and potatoes to rest and cover with foil to keep warm. Turn on the crockpot to high. Dissolve the flour into the 1/2 cup water and stir into the meat drippings. Add the remainder of the dill and cook for about 5 minutes then stir in the sour cream and cook until hot (about 5 minutes).

5. Slice the meat and serve the sauce with the meat and potatoes.

Mac-n-cheese-n-weiners

Another grown up version!! In an effort to save money, I decided to skip grocery shopping this past week and just use up what we had. It has been difficult and I just stopped once at Kroger for some protein... but everything else we had. *pats self on the back* This one turned out pretty darn good actually.

Mac-n-cheese-n-weiners
Serves: 3-4

-8 oz smoked turkey sausage, sliced
-1 14.75oz can diced tomatoes WITH liquid
-8 oz package of Green Giant seasoned carrots and broccoli steam fresh
-2 cups elbow macaroni
-1 cup chicken broth
-3/4 cup water
-1 literal cube Velveeta (cut it as long as it is wide & tall), cut into pieces
-salt and pepper and oil

1. In a large deep pan, add a little oil over medium high heat and brown the sausage.

2. Add tomatoes with liquid, broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Add the macaroni (mix well) and reduce to medium low. Cover and simmer for about 5-6 minutes, stirring once.

3. Pop the veggie package into the microwave for about 50 seconds to defrost. Add the veggies to the pan, recover, and simmer for 6-7 more minutes, stirring a couple times.

4. When the macaroni is fully cooked, add the Velveeta cubes and stir. Recover for a minute or two to help the cheese melt. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir until the cheese is fully melted.

Pancetta Pasta

Here is a Rachel Ray inspired pasta. Sorry about the noodles... they were what I had. We thought this was pretty good.

Pancetta Pasta
Serves: 2

-1/2 pound pasta (penne, gemelli etc)
-3 oz pancetta slices, diced
-1 small onion, diced
-1 large and 1 small dried bay leaf
-4 garlic cloves, minced
-1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
-3/4 cup chicken broth
-salt and pepper
-olive oil
-Parmesan

1. Cook the pasta according to the package.

2. In a large pan, add some olive oil over medium high heat. Add the pancetta and saute until crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and bay leaves. Cook for about 7-8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and crush them the best you can with a wooden spoon. Add the broth and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer to reduce.

3. Remove the bay leaves and toss the pasta in with the sauce. Serve with parm over top.