Pfeiffer's Kitchen

Banana Cupcakes

2009-07-12T17:53:00.007-04:00

So today I decided that it would be fun to try to make some cupcakes from scratch and since I just recently picked up Martha Stewart's Cupcakes I figured I would try one in there.

First thing I made was the Roasted Banana Cupcakes

Meet the cast:

3 Ripe bananas, plus 1 to 2 more for garnish

2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Honey cinnamon frosting (recipe follows)

Pre-heat oven to 400. Line std muffin tins with paper liners. Place 3 whole bananas unpeeled on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. (peels will darken) Meanwhile, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Remove bananas from oven and let cool before peeling, Reduce oven to 350.
After roasting the bananas in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes you get something like this:

With and electric mixer on med-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time beating until each is Incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add roasted bananas, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, and beating until just combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites to soft peaks; fold 1/3 into batter to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites in two batches. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool.

The recipe is for 16 cupcakes - I ended up getting 18

I followed the recipe for the first 9 and make the honey cinnamon icing for them.

Honey-cinnamon frosting (makes enough for 16 cupcakes) {I halved the recipe and had just enough for the 9 cupcakes}

2 12 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tbsp honey

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat all ingredients until smooth.
This is how they turned out:

They were pretty good but I think that I would use more banana next time, even roasted it seemed a bit tame on the flavor. I also thought that the icing was a tad too sugary but Steve liked them!

For the remaining 9 cupcakes I decided to give it my own twist. I used to love getting those chocolate frozen bananas at the amusement park back in the day so thought that I would do something like that. First I made a simple ganache glaze

I halved the original recipe - this is what I used:

3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp light corn syrup

Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.

Using a flexible spatula, gently stir chocolate and cream until totally combined, begin near the center of the bowl and gradually work your way toward the edge, pulling in as much chocolate as possible. Mix until smooth and glossy.

After I finished the ganache simply dip the top of the cupcake in letting the excess drip off. Set on wire rack to cool.

To finish off I topped the cupcake with a spoonful of freshly made whipped cream then added a slice of chocolate covered banana!

My take on these

eh.... I like the idea but it isn't quite there yet. The chocolate covered banana slice is great but I think I might go for a chocolate ganache frosting instead of the glaze. Maybe give it a chocolate filling too.... I like the whipped cream on it but of course you shouldn't add it until right before you plan to serve...... I think next time we will nix the whipped cream go for the filling and frosting and see how that is.

I also think that I will use all purpose flour for the cupcakes rather than the cake flour - I did not really like how dense it made them. Definitely more more more banana!!!

Sausage Egg-n-cheese mcmuffin

2009-07-12T17:38:00.005-04:00

Steve's Aunt recently saw (and tasted) my hamburger cupcakes and asked if I would be able to make her a cupcake that looked like a breakfast item for a celebration she is having at work in August. She had mentioned a sausage egg-n-cheese mcmuffin as an idea. Well Steve and I tossed some ideas around and I figured I would give it a go while I was making more hamburgers for a friend. I ended up using just the bottoms of the cupcake for the "mcmuffin", basically the inside of a cakepop (just minus the chocolate outside) for the sausage patty and whipped vanilla frosting for the egg. I tinted some extra frosting yellow and just put a small drop on the white frosting for the "yolk". The cheese is fondant that was tinted with yellow and red icing color.

I think they turned out pretty well don't you.....

We sent the picture to Aunt Sandy as well and she was thrilled!!! Asked for 2 dozen of them!
Seems August will be the kick off of Tay's Tasty Treats with that order, a 7 dozen order for a work picnic and a friend of mine is trying to get my very first birthday party!!!!

I did decide to change the logo though - what do you think....

4th of July Cupcakes

2009-07-12T17:25:00.005-04:00

This year my parents / sister threw a huge 4th of July / 30th Birthday & going away party for my Brother-in-law who will be heading back to Iraq in the next few months. I decided that I would bring cupcakes - shocker I know!! So to in honor of the 4th I made some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and topped off with red, white, and blue stars - oh so festive

I also decided that for fun I would do batch of hamburger cupcakes that I am sure you have seen once or twice on one blog or another. These were a HUGE hit!

Enjoy!

Psssssst...I know a secret

2009-06-03T08:27:00.002-04:00

The Brown Eyed Baker is having a give away!!!! Check out her blog an leave a comment of what your favorite cookie is and be entered into a drawing to win Field Guide to Cookies
Click here to enter

Should I??

2009-06-02T16:59:00.002-04:00

Since doing the baby shower cupcakes my husband thinks that I should start a designer cupcake and cookie side job. Just something small – flyers and word of mouth to get orders and what not.
What do you think?
Crazy?

If I do, what do you think of this logo?

Babyshower Cupcakes

2009-05-31T17:27:00.005-04:00

So I came across this blog post in my google reader the other day from Annie's Eats (which is a fantastic blog by the way) and fell in love with the butterfly cupcakes. A friend of mine recently bought Hello, Cupcake! so I was really wanting a reason to make these cupcakes, but really had nothing that called for anything so elaborate. That is until Pamela; a friend from work; emailed me and asked if I had any ideas for cupcakes for her daughter's baby shower. Umm, I sure do!! This was just the excuse that I needed to make these gorgeous cupcakes! The mommy to be's colors were green, pink, and yellow so that is what I went with. I made 2 dozen butterfly cupcakes and another 2 dozen with some adorable sprinkles that I found at my new favorite store, Grandma's Cupboard
The wing took a bit of time to do and I think next time I would use a condiment bottle to try and pipe the chocolate but I think that they turned out pretty darn good!!!! I didn't get to actually go to the baby shower as I already had plans but I hope that Mommy-to-be was as happy with them as I was!!!
Here is a look at how they turned out!

Pumpkin Roll

2009-05-04T20:51:00.004-04:00

So it has been FOREVER since I posted - What can I say....

So I am going to attempt to start catching up a bit. At least start blogging what I do make so here goes. I made this pumpkin roll for my Creative Memories Open House day in November. It was a mess to make but it turned out great! I am not a pumpkin pie fan at all but I LOVE pumkin roll!!!

Buffalo Chicken Lasgna

2008-09-16T13:10:00.002-04:00

Sounds different I know and the thought of putting tomato sauce with buffalo sauce didn't seem right to me either - but it is! Has a nice little kick but not too much so even your big baby of a husband (when it comes to spicy things) can eat it without crying! Can't say that for the Fiesta dip that I made to watch the football game! Even my Mom didn't' complain about it and he did - geez!

Sorry, no pictures of this one – we had a bit of a windstorm that knocked a branch onto a power line and then caught on fire. Was very interesting to see but also made no good lighting available for picture taking!
Thankfully the lasagna was pretty much done and I had just put the cheese on and popped it back into the oven when the power went out! Turned out pretty darn good! Not to bad for your waist line either – figuring it out on sparkrecipes.com shows it to be 365 calories per serving with 30 grams of protein!
My changes are noted in blue

12 Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles, uncooked – I used regular lasagna noodles
1 lb. Skinless Chicken Breast – I used 2 decent sized breasts
3 Cups Hunt’s Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
1 Cup Very Mild Buffalo Wing Sauce
1 1/2 Cups Water – I only used about 1 ¼ cup
15 oz. Nonfat Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Egg Substitute
9 Slices 2% Pepperjack Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Cook chicken over medium high heat for 4 minutes or until almost done. I wanted more of a shredded chicken so I baked mine, let them cool a bit and then cut up very small – put back into the pan and Stir in sauces and water. In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and egg substitute. Spray a 9X13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread 1 Cup of sauce in the bottom of pan. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce. Spread more sauce, then a layer of ricotta mixture. I found it a lot easier to do the ricotta and then the sauce Add another layer of sauce, and repeat the whole process until you end with a layer of sauce. Cover and bake 70 minutes. Uncover and place cheese slices on top, then bake for another 15 minutes uncovered.
Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving.
Makes 8 large servings

Browns Party!!!!

2008-09-08T15:20:00.004-04:00

It is that time of year again - Football Season!!! I love football season! Every Sunday hubby and I park ourselves in front of the TV and cheer on the Browns! It is in my opinion the best time of year - it gives me a reason to cook for a crowd every single Sunday! Well maybe not every Sunday this year since we have a few Monday night games and even a Thursday night game but...
This year not only did we get to throw our annual Browns kick off the Season party in our new house we got to throw it in our just renovated basement rec-room! When I say "just renovated" I mean carpet installed Friday, furniture delivered Saturday, party on Sunday! I LOVE!!! our new basement!

See the chair in the corner - that is my chair, the female version of ones stake to a chair - it is a round swivel chair with a brown leather base, camel microfiber seat with a pillow back - oh so comfortable! I heart it very much!

I love the bar even more though! Oh it is so so so pretty!!! Especially against the red wall - the black marble top stands out and just pops! Oh I love it!!! Hubby and I have dreamed of having a bar in the basement but didn't really think we would ever be able to but I am so so glad that we jumped feet first into debt for it =)
We rationalize it to ourselves that this was our last big thing before popping out the kiddos so we deserve it!

My GORGEOUS niece Haylee enjoying the game with her rocking Aunt Meghan! Love love the cheer leading outfit!
Okay so now onto the food!
This year I cheated A LOT! We were so so busy getting the basement done that I needed easy and I mean E-A-S-Y for the food! So we had:
pulled pork BBQ Sandwiches (recipes will be in separate posts to come)
cheesy potatoes
Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic dip and Spinach and herb dip with the Wheat Beer Bread
deviled eggs
chips
sugar cookies
sausage and cheese dip with tortilla chips brought by my friend Jami.
The BBQ Pork - very very yummy!

The dips in cute little football serving plates

My adorable football deviled eggs - yumm! Just snip and place the chives on to give the football look.

Peach cobbler

2008-08-26T14:41:00.003-04:00

At some point on Sunday while hubby and I were working in the basement (or watching Ben work anyway) the peach fairy came to our house. I walked outside and there was a bag sitting on our porch full of gorgeous peaches. I have to assume that this was the work of my wonderful neighbors once again. Can I just tell you that I absolutely heart our neighbors! We have only been in our house since May and they have been nothing but wonderful to us. Giving us zucchini and banana peppers from their garden, helping us out when our drain tile was being replaced, offering to go and get us mulch with the dump truck..... they are honest to goodness the type of neighbors that everyone would love to have.
So what is a girl to do when a bag full of peaches a dropped on your doorstep - make peach cobbler of course.
I have never had peach cobbler so I am not sure if this is what it is supposed to taste like but I will have to guess not. It was a tad bit too runny (which I am pretty sure is my fault) and just not as sweet as I thought it would be. I used Paula Deen's recipe and she has not let me down before so I will take full responsibility for this not being a smashing success.
I did not have a 3 qt dish and I didn't really think that hubby and I needed that much cobbler around so I decided to halve the recipe. Well partly - I left the peach mixture the way it was written and then halved the crust part of it. I believe that my problem came from the flour. I did not have any self rising flour so I added baking powder -which in case you ever wanted to know there is to add 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt to 1 cup of flour.
Looking back however I do believe that I did not add enough baking powder and forgot the salt all together. I only added enough baking powder for 1/2 cup of flour rather than the 3/4 cup that I used. Ahhh well - live and learn. The cobbler was still good just not great.

Zucchini Bread

2008-08-26T14:29:00.003-04:00

I am in love - with Zucchini - this wonderful fruit (I swear it is a fruit) see so yourself
it is versatile! Lately I have made Zucchini Cakes which I hope to attempt again very soon and this time it be a success. You can make pie (another recipe I plan to attempt soon - my aunt made it last year for a family crop and it was wonderful), bake it with some garlic and EVOO to serve as a side dish, cut up and eat it raw with some salt so so much you can do with it. My wonderful neighbor brought me one over recently out of their garden and went straight for the kitchen to make some Zucchini Bread.
I used a recipe which I found on allrecipes and it turned out wonderful!!!!! You can find it here
I doubled the recipe and instead of adding nuts I added 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Doubling the recipe gave me 3 regular size loaves and 2 mini loaves. I unfortunately gave all but one mini-loaf away and now I am out =( I think I will be going next door very soon to get another zucchini to make some more and this time I will freeze it for hubby and I.

Zucchini Cakes

2008-08-26T14:20:00.005-04:00

I based the recipe for this little batch of failure on this recipe from Paula Dean.

I did not add onion (because I do not care for it) and instead of Italian Seasoning I added some fresh parsley, thyme, and lemon basil. I call this a failure because as you can see from the picture they got a tad bit done. They tasted pretty good (minus that slight burnt taste) but not near as good as they could / should have tasted. The house smelled fantastic but I ended up tossing most of them - hubby didn't even get to try them. I do believe that my problem was that I failed to squeeze the water out of the zucchini so the patties just wouldn't stay together. Them not staying together made them too thin and blah blah blah yeah whatever - they sucked. So learn from me - drain the water - place in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the crap out of it.

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom gravey

2008-08-26T14:14:00.002-04:00

I have tried quite a few of Rachel Ray's recipes and honestly there are a few that I have not liked AT ALL but this one is wonderful. Very quick to make (an honest 30 minute meal) and oh so tastey!!!!
I followed the recipe just the way it was written and served with corn and mashed potatoes.

Smothered herbed Chicken

2008-08-26T14:04:00.005-04:00

Not sure when I made this meal but it was oh so yummy!!!!

I chopped up some herbs (parsley, thyme, and rosemary) and rubbed it all over 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts. Let that chill for a while and then sauteed in some EVOO until no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the pan and place in a baking dish. In the same pan I cooked the chicken I sauteed some sliced baby bella mushrooms and garlic. Once done place on top of the chicken and then top with a piece of cheese - I used Gouda that I had left over from some inside out cheese burgers.
Place in the oven until cheese is melted.
I served with some buttered noodles that I added a mix of the same herbs that I used on the chicken and some garlic and asparagus that i roasted with garlic, EVOO and splashed with some lemon juice.

Slacking!!!

2008-08-26T13:53:00.002-04:00

I have once again been neglecting my blog =( Between hubby having my camera while he was at band camp - and not home to eat any of my fixings anyway there hasn't been all that much coming out of the Pfeiffer kitchen.

And once band camp was finally over we jumped into re-doing the basement! Which has turned into a huge project thanks to all the mold hiding under the hideous "wood" panelling.

But it must be done for game day - Brown first game of the season - Sept. 7th against the Dallas Cowboys. I was lucky - unlucky enough depending on how you look at it - to go and watch one of their pre-season games with FANTASTIC seats! Too bad I had to be tortured by the 3rd string quarterback - sucking and the 3rd string receivers sucking even more =( But they were great seats!

So those are my excuses for not updating lately but there have been a few - very few things that I have made so here goes..........

Apple Cake

2008-08-04T16:24:00.004-04:00

Time for another one of those recipes that never got posted. And it is more apples – I told you I had a butt ton of them! I made this Apple Cake for scrapbook night at my mom’s sometime last fall. It was pretty good – I am more of a pie girl, but it is was good. My Uncle who doesn’t like pie (I know, weird right! Apparently the chunks get to him) loved it! He was a little nervous to try but once he did was a great fan.

*Not the best pic - sorry! The one of just the slice was way blurry!

The Apple Ladies Apple Cake
½ c all-purpose flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. fine sea salt
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/3 cup whole milk *I used skim since that is what I had
4 baking apples (about 2 pounds total), cored, peeled, and cut into thin wedges
Topping
1/3 c sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp., unsalted butter, melted
Equipment: 1 (9-in) spring form pan
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Butter a 9-inch spring form pan and set it aside.
In a large bowl, combined the flour, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt, and stir to blend. Add the vanilla extract, eggs, oil, and milk, and stir until well blended. Add the apples and stir to thoroughly coat them in the batter.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until fairly firm and olden, about 25 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and pour the topping mixture over it. Return the cake to the oven and bake until the top is a deep golden brown and the cake feels quite firm when pressed with a fingertip, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the cake pan to a rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the pan and release and remove the spring form side, leaving the cake on the pan base. Serve at room temperature cut into thin wedges.

Apple pie

2008-07-30T21:56:00.006-04:00

Since my hubby has my camera for band camp this week and I can not post the very few yummies I have made lately I figured that now was the perfect time to get caught up on all of the things that I have failed to post!
I made this pie forever ago and for one reason or another just never got around to posting - laziness I am sure had something to do with it!
To be completely honest this was my 2nd attempt at an apple pie - the first one was a disaster! It tasted - ok but had a terrible consistency - runny just, yeah - not a keeper lets put it that way. So since I had recently taken a trip to the apple orchard and had apples coming out of my ears I simply tossed the first and tried again. This one was oh so yummy! The ginger lent a very nice element that was slightly different than your typical apple pie.
I am honestly not sure where I got the recipes from after all this time but I did a mix of a few different to come up with".

Homemade apple pie

Pie crust
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
6 ounces butter (1 1/2 sticks), chilled and diced
5 or 6 tbsp of cold water

Apple filling

Filling
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 tbs all purpose flour
2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
4 cups thinly sliced pared apples
1 tbsp lemon juice
* 1 12/ tbs corn starch – I added this due to the soup like filling of the first attempt
1 tbsp butter or margarine

directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and spices; set aside. In a large bowl toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar mixture; toss well to coat.

2. sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and cut the butter into the flour or rub it in with your fingertips until it becomes crumb-like. Sprinkle in 5 tbsp of water over the mixture. With a fork, toss gently to mix and moisten it. Press the dough into a ball. If it is too dry to form a dough add the remaining water. Divide the dough in half and wrap the balls of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. No skimping - this will chill your butter and relax the gluten in the flour.
* also remember that you want really cold ingredients for a nice flaky crust - make sure your butter is cold and use ice water as well!

3. While the your dough is getting good and cold preheat oven to 375

4. Turn one disc of dough (leave the other in the fridge) onto a floured work surface and roll the pastry into a 12 inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough (carefully) in half and gently transfer to a 9-in pie plate. Brush off any excess flour.

5. Roll out your second disc of dough into another 12 inch circle - now here you have some decisions to make. How are you going to decorate your top crust. The options are endless, lattice top, slap it on there and poke 3 air slits (gotta let the steam out), make those air holes using cookie cutters, or will you be cool like me and use a lattice pie top cutter - hey it was a wedding gift what can I say and turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself!

6. Once you have taken care of the top crust throw the yummy filling into the bottom crust and then top. Make sure to trim the excess and seal your edges. Brush the egg wash on the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

7. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pie is golden brown and the fruit is tender.

Iced Coffee

2008-07-21T19:31:00.005-04:00

I have a confession to make - I am addicted to iced coffee.

It all started a few weeks ago when my friend Becca said she was going to go to McDonalds for an iced coffee at lunch. I was convinced that I did not like iced coffee - I had never actually tried it but I sure has heck didn't like it when my coffee got cold and that is basically the same right - boy was I wrong.

Just to prove me wrong she grabbed me one. It was - okay. It was better than I thought it would be but I could take it or leave it. So she told me that I should try the Vanilla at McDonald's - so I did. Again could take it or leave it. But then....... I had the BK Joe at Burger King - oh my goodness where have you been all of my life?!?!? Now this, this is truly wonderful - heaven in a cup is how I described it to my hubby!

Now just to make sure that I wasn't missing anything else truly wonderful I had to try Starbucks - I mean the coffee god had to have a better iced coffee than a fast food joint - I mean, right? So hub and I both got an iced vanilla latte - better than McDonalds but still not the BK Joe!! Not even close! Since I had been talking about this wonderful coffee concoction for so long hubby finally had to try it and see if I did indeed know what I was talking about. So I ran up to BK and 9 minutes later he knew that this was by far the best iced coffee out there!

Then he tossed his cookies - err coffee - because he drank it to fast - amateur =)

So since I now have to have my fix nearly every day and I am a girl on a rather limited - okay maybe not limited but not wanting to spend $2.09 a day on my new habit - I had to come up with my own! I started with the coffee and went from there - adding what I thought would give me that creamy coffee w/ a hint of chocolate. Started at 1/4 a cup of the half and half and ice cream but wasn't quite enough then added another 1/4 of each. Still needed something so added the sweet-n-low and vanilla and viola - a wonderful cup of iced coffee!

Iced Coffee

1 cup cold black coffee - I used what was left in the pot from this morning

1/2 cup half and half

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream (I used Turkey Hill light Vanilla Bean)

2 sweet-n-lows

very small drizzle of vanilla extract

2 medium squirts of Hershey's Chocolate syrup

Put this all in a blender, pulse till smooth - pour over ice - top with whipped cream and more syrup if you wish and enjoy!

Dinner Party

2008-07-21T19:11:00.004-04:00

How many people does it take to have a dinner party? Well in this case 4 - my husband and I of course and hubby's grandpa and his wife, Nancy.

I love spending time with Grandpa and Nancy. They are just wonderful to be around! We had a wonderful time eating, drinking and talking! Even had a visit from Steve's sister Kelly and her beau Jesse for them to show off Kelly's new ride. She bought a 2003 Eclipse - gorgeous! I must say that I am a tad jealous of her sporty little ride but it has two problems for me. It is no where near a Mom car and though I do not need one yet I hope to in say the next year. Other problem is it is a stick and I hate driving stick! Haven't done it in at least 15 years and would rather not ever have to again.

Now that I have totally gotten off the topic lets get back to dinner!

I decided to make a nice summery dish of Veggie Lasagna only to find out that Grandpa hates most all veggies =(

So either he was extraordinarily polite or the tons of cheese hid the flavor of the veggies enough to make it at least bearable. He of course said that everything was delicious but..... guess we will wait and see if Nancy tells me his true opinion next time I get a chance to talk to her.

I didn't get any pics of the finished lasagna but it turned out beautifully. I made it basically the same as last time but added squash too. Here are all of the wonderful veggies just waiting to cut up

And after chopping away - a very full cutting board

For dessert we had Paula Deen's Strawberry Shortcake which I followed the recipe pretty much exact except that I bought cherry gelatin instead of Strawberry - oops!!! Still turned out great!

And here is a picture of our Money tree that they brought us as a house warming gift! See the 20s hiding in there!

Happy 4th of July!!

2008-07-06T12:11:00.000-04:00

Seeming that we have had a bit of a mess on our hands outside - we had to replace our drain tile.

I haven't had much time for cooking but of course had to make something festive for the holiday!My mom and dad were having a big forth of July party this year and I decided to use all my skills from the Cup Cake class I took last month to make some scrumptious cupcakes. I got this idea from Katie's Blog but changed it up a tad. Instead of the cereal I just went for chocolate frosting. I also used a food writer for the lady bug. I used a *gasp* box mix and frosting for this.

I made the leaves with tip 352.

Even though those cup cakes were too darn cut, I also needed something to celebrate the 4th of July! This turned out so cute and was super easy!! I used tip 1M for the icing and tip 18 for the stars. These were marble cupcakes w/ a chocolate pudding filling inside using tip 230. A nice little surprise.

And just because I had a ton of batter left I also did some chocolate mini cup cakes. Iced with tip 22. I just love how they turn out when you ice with a decorating bag and tip rather than just slathering it on with a spatula! All of these cupcakes were a hit - especially by my cousin 2 1/2 year old Joel who had at least 6! Not sure what his parents were thinking =)

All of these cupcakes were a hit - especially by my cousin 2 1/2 year old Joel who had at least 6! Not sure what his parents were thinking =)

Spiced Rub Chicken

2008-07-06T11:45:00.000-04:00

I got this spice rub from Katie's Blog -The rub itself is very good - has a nice heat but isn't hot. I do think that I should have marinated the chicken much longer. The outside of the chicken was great but the taste just didn't go all the way through! I served this with peas and some oven roasted potatoes.

Chicken Parmesean

2008-06-28T14:45:00.001-04:00

This turned out scrumptious!!! Steve said that it looked like something you would get at Macaroni Grill. Tasted like it too!!! I didn't measure anything so this is all very much approximate!!
Chicken
2 large boneless skinless chicken breast - rinsed and pounded thin
1/2 cup seasoned (salt and pepper) flour
2 eggs - beat
1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
oregano
rosemary
parsley
chives
(no idea how much I used of the seasonings - just a good couple shakes)
marinara sauce - about 1/2 cup, probably less
1 cup mozzarella

Make a dipping station with the flour, egg, bread crumbs - with seasonings mixed into the bread crumbs. Dip the chicken first in the flour to coat then into egg and onto bread crumbs. Place in a skillet with hot oil and cook until done - only turning once.
Place in a baking dish - spoon on some marinara sauce. Cover with mozzarella cheese and place in 325 degree oven until cheese is melted.
I served this with a side of spaghetti - cheated and used a jarred tomato sauce on this one.

The chicken turned out great!! Wish I did measure the seasonings because it was just right!!
Steve was a very happy and full camper!

Let them eat Cake - Cupcakes!

2008-06-28T14:33:00.001-04:00

My Little Cupcake Class
A friend and I took the cupcake class at JoAnne's this week. It was a lot of fun! I always thought that fondant was scary to work with but turns out that it is super easy! Like edible play-do, loved it!!! Can't wait to see all the creations I can make now! here are the 4 cupcakes that we made in class. The class was only 2 1/2 hours long so not really time to get them perfect but for the first time ever touching fondant I didn't think that i did too terrible!

Panini Time!

2008-06-19T12:52:00.001-04:00

Chicken, Mushroom, Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Panini

Ingredients
1 loaf of foccaccia Bread
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast - pounded out thin
1 pkg (1/2 really) frozen chopped spinach - thawed and squeezed dry
Roasted Red pepper jarred in oil ( I used 2 pepper halves) squeeze dry and chop
mushrooms - sliced (use whatever kind you like, I used baby bella because I had them)
2 cloves garlic - minced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
dijon mustard *optional

Season Chicken with salt and pepper and sautee in EVOO until done. Remove from pan and keep warm. Deglaze pan with vinegar, add more Evoo if needed and add sliced mushrooms and sautee for 2-3 minutes; add minced garlic, thawed spinach, and roasted red pepper and sautee for another 2 to 2 minutes to heat all through. Chop up chicken and add to pan. Stir in 3/4 cup moezarella cheese to melt. Remove from heat.
Cut ends off of Foccacia. Cut in half horizontally and vertically into sandwich sizes.
Rip out some of the inside of the bread on both sides. Spread dijon mustard on one side. Fill with Chicken mixture. Rub both sides of sandwich with EVOO and put on grill that is on very low heat. Top the sandwich with something heavy - ie: brick covered in aluminum foil - I used my baking stone. Keep on grill just long enough to give a nice toast - making sure to toast both sides.

This was a super easy and a very yummy meal! I served with some oven fries. The sandwich was start to finish in less than 20 minutes!
Good thing since I was in a hurry to get dinner finished so we could go see my new baby cousin - Cody! Isn't he gorgeous!

BBQ time!

2008-06-16T13:06:00.000-04:00

BBQ Chicken!
I have been dying – dying to have some barbecue chicken! Friday evening I finally got my chance. We made some chicken thighs and legs and then 2 boneless breasts! Turned out wonderfully!
Had corn on the cob and baked beans with it! Not really a recipe for any of this – but a tip on the corn: We did these on the grill and since I bought them already partly husked I had no choice but to go the aluminum foil route. If you grill this way make sure that the shiny part is in – other wise it radiates the heat off of the corn and it will take a whole lot longer to cook! These grilled for about 25 minutes – turning every minute or so. I just salt and peppered the corn tossed a tbsp of butter in and wrapped it up.
Yum!

Muffins!

2008-06-16T13:03:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the ladies that I work with – now that is 40 years with the company mind you – Yes I said 4-0!!! Can you even imagine?!?!? Anyway, in order celebrate her achievement we threw a surprise breakfast celebration for her – and then attacked her with silly string =) I brought in both banana crumb and blueberry muffins! Can you get any better than muffins? They are basically cupcakes that you are allowed to eat for breakfast – perfect!

Banana Crumb Muffins - recipe found on allrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted *I used 1/3 cup vegetable oil rather than the butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
These were fantastic! Had a great banana flavor and the top was absolutely wonderful!!!!

To Die For Blueberry Muffins - also found on allrecipes.com
PREP TIME 15 Min COOK TIME 25 Min READY IN 40 Min

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar *see note below
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking. *Okay so I tried this mixture and it ended up paste – I am sure I did something wrong but I ended up tossing and using the mixture above for the banana muffins – worked wonderfully!
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

I was not a fan at of these at all! I actually tossed a few! They just didn't do it for me! The topping make them sink, the muffin wasn’t sweet enough *although that could be because I ran out of sugar and had to use some brown in place – ended up with 2/3 c white and a 1/3 brown*
Other than not being sweet enough the blue berries just didn’t seem like – not sure maybe there just weren’t enough of them but I thought I filled them all pretty well. I did still bring them into work for the breakfast and got 2 good reviews – they were all ate but I only asked 2 people their thoughts. Maybe it is just that you are always more critical of your own creation but I thought they sucked!

Chicken tortilla wraps

2008-06-16T13:00:00.001-04:00

I made this a week or two ago but never got a chance to blog it. These turned out very yummy.
Chicken Tortilla Wraps
2 each boneless skinless chicken breast halves1 cup nonfat chicken broth4 soft nonfat or low fat flour tortillas1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese with garden vegetables, softened1/4 teaspoon garlic powder1/8 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional *I did not have any so I added a little paprika instead – not exactly the same but gave it some of the smokiness1 1/3 cups coleslaw mix1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper *I used red pepper as I am not a fan of the green so much!
Add chicken and broth to large nonstick skillet. Bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Drain; cool slightly. Shred chicken or cut into thin strips.
Spread each tortilla with cream cheese to within 1/2 inch of edges. Sprinkle evenly with seasonings. Top evenly with chicken, slaw mix and chopped pepper. Press lightly to flatten. Fold up bottom edge, then roll tightly to form wrap. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until serving.

This was a a nice and easy summer dinner and took no time at all to make and were very tasty!

Celebrating Heritage with Pastitsio

2008-06-04T19:47:00.000-04:00

Since my hubby and I just bought our house we weren't really doing gifts for our anniversary. Besides he NEVER wants anything. He has to be the hardest person to buy for so normally I don't ;) But being the 1st anniversary I still have to make it special in some way so what is a girl to do - make dinner! I had originally planned to make our favorite meal from Macaroni Grill - Chicken Scalopini and then top it off with dessert ravioli (banking on the fact that the one year old cake would not be so yummy) however my plan was nixed with the very very generous gift from hubby's aunt of $100 to where else - our favorite restaurant of course - Macaroni Grill. So I had to come up with a better idea so I decided to make Pastitsio. For those of you not Greek (don't feel bad, me either) it is basically Greek Lasagna - until last year I had never heard of it and certainly never tasted the stuff but it is very good - tastes nothing like lasagna though. We actually had it at our rehearsal dinner so I decided to celebrate my husbands heritage and make it for our anniversary dinner.

I looked all over for the Greek cheese but could only find the one kind - I ended up at an Italian little market (probably one of my all time favorite shops - Deviti's if you are in the Akron, OH area) and they said that they had Mizithra but they call it Ricotta Salata (hockey puck looking one, not the wedge) so I got that. Unfortunately couldn't find Kefalotyri any where (although did find a place that could order it for me - too bad I needed it same day - next time I will be prepared and order ahead) So I picked up some Romano with the advise of my mother in law.

Turned out that it wasn't so hard to make at all - did messy A LOT of dishes but other than that it was a fairly simple recipe. Hubby was very impressed - told me that it definitely had that "pastistsio flavor" and then gave me the ultimate of compliments "Nani and Pa would be proud of you" For a little back round - I never got to meet Nani as she died way before I came along but Pa and I were very good friends. He was one of my favorite people and I always enjoyed going to his house to visit with him. He passed a week and a half before our wedding.......

Pastitsio - I got this recipe from Elly says Opa (one of my favorites in my Google Reader) - I have noted my changes

Pasta

1 lb medium tubed shaped pasta (ziti, penne) I used Ziti

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup mizithra, grated (riccota salata)

2 tbsp butter

Cook pasta until al dente (you want a little bit of a bite left as it will continue to cook when you bake).

Melt butter and toss with pasta, cheese, and beaten egg.

Cream

6 tbsp butter

2/3 c flour

4 c milk (I used skim)

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of nutmeg

1/4 cup mizithra, grated (riccota salata)

3/4 cup kefalotyri, grated (I used a mix of Ramon (1/2 c) and Parmesan (1/4c))

2 eggs, beaten

1 egg yolk, beaten

Melt butter in large sauce pan. Add flour and whisk. Cool about 1-2 minutes to remove raw flour taste. Stir in Milk and bring to a slight boil. (I really thought that something had went terribly wrong at this point. It seemed too lumpy too thin just plain not right - visions of ordering pizza for our first anniversary dinner are swarming in my head - but alas it thickened and turned out just as thick and beautiful as it should) Continue to simmer until thickened, and until cream coats the back of a spoon. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Remove from heat.

Allow to cool slightly before stirring in cheese and egg.

Meat sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion (I only used 1/2 and onion, but I am not a huge fan)

2-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste (I thought that I had this in the cupboard but turns out I had tomato sauce - honest mistake right? )

2 cups of water (I only added about a 1/4 of a can since I added tomato sauce instead of paste)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon or one stick (I just gave it a few shakes didn't actually measure)

8 whole cloves or allspice or a mixture (I only had the allspice so again I just gave it a few shakes)

1.5 tbsp dried parsley or about 2x that fresh (wow - totally missed this, oops)

salt (about 2 or so tsp) and pepper to taste

heat olive oil in skillet, add onions and cook for a few minutes before adding beef. Brown beef and drain. Return the beef to the pan and cook about a minute with the minced garlic. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer for an hour, seasoning to taste (I was short on time so I did not simmer for an hour - 1/2 maybe, not sure it was even that long)

Assembly

Grease a large lasagna pan or baking dis. Layer half the pasta mixture, the entire meat mixture, the remaining pasta and then the cream. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup grated Kefalotyri and 1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used all of the cheese sprinkled on top - next time though I would leave off (actually leave out) the Parmesan, Romano seemed just fine - I didn't measure the bread crumbs either just lightly covered the whole top - I am sure I used more than 1/4)

Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes to stiffen / set then serve.

All in all this was a very forgiving recipe (as you can see from all my little comments / blunders)

I will definitely try this again - especially since hubby said that my father in law will have to have some =)

After dinner we relaxed out on the patio with Zekers to take advantage of our wonderful weather!

Then it was onto the one year old cake!

To our amazement it really wasn't bad! Not freezer burnt, dry, nothing - really tasted like a banana cake right out of the oven!

Zeke enjoyed it too =)

Happy 1 year anniversary!!!!!!

2008-06-04T19:39:00.000-04:00

June 2nd was our 1st anniversary and I must say it was wonderful! Sunday we went to The Melting Pot - it was fantastic! I have been dying to go an decided probably before we were even married that was were we would go for our one year! I was not disappointed!

We had The big night out - I must say that I was a bit surprised when they came to the table with a plate of raw food - not sure what I was expecting but I can tell you it wasn't that!

As you can see I forgot to take a picture when the food arrived but we certainly devoured it =)

I did however take a picture of the dessert - wow was that heavenly!

How can you go wrong with melted chocolate, crunchy peanut butter and then a plate of sweets to dip it in!?!?!? If you have never been I highly suggest it - the one in Lyndhurst is in Legacy Village which in itself is worth the trip. A very very neat little outdoor shopping area - neat stores and it really does look like a village.

Creamy Asparagus Pasta

2008-06-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

Here is one of the first "real" meals (I do not count frozen entrees as real meals) that I have made in our new house - with the tiny kitchen! Although I am surprised to say I am not hating the tiny elf kitchen as much as I thought I would!

I am really working on the pics, I seem to really suck at taking clear ones!

Ingredients:

8 oz whole-wheat penne pasta (I used regular penne since I didn't have any WW on hand)

1 bunch asparagus - trimmed

1 1/2 cup whole milk (I used skim b/c that is what we had, I think whole might have been better though )

4 tsp whole-grain mustard

4 tsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp evoo

3 garlic cloves; minced

2 tsp minced fresh tarragon or 1/2 tsp dried ( I didn't have any tarragon and neither did Giant Eagle so we went with thyme and rosemary instead)

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tsp lemon juice (I used juice from one lemon - but it needed more)

1/2 cup grates Parmesan cheese divided

Recipe directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Ad pasta and cook for 3 minutes less than the directions. Add asparagus and continue cooking until the pasta and asparagus are just tender, 3 minutes more. drain and return to the pot.

Meanwhile, whisk milk, mustard, flour, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over med-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring until fragrant and lightly browned, 30 seconds to one minute. Whisk in the milk mixture. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tarragon, lemon zest and juice.

Stir the sauce into the pasta-asparagus mixture. Cook over med-high heat, stirring until the sauce is thick and creamy coating the pasta, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Divide the pasta amount 4 bowl and top with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan.

Enjoy!

Now since I do not know how to read a recipe and didn't have tarragon I added 1/2 tsp of thyme and 1/4 tsp of rosemary - a tad much since I used dried -oops! I would say this was a decent meal. I would definitely add more lemon juice and add the correct amount of dried herbs. Fresh would of course be better! I think I would also like this with some grilled chicken tossed in but that that is just the carnivore in me coming out! Steve had no complaints and seemed to like it the way it was!

Calories (according to sparkrecipes) 212 calories per serving - of course will be more if you follow the directions and use whole milk

*tip - throw the asparagus into the boiling water with the rubber bands still around them, they will be easier to fish out and the rubber band will not taste the water at all - I promise! Cut into 3/4 inch pieces then throw into the pasta.

And now for your viewing pleasure: Pretty flower in the front of our new house! Love them!

Zekers enjoying his new digs!

Beer Braised Pork Chops

2007-10-08T13:15:00.000-04:00

Beer Braised Pork Chops (source: http://abeginnercook.blogspot.com/
Amy’s Cooking Creations)

Ingredients:
4 boneless chops 1/4" thick
2 Tbsp. Flour
1/2 Tbsp. Butter
1/2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1/2 C. chopped green onions (or regular)
2 garlic cloves, pressed (or minced)
8 oz. Mushrooms, sliced (fresh or canned)
1/2 tsp. Thyme
8 oz. Beer, room temp.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Flour chops. Melt butter and oil together in a skillet over med. high heat. Brown chops quickly on both sides. Remove and keep warm. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, and thyme and sauté an additional min. Return chops to skillet add beer and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 7 to 8 mins. Season with salt and pepper.

My thoughts - I wasn't really a fan. Maybe it is because my pork chops didn't brown enough so it seemed a bit soggy. Or maybe it is the beer I used was a little strong (I used Samual Adams Oktoberfest) not sure, but I just wasn't really a fan!

Football Party - lots of yummy goodies!

2007-09-10T10:43:00.000-04:00

My husband and I are huge Browns fans - feel sorry for us =) even we they stink (which is always) we still love them. So for the past two years we have had a kick off the season party. Although the Browns were a huge disappointment yesterday the party was a hit!

Our menu was:
Root beer BBQ pulled pork
buffalo chicken dip served with crackers
chili puffs
pepper cheese puffs
deviled eggs
chips and dip
sugar cookies
checker board cake

Everything turned out very yummy!! Here are the recipes

Root beer BBQ pulled Pork - sorry no picture of this one
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

Directions:
Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.
*modifications - I only used a 1.7# pork loin and still find that it takes a little more than 1 bottle to get it as BBQ-ey as I like
I cooked on high for 4 hours drained, shredded, stirred in BBQ sauce. Then just kept it in the crock pot all day on warm for the party and it stayed perfect.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

4 boiled chicken breasts, shredded
1 cup Franks Red Hot
1 cup Ranch Salad Dressing
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
16 oz Cream Cheese
Mix all ingredients, bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Serve with celery and tortilla chips.

Pepper Cheese Cocktail Puffs
(Source: Quick & Easy Appetizers - Best recipes)

2 pkg frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 egg
1 tbs water

1. preheat oven to 4oo. Grease baking sheets
2. roll out 1 sheet puff pastry dough on well floured surface to 14/10 inch rectangle. Spread 1/2 of dough (from 10 in side) with mustard. Sprinkle with cheese and pepper. Fold dough over filling; roll gently to seal edges.
3. cut lengthwise into 3 strips; cut each strip diagonally into 1 1/2 in pcs. Place on prepared baking sheets. Beat egg and water in small bowl; brush onto appetizers.
4. Bake appetizers 12 to 15 min or until puffed and deep golden brown. Remove from baking sheets to wire rack; cool.
Makes about 20 appetizers

*Modifications - I did not measure my mustard and pretty sure I used a lot more than 1tbs. i just spread so it looked like a nice layer.

These were very easy to make and Steve said they tasted like a cheeze-it

Chili Puffs
(Source: Quick & Easy Appetizers - Best recipes)

1 halved this recipe but I will write as it was originally written

1 pkg puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 can (15 oz) chili without beans
1/2 package (4 ounces, softened) - although I just realized that I didn't 1/2 this and they tasted good - so maybe if you make a full recipe you should use 8 oz?
1/2 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
sliced green onion or chopped red onion (optional) I didn't use

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. roll each sheet of puff pastry into an 18 x 9 inc rectangle on lightly floured surface. Cut rectangle onto 18 (3 inch) squares. Press dough into bottom of 36 mini (1 3/4 inch) muffin pan cups. Bake 10 min
3. combine chili and cream cheese in medium bowl until smooth. Fill each pastry shell with 2 tsp chili mixture, pressing down centers of pastry to fill. Top evenly with cheese.
4. bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges of pastry are golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes remove from pan and garnish with onion if desired.
Makes 36 puffs.

These were very good - better than I thought actually and they still tasted fine at room temperature.

Football Deviled eggs -

I must say that these turned out great - they were too cute! A bit of a pain in the butt to place the chives but worth it.

Prepare deviled eggs and then place chives to make them resemble a football. I found that if you used a toothpick and stuck it in the chive you could place them a bit easier. After I had them all placed I would lay the tooth pic length wise and press it down to make it all stay.

Super Sugar Cookies

COOKIES:
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Cream margarine and sugar well.
2. Add vanilla and eggs; combine well.
3. In separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt and flour. Add to wet ingredients slowly until thoroughly combined.
4. Cookie dough must be chilled until firm, or overnight.
5. Remove dough from fridge and roll out to a 1/4-inch thickness.
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
7. With cookie cutters or rim of drinking glass, cut out cookies.
8. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, depending on oven. Check often to prevent over cooking or burning. Cool on baking rack when done.
9. Meanwhile, prepare frosting

FROSTING

1 teaspoon real vanilla
1 stick real butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon cream or whole milk

10. Cream butter, milk and vanilla together.
11. Slowly add powdered sugar to butter until desired consistency. If you'd like, add liquid food coloring for festive cookies
**I added a little to make it a bit more milk spreadable
12. When cookies are cooled, slather this heavenly frosting. Decorate however your little heart desires!

Checker board cake - I am sad to say that I in no way made this cake from scratch- it was a boxed chocolate and white white cake mix (that I turned orange with the magic of food coloring) and even store bought frosting - I just had way to many other things to do to make the cake from scratch but it is too cute to not share. This is "supposed" to be a 3 layer checker board cake, but it turned into a 2 layer when the top cracked and slid off the top - oh well, it still tasted good and no one else knew the difference. Nice touch with the brown and orange in there too - my mother-in-law was very impressed =)

Bad pictures - but you get the point!!!!

Potato Soup

2007-09-10T10:27:00.001-04:00

I took Friday off to do some cleaning and get our fall decorations out to be all festive for our party on Sunday. After playing with fall decor all afternoon I had a craving for some soup so I decided to throw together some potato soup!
So that is what I did - I literally just threw in what I thought would be good and what I had since I was too lazy to go to the store and it turned out pretty darn good! Steve tried some after work and was impressed with my little concoction =)

Again this is somewhat approximate.

2 decent size red potatoes cleaned and cubed
1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
2 - 3 basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can full of chicken stock
3/4 cup shredded cheese - I used 1/2 cup Mexican blend and 1/4 cheddar - just b/c that is what I had
1/4 cup sour cream
bacon bits
pepper to taste

Melt butter in olive oil (helps to keep butter from burning) then add potatoes.
Let sweat for about 10 minutes then add garlic and allow to sweat about another 5 minutes. Add basil and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.
Add one can of cream of mushroom soup along with a can full of chicken stock (this is what I did but I think if I made it again I would do 1/2 can chicken broth and 1/2 water because it turned out a little salty)
Let simmer for 10 minutes
add cheese and bacon bits and simmer until melted
add sour cream right before taking it off the heat stir through and serve.

Bruschetta

2007-09-10T10:06:00.000-04:00

Since I was making a pretty simple dinner the other day (Peorogies and Kielbasa) I decided to make some bruschetta to go along with it.

I did not have recipe so this is all very approximate
3 beefsteak tomatoes - plum would be better, but this is what I had
6 leaves fresh basil chopped
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tsp olive oil + extra for the bread
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
garlic clove
1 french baguette or similar Italian bread sliced diagonal about 1/2 inch thick

parboil your tomatoes (drop into boiling water that has been removed from the heat - let sit for one minute remove)
peel off the skin and seed
I then put the tomatoes, basil, sun dried tomatoes in the the food processor and gave it a few whirls on chop.
mix in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

place slices of baguette on a cookie sheet and drizzle with EVOO bake to taste. Remove from oven and rub with garlic clove.
Put bruschetta on top and enjoy

Zucchini Chocolate chip muffins

2007-09-05T10:28:00.000-04:00

We had a birthday at lunch today so I thought it would be perfect time to use up the zucchini I had in the fridge. I doubled this recipe because I wanted a few for home plus to take a small house-warming gift to our new neighbors who happen to be my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. These are so yummy - very moist! Sorry the pictures of these are horrible!

I found this recipe on line some place (In the kitchen or something like that)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil (I use soy or canola)
1 egg
1 cup shredded zucchini (peeled)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. Line a 12-cup muffin pan (or two 6-cup pans) with muffin paper liners. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. In another bowl mix together sugars, oil, egg and shredded zucchini. Add this zucchini mix to the flour mixture. Combine until just blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick tester comes clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

modifications - For starters I doubled the recipe as noted above. I also omitted the walnuts and added vanilla (1/4 tsp - if only making one batch). I also wanted some sugar on top so I brushed on an egg wash and sprinkled with sugar. These also took a lot longer to bake than the recipe said - took mine just about 26 minutes.
Very very yummy!!!

Cheesey Biscuit Lasagna Pockets

2007-08-29T11:50:00.001-04:00

Cheesy Biscuit Lasagna Pockets

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 28 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp pepper
1 (12 oz) can Pillsbury Big Country Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp instant minced onion
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
Heat oven to 400°F
In large skillet, brown ground beef until thoroughly cooked; drain.
Stir in spaghetti sauce, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and pepper. Cover; simmer 10 minutes.
Separate dough into 10 biscuits; press or roll each biscuit to a 4 inch circle.
In small bowl, combine mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, parsley flakes, onion and basil; blend well.
Place about 2 tbsp cheese mixture on each circle.
Fold dough in half over filling; press edges with fork to seal.
Pour hot meat mixture into ungreased 13 x 9 inch pan or a 3 quart baking dish; arrange filled biscuits on top.
Sprinkle with parmesean cheese bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.
Source: Bakespace.com

*Additions - I added some red pepper flakes to the cheese mixture in the pockets and the sauce. When the biscuits were almost done I sprinkled with shredded mozzarella cheese.

This was very yummy and very easy to make! I think that the next time I make it I will brush the pockets with some melted butter and sprinkle with some garlic powder before I sprinkle with cheese, just to give it a little more flavor.

French Toast with Scrambled Eggs

2007-08-28T12:35:00.000-04:00

My hubby goes to Rochester, NY (we live in OH) every weekend during the summer for a drum and bugle corps that he is in. Well this past weekend he didn't go so I got to make breakfast for a change! We had French Toast w/ Scrambled Eggs - yummmmm!!!
I am not sure what I did so different to the eggs other than a few sprinkles of red pepper flake, but they turned out wonderful! I am a egg with ketchup person and I didn't even need the ketchup with these - or hot sauce!!!
The french toast turned out really good too (not going to list a recipe since it really isn't one) I just added some cinnamon and nutmeg to my egg mixture then dipped and cooked them on the electric griddle!

Chicken Ceasar Wraps w/ pasta salad

2007-08-28T12:17:00.001-04:00

For dinner last night I asked Steve what he wanted to eat so he picked Chicken Ceasar Wraps (which he asks for a lot) so that is what we had. To go with it I made some yummy pasta salad. I didn't use a recipe for either , just cooked up some chicken and tossed with ceasar dressing basically. For the pasta salad I went to the store and got some goodies off the olive bar to add with it - olives, fresh motz, and sun dried tomatoes. Then added some finely shredded Mexican cheese mix, halved cherry tomatoes. For the dressing I used an Italian dressing packet (prepared) and then added some roasted basil vinaigrette. Added some salt, fresh cracked pepper, and basil and tossed. When I served it I topped with some fresh Parmesan cheese. All in all it turned out to be a very yummy simple dinner!

Dinner at Applebee's

2007-08-23T12:59:00.000-04:00

Last night my hubby and I went to dinner at Applebee's, so I thought that I would give a little review.

For an appetizer we had the Tuscan Cheese dip - it is oh so cheesy and good! Could definitely taste the rosemary in it ( which I will admit is my all time favorite herb - love it!)

For dinner I had the Roasted Garlic & Asiago Chicken - sorry, I couldn't find a picture.
It was okay. I wouldn't order it again. Not sure why, but I just was not thrilled by it - maybe I had my hopes set too high, it sounded great! The flavors just didn't blend well for me.

For a side I had the loaded mashed potatoes they were very good - but how can you go wrong with potatoes smothered in bacon, cheese, and sour cream =)

Steve had the Shrimp & Parmesan sirloin that he liked very much. I am not a fan of shrimp (at all) and he gets his steak done too rare for me so I just took his word for it =)

Chicken Quesadilla

2007-08-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

We received a Quesadilla maker for a wedding gift and when I first got it I thought it was a little silly, but now that I have used it I love it!!! It is so easy to use! I didn't really use a recipe as I just sort of threw some stuff between 2 tortillas and closed the lid!

I will say that it tells you to only cook for 4 minutes or so - I found that it is better to do about 6 minutes ( I like mine a little crispy). Make sure you do not over fill - it gets messy when the cheese oozes out =)
I made ours with chicken, green chilies, a blend of mexican cheeses, and sour cream that I mixed with some Chipolte Chili powder (yum!) - lettuce, tomato, salasa, and more sour cream on the side.

I served this with Mexican rice - which I am embarrassed to say I used a box mix. =( I didn't have time to make my own - next time, I promise!

Easy OREO Truffles

2007-08-23T12:28:00.000-04:00

Prep Time: 30 min
Total Time: 1 hr 30 min
Makes: 3-1/2 doz. or 42 servings, one truffle each

1 pkg. (1 lb., 2 oz.) OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

CRUSH 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.

DIP balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.

REFRIGERATE until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

We were having a birthday celebrations so I thought that I would bring in Oreo Truffles I had been reading about on the What's Cooking board. They were very easy to make and ohh so yummy! I completely forgot about my reserved oreos for sprinkling, but they were good with out it! I followed the recipe exactly.

Recipe source: Kraftfoods.com

Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-08-23T12:18:00.000-04:00

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

4 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. Beat butter, sugars, eggs and extract in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Source: McCormick.com

I have been trying to master the chocolate chip cookie, this recipe was close, I would rate it a B probably. Turned out pretty soft and very vanilla-y; just something is off! I did find that my air cookie sheets are not good at producing cookies; however, my jelly-rool pan did marvalous! Should be the other way around right!

Chicken-Almond Stir-Fry

2007-08-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

(sorry, dark pictures - I am really trying to get better)

Chicken-Almond Stir-Fry

Prep: 6 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients
2 tbsp veg. or sesame oil
4 boneless skinelss chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 (2.25 oz) pkg sliced almonds
1 (16 oz) pkg frozen veggies - I used stir fry veggies
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce - I used low sodium
1/3 cup pinapple juice
Hot cooked rice

Directions
Pour oil around top of preheated wok (or extra large skillet), coating sides. Heat breifly at med-high. Add chicken and almonds; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add frozen veggies; cover and cook 4 minutes, stirring once.
Combine cornstarch and next 4 ingredients; add to wok. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture thickens. Serve over rice.
Yeilds: 4 servings

I seasoned the rice by adding ginger and fresh ground pepper - when it was just about done I added some soy sauce too.
I thought that it turned out good - made yummy leftovers too! Steve said it was good but apparently he doens't like almonds - oops, would have been nice to know that before I made dinner - oh well!

Source: Southern Living Our Best Easy Weeknight Favories

Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna

2007-08-23T10:54:00.000-04:00

(Please excuse the blury pics)

Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna - from allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 35 MinutesCook Time: 35 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 10 MinutesYields: 12 servings

INGREDIENTS:
12 lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 heads fresh broccoli, chopped
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 large onion, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 small zucchini, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (8 ounce) container small curd cottage cheese
24 ounces ricotta cheese
2 1/2 cups shredded
mozzarella cheese, divided

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot add broccoli, carrots, onions, bell peppers, zucchini and garlic. Saute for 7 minutes; set aside.
4. Place flour in a medium saucepan and gradually whisk in milk until well blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes, or until thick, stirring constantly. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in spinach. Reserve 1/2 cup spinach mixture. In a small bowl combine cottage and ricotta cheeses; stir well.
5. Spread about 1/2 cup of spinach mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer noodles, ricotta mixture, vegetables, spinach mixture and 2 cups mozzarella cheese, ending with noodles. Top with reserved spinach mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Cool for approximately 10 minutes before serving.

*modifications - I used the no-boil noodles, I didn't really mean to but bought them by mistake.

Other than that I followed the recipe pretty close - I did use a mix of cheese but that is just what I had!

All in all it turned out great! Way too much food for just Steve and I so I took the rest over to my parents house for my Dad and brother to enjoy!!

The sauce is super yummy! I think I would like to try it to top off a pizza too!!

First post (how exciting)

2007-08-23T10:23:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting to start a blog for a while, but just haven't got around to it - so today is the day. I have been saving pictures for a while now so I will be playing catchup for a few posts!