cake, cookies, and cupcakes

Hello my lovelies!

Guess what I did while I was off the past few days from work last week? I BAKED A LOT!!!! I didn't really wan to go outside considering it's really cold out. I figured that I should perfect baked goodies considering the holidays are coming up. And boy, were these a hit both at work, with family, aaaaand with friends.

*The Nutella Filled Cupcakes I got from another food blog on blogspot, Joelen's Culinary Adventures. I just didn't put the tiramisu frosting. Becca and I looooove Nutella!!!

Nutella Filled Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 box (18.25 oz) yellow butter cake mix
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 jar of Nutella (just try not to use the whole jar, teehee...)
  
• cupcake liners
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Put all ingredients in a large bowl.
   
3. Beat with an electric mixer (or in your stand mixer if you prefer) until moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat until think, 2 minutes longer.
4. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full. 
5. Add 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of Nutella to each muffin cup.
   Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted on the side (if you insert it in the middle you'll most likely get the Nutella) comes out clean. 
6. Remove the cupcakes from the baking pans, place on a wire rack to cool.
   

*I've been trying to find a really easy recipe for carrot cake that doesn't involve nuts and raisins and not too sweet. I found this recipe off of allrecipes.com. 

 

Brazilian Carrot Cake 

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb of carrots, peeled and sliced (I used a half a bag)
  
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (if desired)
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg (if desired)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place the carrots, eggs, and oil in a blender or a food processor. Process until carrots are finely chopped. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl. 
3. Stir in 2 cups sugar until well blended. 
4. Stir in the flour and baking powder; mix until well blended. 
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish. 
6. Bake about 40 minutes. 

*I made this on request of Becca. This cookie is quite delicious. It really does melt in your mouth :) If you want to make this festive, feel free to add a few drops of food coloring, or even use a cookie press too!

"Melts in your mouth" Shortbread

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees 
2. Whip butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Beat on low for one minute, then on high for 3 to 4 minutes. 
3. Drop cookies by spoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I made them extra small that way you can just pop one mini cookie in your mouth without it crumbling)
   
4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Watch that the edges don't brown too much. 
5. Cool on wire racks.

  
 Jammin Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Favored Jam or Jelly (I used 3 different flavors: seedless black raspberry, lemon curd, and black cherry)
  

Directions

1. Melt the butter or margarine over low heat.
2. Mix together the sugar, butter and the eggs. Beat well. Sift in the flour and the baking powder. Mix in the vanilla. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheets. 
3. Press in the center of cookie and fill 1/2 tsp of jam or jelly.
   
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown at 375 degrees 

Baked maccaroni and cheese with BACON!!!!

Hello my lovelies!

Now that the weather took a turn for the cold, my roomie Becca and I are more drawn towards comfort foods. One of which is baked macaroni and cheese. And then when you add bacon.....whew!!! That's  enough to keep us nice and toasty as well as full all week long. (Obviously you don't need bacon in order to enjoy the deliciousness of this meal.)

Baked Bacon Mac and Cheese

1/2 cup of butter

1/4 cup of flour

4 cups of milk

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

1 cup of grated colby cheese

1 cup of grated colby jack cheese

1 cup of muenster cheese

8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 pkg of mini or medium sized pasta shells or elbow macaroni (I like using Pipette pasta)

1 cup bread crumbs

1. Turn on oven to 375 degrees. 
   
2. Cook pasta as directed on pkg, drain, and put aside.
   
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan on simmer. 
4. Blend in flour.
5. Gradually whisk in the milk. Continue to stir consistently.
6. While stirring add salt, dry mustard, pepper, and worcestershire sauce.
   
7. Add half of all the cheeses (cheddar, colby, colby jack and muenster) into the sauce.
8. Setting aside 1/2 a cup of bacon, add crumbled bacon into cheese sauce. 
   
9. Add cooked pasta into cheese sauce. Mix well. Take off heat.
   
10. Turn the mixture into a 9x12 inch baking pan.
11. Sprinkle top with the rest of the cheese, bacon, and sprinkle bread crumbs evenly on top of the macaroni.
12. Place in the oven for 15 mins.  (if you want the cheese to be a little crispy, place under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly)
    
13. Remove from oven and let it cool for 10 mins.

Enjoy!

Vodka pasta sauce

I had guests over last night for an evening of catching up, wine tasting,  full body massages (thank you Paula!!!), and great food. Honestly tho, I just wanted people to come over and help me eat the food that's in the fridge so I can make more. While my friend Patrick had his turn at a massage, I took the time to test out a pasta sauce that's has a bit of vodka in it.

Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce

1/4 Cup Vodka

2 Cups Prepared Tomato Sauce (I used Prego)

1 Tbs Italian Seasonings

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

3 Tbs of Onion Powder (or use half an onion, finely chopped)

1 Tbs Olive Oil

Grated parmesan cheese

1 lb of pasta of choice, already cooked.

1. In a sauce pan, add tomato sauce, onion powder, Italian seasonings, olive oil, and vodka. Simmer for 5 mins. (If you're going to use the chopped onion, sautee with a little butter first.)
   
2. Slowly start adding cream while stirring. If you want a thicker sauce, add more cream, tsp at a time. (If you want to thicken w/o the added calories, use corn starch, tsp at a time.)
   
3. Turn heat off, then add cooked pasta. Stir gently.
4. Before serving pasta, sprinkle parmesan cheese.  

BON APPETIT!

*Picture will follow. I promise!

Fundraiser foods

Hey all!

Tomorrow I'm helping out at my roommate Becca's fundraiser, BOWLING FOR BECCA!!! It's to help Becca out with her medical bills due Colon Cancer. I was asked, and offered to make, a few things for the event. Here are some of the yummy goodies that I'm making that are quick, easy, and makes enough to feed an army.

Garlicious Vegetarian Hummus
5 unpeeled garlic cloves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup of vegetable broth
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt

* I acually tripled the measurements of the ingredients to make sure I had enough to feed an army. This can feed me and Becca alone!

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
   
2. Place unpeeled garlic cloves in the middle of a large square of aluminum foil. Drizzle cloves with 1 tablespoon of olive oil; wrap in foil. Roast in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool. When slightly cooled, squeeze roasted garlic out of peels.
3. Combine roasted garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, vegetable broth, lemon juice, cumin, salt, and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the work bowl of a food processor. Process until very creamy.

** If the hummus is too chunky for your liking, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of broth.

Peanut Butter Jelly Cookies

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cups of creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cups of buscuit baking mix
Sugar (for rolling dough balls)
1 jar of preferred jelly

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix sweetened condensed milk, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Add buscuit mix. Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
   
3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll into sugar. Place them onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper 2 inches apart.
   
4. Press thumb in center of each bll of dough making a shallow well. Fill with teaspoon of desired jelly
5. bake 6 to 8 minutes. Cool on cooling rack.

ENJOY!!!

molten lava cookies

This is for the type of person that lurrrrrve's the ever so popular molten lava cake. I baked several dozen of these last year for the holidays.

Molten lava cookies

1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1/3 cup of dark or semi-sweet chocolate chopped (just not so fine) *
powdered sugar **

* You can use the chips instead of the chopped up bar, but it might have a harder time melting and getting consistancy of "molten lava."

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add cocoa powder, eggs and vanilla; mix until combined.
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Gradually add to butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Using your thumb, press a thumbprint into the center; fill with a 4 dark or semi sweet chocolate chips and fold dough over to cover chocolate.
4. Place balls 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are firm and tops are soft. Remove cookies to a cooling rack.

* If you want to be extra fancy shmancy, sprinkle some powdered sugar on it. Then it looks like they came from a bakery :)

This cookie is awesome when it's warm! Heat up 2 or 3 (or 10) at a time in the microwave for 5 seconds.

(pictures will come later tonight or tomorrow!)

A little about myself.......

Heya!

I have this thing about food. I looooove to cook food as well as eating it. I've been wanting to start a food blog for a long time cuz I love to share the creations that I find and invent with friends and family. I usually find myself in a zone when I start cooking or baking. I find creating yummy things really is therapeutic. Maybe it has something to do with a feeling of nurturing and making something that people will love. I dunno. All I know is that I'm pretty good at it. It's always been a dream of mine to put together a cookbook. In fact, I'm kind of putting one together as a fundraising project. More details to come with that venture of course.

If anyone has read my other blog, then you know that I've been in this baking phase. I've been baking cookies, brownies, and lately cupcakes like crazy!!! Over the summer I had a thing for grilling cuz I never knew how (thank you Becca for helping me figure it out). I think next week I'll be wanting play around with deep frying or crock pot creations. Regardless, I do know that I'll be cooking up something tasty.

I'll make sure that I post everything from recipes, to pictures, to behind the scene events, and maybe a story behind the deliciousness. Maybe I'll even post some recipes that my inexperienced in the kitchen boyfriend has tried, or my awesomest roommate/best friend has had a taste for and has created herself. Either way, this blog has something for everyone.

I did want to post a recipe right now, but I don't have my camera with me, nor do I have the cable to connect to my cell phone so I can upload the food pics from there. No worries, lovelies. I'll make sure that I put up something really soon.

By the way, if there's a recipe that you want to try, but afraid to make it, let me know and I'll maybe work some magic. I'm all about experimenting with food.

As for now, let's eat!