Nutella Butter Cream

I had to make cupcakes the other day on sort of short notice with little time to do anything really fancy. I settled on the old go to - vanilla bean cupcakes and chocolate frosting - but decided to throw the chocolate icing a little twist.

I added nutella.

Is your mouth watering now?

There was enough of the stuff left over after piping it onto my cupcakes that I saved it in the fridge.  And, lucky for me, a little low blood sugar later and I was able to dive right into that frosting for a quick boost of glucose.

It tasted like fudge.  On ecstasy.

Absolutely divine I tell you.

Go ahead and make some for yourself today.  Just make a basic chocolate butter cream but add 1/2-3/4 nutella into the mix.

Super Fast and Fancy Treat

Oreo cookies.

I only like them two ways.

Dunked in milk or covered in chocolate.

I ate dinner with the family a couple weeks ago at Zupas and they were selling a box of 8 chocolate covered oreo cookies for $10.  That's more than a dollar an oreo.  Now, I'm sure they used more expensive chocolate than me but come on - $10?

I made these the other day for a couple of neighbor and teacher treats.  They are super yummy.  Half dipped in red vanilla flavored candy melts and the other half in milk chocolate.

Maybe if I decided to sell them, I could make a pretty penny.  I decided to eat them instead.

Mint Limeade

At the end of the summer we headed to Ogden for a football game and decided to spend the night and make a quick family getaway weekend out of it.  In the morning the family and I went to the farmers market and it was there that I encountered a hand made mint limeade.  It was made in a mason jar by this super cute hippy guy and I could have stood in front of his booth and drunk one all day long.

Since the beginning of September I've been trying to copy the recipe with little success.  However, over Thanksgiving weekend I found a recipe for a basic limeade and then I went to town creating my own.

Here's what you'll need to make 2 quarts of most refreshing drink around:

1 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup sugar (I used raw, pure cane sugar (that's why it's brown) but you could use whatever you'd like.)

6 cups water

10 mint leaves, bruised

crushed ice

Add the water, lime juice, and sugar to a pitcher.  Wash mint leaves and rough them up a bit in your hand or on a cutting board.  Add the mint leaves and mix everything together.  Put some crushed ice (the Ice Berg, Sonic, and Hires sell theirs) and add the mixture to the ice.

I promise you will drink the entire 2 quarts.

Cherry dump cake

In our family, we love us some good cherry dump cake.  It's one of the richest, yummiest things to eat and oh so easy to make.

Here's what you'll need for a 9x13 size pan:

2 cans cherry pie filling

2 teaspoon almond extract

1 yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter

Spray your 9x13 pan with a cooking spray.  Open the cans of cherry pie filling and add 1 teaspoon of almond extract to each can.  Dump both cans of cherry pie filling into the prepared pan.  Open the yellow cake mix and dump the mix on top of the cherry pie filling, covering it evenly.  Melt 1/2 cup butter and pour over the cake mix.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then check on the cake.  The top needs to be browned and a little crusty.  If it's not quite ready, bake in additional 5 minute increments until it's ready to eat. 

It's best served with a cold scoop of ice cream on top, but would also be great with some home made whipped cream.

Fast Orange Chicken

Panda Express sells it's orange chicken sauce at the grocery store.  I don't do much grocery shopping, my husband does, but a few weeks ago I ended u going to the store and happened across the aisle with the sauce and picked up a bottle.  Can I tell you, the sauce is heaven.

The other night I wasn't really sure what to fix for dinner.  I had chicken, a red pepper, some frozen green beans and some onions.  Voila!  Orange chicken in the making.  And if I do say so myself, it was delicious.

What you'll need:

Chicken

Cornstarch

Red pepper

Green beans

Onion, diced

Carrots, if you have them

Rice

Orange sauce

First, cut the chicken up into small chunks or strips.  Put the chicken in a zip lock bag and add a couple table spoons of cornstarch.  Shake the chicken in the cornstarch until it's completely coated and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

While the chicken is resting in the cornstarch, start prepping your veggies any shape or size you'd like.

Heat up a skillet (or a wok if you've got one) and add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  When the pan and oil are hot, gently add the chicken and let it cook on one side until it gets golden brown.  Flip the chicken and brown the other side.  When the chicken is finished, remove it from the pan, dump the excess oil and add the vegetables.  Cook the veggies to your liking.

Once the veggies are cooked, add the chicken and the orange sauce back into the pan and let it simmer for about 5 minutes so that the sauce really penetrates the chicken and the veggies.

Serve over rice with a little soy sauce on the side.

Stove top hot chocolate

I regularly crave hot chocolate in the winter time. Seriously. Like every day.

I like the real stuff. No powder and water mixed for me.

If you crave the H.C. like I do, here's a quicky that's sure to please.

You'll need:
milk (1 cup per person)
chocolate (nestle quick works, or Hershey's syrup, or if you were really indulgent, actual chocolate)
1-2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
vanilla ice cream (1 and 1/2 scoops per person), or whipped cream, or marshmallows.

Put a pan on the stove. Add your milk, chocolate, sugar and vanilla. Keep on the stove top until it's at the perfect temperature for you. Pour into cups. Add ice cream scoops on top.

Enjoy!

Fast and easy puff pastry dessert

Though I love to eat stuff that is decadent and insanely caloric, sometimes a treat that is a little bit lighter is in order.  That's where this puff pastry treat comes in.

Here's what you'll need:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
nutella
egg wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp water)

First, thaw out the puff pastry sheets and cut each sheet into 6 equal rectangles.  On each square, add about a tablespoon of nutella.



Next, wet the edges of each square of pastry, fold it over and press the edges together with a fork.  Once ever rectangle has been folded and pressed and placed on a cookie sheet, pierce each piece a couple of times with a fork and brush on your egg wash.



Place in a 400 degree oven for about 16 minutes (start watching them at 10 minutes just incase your oven is a bit hotter than mine). Once golden brown on the top, take them out of the oven, dust with powdered sugar and eat.



I of course chose to fill my pastry with nutella, but I'm sure you could substitute a little bit of chocolate heaven for something else - jam, fruit, even something savory might be fun to try.

Seasoned Oyster Crackers

Back story: Right after Ross and I got married, we lived in student housing at the University of Utah while he finished his MBA. We were in a regular ward that met in the awesome little chapel just across from presidents circle up by the "U" and were called to be on the activities committee with this awesome lady named Marilyn. She was cool. She called the refrigerator the "re-fridge". It cracked me up all the time - not sure why but it was funny.

One of the activities we helped to plan was the annual chili cook-off. It was a big deal in this ward. I don't care for chili, but Marilyn brought seasoned oyster crackers. I was completely addicted to them. She brought gallons of them for the cook-off and I asked ever so kindly if I could take all the left-overs home. She said of course and I was in cracker heaven for a good week after the party.

 I totally forgot about the crackers until a week or so ago and then headed out to find a recipe. The following, from epicurious came pretty close so I tested it out and...voila!

Marilyn's crackers.

I've nearly devoured the entire bag.  I just can't stop.

Give them a try and you will wow yourself and everyone else who gives them a whirl.  Mix the ingredients up, and shake the mixture with the crackers.  Let the crackers dry on some paper towels for about 30 minutes and then put them in a clean air tight container.  The longer they sit, the better they taste.  They're good for a week, but they won't last that long.

3/4 cup vegetable oil

a 1-ounce package powdered ranch salad dressing mix

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

an 11-ounce package oyster crackers (about 6 cups)

Home made root beer

In my family, no summer party (or eagle scout court of honor for that matter) is complete without home made root beer. No matter your feelings on root beer (personally, I'm not a fan of the canned and fountain stuff) you'll love the sugary sweetness of root beer brewed in your own backyard.

Here's what you'll need.
1 bottle root beer extract (Harmon's sells Hires brand...it's the best)
5 gallons of water (in a five gallon container with a spout)
5 pounds of sugar
10 pounds dry ice

Mix the sugar, the water, and the extract together. Break the dry ice up on the ground and start adding big chunks. When it starts to bubble over the lid - stop adding ice and let the stuff do it's thing. When the bubbles slow down, add another batch of dry ice. You'll end up using almost every smidge of the dry ice. If you're by a swimming pool, throw the left over ice into the pool, it will drive the kids crazy.

Continually sample your root beer concoction to make sure that it's brewing nicely.

And, if you have some left over, send it home with your party guests or make Popsicles. Home made root beer Popsicles and the best in the whole world.

Moon Cake

MOON CAKE - (Best Eclaire Dessert, and easy, too!)

1 1/4 C. Water

1/2 C. + 2 T. Butter

1 1/4 C. Flour

5 eggs

Bring water and butter to a boil; take from stove, add flour and stir with a whisk til smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Spread on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool.

2, 8 oz. Cream Cheese

2 Lg Instant Vanilla pudding

5 1/2 C. Milk

Mix 1/2 at a time in the blender. (I usually put the cream cheese in the microwave for 30 sec. to soften--my friend has broken 2 blenders making this dessert!) Cream cheese is lumpy if not combined in blender. Combine all in a large mixing bowl. Spread over crust. Cover with Cool Whip and drizzle with Hershey's chocolate syrup. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

Corn Salsa

One of my most favorite things to eat is a Barbacoa Fajita Burrito from Chipotle. I'm a total wimp when it comes to bringing on the heat, but I honestly cannot get enough of the corn salsa (the medium salsa) that they will put on my burrito.

After some investigating, I found a couple knock-offs and just did my best to combine what I liked. The grown-ups in our house devoured the stuff.

"Chipotle" Corn Salsa
12-14 oz. cooked corn (I used frozen but cannot wait until the end of July when real corn is in season and I'll roast it first)
1 small red onion
2 jalapenos (no seeds or veins for mild, add veins and seeds for heat)
2 small vine ripe tomatoes (you could probably do without these if you wanted)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Juice from 2 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop, mix, chill for a couple of hours.

Eat it all in about 10 minutes.

Spaghetti to make an army feel full

It's my mom's recipe, but it's a keeper.  It's so good that my father-in-law requested it for his Father's Day dinner.  If I were able to make dinner requests, spaghetti is probably the last thing I'd ask for (give me some braised meat and perfect potatoes), but it was yummy.

Judy's Spaghetti (serves 4-6 adults and 2 kids)
1 pound hamburger
1 pound pork sausage
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh crushed garlic
2 jars pasta sauce of your choice (or sauce from scratch if you've got it)

pasta of choice


1.  Start boiling water for your pasta.
2.  Put a large skillet on high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
3.  Add garlic to heated oil and then quickly add hamburger and pork sausage before the garlic starts to burn.
4.  Brown the meat.  Add sugar and balsamic vinegar.  cook the meat until all the moisture is cooked out.
5.  Add your pasta sauce.  Mix together and let simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, as long as it takes for your pasta to boil.
6.  Cook your pasta.

Eat and enjoy.
Serve with garlic bread and Caesar salad.

A little bit of baking

May was a big month for baking in our house. Here are a few of the tasty treats.

First up, pink lemonade cupcakes for a friends, daughters birthday. After a lot of tasty experiments, I ended up using a white cake mix, doctored up with my secret doctoring concoction, with an additional ingredient of almost an entire can of pink lemonade concentrate into the batter.

And the frosting, a basic butter cream with about 1/3 cup of thawed pink lemonade for extra pucker.

For my mother-in-law's birthday I went with a chocolate caramel cake. The trick to making this one absolutely delish....almost 24 hours in the refrigerator. There is just something about a chilled cake that makes it so much more dense and wonderful. Try it next time, you'll be absolutely amazed.

Next up, the husband's birthday. For this we went with a rich vanilla cake and milk chocolate frosting. Holy cow it was yummy.

The most fabulous creation was next, for my birthday. I wish that I would have taken a picture of the inside of this cake, it was gorgeous. I wanted a cake that tasted like a chocolate malt so that's just what I fixed. I started with a yellow cake mix and added about 4 tablespoons of malt powder. Then I divided the mix evenly and added about 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder to one half, making it chocolate. I cold have added some melted chocolate chips, too but I didn't think about that until later.

So, the cake was a decadent chocolate malt marble cake. And such a cake wouldn't be complete with out chocolate malted frosting as well. This was an absolute bomb of a cake and may have been the tastiest thing I've ever made or eaten. And, I made it really small, a 6" round which was perfect because once my guests and I were served, there wasn't anything left. This was not something that my waistline needed a second helping of, even though after several glasses of milk, my taste buds were craving more.

And finally, the baking ended this past weekend. My brother earned his Eagle Scout award and my mother commissioned me for 100 Eagle Scout cupcakes to serve as refreshments. I found an eagle scout candy mold and made the little cakes as patriotic as I could muster. They were vanilla with chocolate frosting, milk chocolate with chocolate frosting and chocolate chocolate chip with vanilla bean frosting.

Phew!

I gained 5 pounds just writing this post. If you want more details on cakes and recipes, just send me an e-mail.

Milk Chocolate Frosting

There are a lot of good recipes out there for homemade chocolate frosting. I've definitely taken the best the web has to offer and modified it to my own recipe. Not only is this good on cake, I'm sure it would be good on cookies and I know it's especially tasty when pretzels are dipped into it.

Milk Chocolate Icing:
2 sticks softened butter
4 tablespoons good cocoa
1 and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted in the microwave and cooled a bit
4 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons of milk

Mix the butter and the cocoa until you have cocoa butter. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk. Mix well. Add more sugar and milk. Add melted chocolate chips. Add more sugar or milk until you get the consistency you're looking for because it's frosting....not exact science.

This is enough to frost about 28 cupcakes or a decent 9" cake.

It also looks pretty pipped like little stars on a cake.

Homemade croutons

I love bread. I love croutons. I love olive oil and garlic and balsamic vinegar. It's only natural then that every once in a while I get on a crusty crouton kick and go a little crazy.

Any sort of day old bread (or fresh for that matter, but a little stale is better) will work, but definitely do not use your run of the mill loaf of bread from the grocery store. You need something more airy and rustic, like ciabatta, focaccia or a good loaf of skinny french bread.

Cut the bread into thin strips without squishing it. You'll need a good knife. Place strips on a parchment lined cookie sheet and preheat your oven to about 325 degrees.

While the oven is heating in a small bowl mix olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Coat each sliced piece of bread, on both sides with the mixture (if you don't have a kitchen brush, you could use a new paintbrush or maybe even just a spoon). Once it's ready to go you can add a little extra salt or even some balsamic vinegar to taste.

Put the bread in the oven for 5 minutes and watch it. After 5 minutes check to see if the bread is getting golden and crusty and then just watch it every additional two minutes or so until it's looking like you want it.

Pull out of the oven and let cool. As the bread cools, it will get even more crusty.

These are great to eat alone with an ice cold diet coke for lunch or you can actually put them on a salad.

Or load them up with some bruschetta and enjoy a nice appetizer.

Meat and Potatoes

In our family, we grew up on starchy staples and meat for every meal. Though I cook very differently than my mother, I still enjoy such a meal every once in a while. Okay, every day.

Not really.

When I was a kid my mom fixed, "cracker meat". It was cube steak heavily breaded in Ritz crackers. It was a crumbly buttery mess of flavor. My version is a bit lighter but just as tasty.

Here's what you'll need:
Cube steak (1 per person)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
bread crumbs, home made or store bought
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions:
place the eggs in one shallow bowl and the bread crumbs in another. beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are combined. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. Coat each piece of meat in the egg and then press it into the bread crumbs, coating both sides.

In a frying pan (or an electric skillet) heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil until it sparks when you sprinkle some water over it. Add the meat to the hot oil and cook each side for 5-8 minutes depending on the heat and how crispy you want the outside.

Serve with green beans, potatoes, salad, or grilled asparagus.

Nuts for Thai Food

I have been making this for years. I love the flavor of these, so yummy. They kind of look nasty, but are really quite good.

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups diced carrot
1 1/2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced snow peas
One 14-ounce package extra firm tofu, drained completely and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup peanut sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Flour tortillas
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Optional: Chow Mein Noodles, Seasame Seeds, peanuts, sliced almonds. Any crunchy thing you want (I love crunchy things in my food)

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, snow peas, and 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and cook until vegetables are tender but still crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer vegetables to a medium bowl.

Wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel and return the skillet to the stove. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Cook until tofu is heated through, about 5 minutes. Turn to cook all sides evenly. Add the vegetables to the skillet and gently stir to mix. Gently fold in the peanut sauce and cilantro. Divide the mixture among the tortillas, top with optional crunchy thing. Wrap like a burrito and enjoy.

Mushroom and Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

This recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine.

Sauteed mushrooms, cooked black beans, and store-bought salsa are layered with tortillas in a baking dish to create this Tex-Mex-inspired casserole, perfect for any weeknight meal. Top with Monterey Jack cheese and bake until melted and bubbling.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Serves 4

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound cremini or button mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 cups reserved cooked black beans from Spicy Black-Bean Soup, or 1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
8 tortillas, warmed and halved
2 cups salsa
1 1/4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 ounces)
Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until browned, 7 minutes. Add garlic and cayenne; season with salt and pepper. Add black beans and stir to combine. Cook until beans are warmed through, 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Arrange 5 tortilla halves in a 2-quart baking dish. Top with half the bean mixture and 1/2 cup salsa, then sprinkle with one-third the cheese. Repeat with another layer of tortilla halves, bean mixture, salsa, and cheese. Top with remaining tortilla halves, salsa, and cheese. Cover with foil and bake until center is hot and cheese melts, 10 minutes. Uncover and bake until cheese is bubbling, 5 minutes.

Spring Vegetable Pizzas

This recipe is courtesy of Everyday Food Magazine.

These pizzas would also be delicious with shredded leftover chicken. Or, if you like, top them with thinly sliced prosciutto right after they come out of the oven.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Serves 4

1 jar (12 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained well, reserving marinade, hearts quartered if whole
1 large bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, and halved lengthwise if thick
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen and divided in half
Coarse salt and ground pepper
7 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (3 cups)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, combine artichoke hearts, asparagus, and tomatoes. On a large piece of parchment paper, brush 1 dough half with artichoke-heart marinade and roll out to a 14-inch-long oval. Transfer dough on parchment to a rimmed baking sheet and top with half the vegetables, leaving a 1-inch border. Brush border with marinade and season pizza with salt and pepper. Repeat to make second pizza. Bake pizzas 10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Sprinkle pizzas with cheese and bake until crust is deep golden and cheese is melted, 3 to 5 minutes.

Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad

I got this recipe from SkinnyTaste.com.

I added a bit of Arizona Dreaming, one of my favorite current spices. We put in on everything from popcorn to eggs. It is so good. Kind of limey, chocolatey, spicey and wonderful. If you want to have some let me know, so you don't have to buy any.

We also put this on tortillas which helps it be less healthy. But it was so refreshing and good.

Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 7/8 cup • Old Points: 4 pt • Points+: 5 pt
Calories: 210.4 • Fat: 9.2 g • Protein: 25.1 g • Carb: 7.8 g • Fiber: 3.6 g • Sugar: 0.6
Sodium without salt: 260.8 mg

1 lb jumbo cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined, chopped*
1 medium tomato, diced
1 hass avocado, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, diced fine
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 limes, juice of
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and fresh pepper to taste

In a small bowl combine red onion, lime juice, olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper. Let them marinate at least 5 minutes to mellow the flavor of the onion.

In a large bowl combine chopped shrimp, avocado, tomato, jalapeño. Combine all the ingredients together, add cilantro and gently toss. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 3 1/2 cups.