CAKE POPS

Cake pops seem to be the newest, cutest thing to happen to baking these days. Actually, they aren’t new at all, but have gained popularity ever since the publishing of “Cake Pops” by Bakerella,  and when Starbucks added them to their new line of baked goods under 2 bucks! ( I tried the tiramisu flavor– to DIE for!)

Immediately intrigued, I had to try it out for myself. I made a bouquets of pops for a few of my friends and they couldn't stop thanking me for what an unexpectedly delicious treat! Even if you aren't a terrific baker you can gain instant popularity with these heavenly treats.

* 1 box of cake mix (and ingredients box calls for)

* 1/3 of frosting

* Meltables chocolates– try finding colored kinds at your local craft store or at wilton.com

* Sucker sticks

Directions: 

Bake cake mix and crumble after taking it out of the oven, let cool in the fridge for an hour, mix in  frosting evenly, 

 

next roll balls with hands and set on place

melt chocolate carefully so not to burn it (using a double burner or microwave and stir frequently)

dip sticks in chocolate  and then into cake balls, let set for a minute

dip cake pops in chocolate and immediately refrigerate to set.

Pasta Florentine

This is my absolute favorite pasta recipe it can be as fancy or simple as you would like it to be!

 >Cook your favorite pasta and drain- penne, angel hair pasta or linguine work great.

>While pasta is cooking put  a pan on med-low hear sautee mushrooms and after a few minutes add spinach until vegetables have cooked down and are soft. You can use as much or little amounts as you would like depending on the quantity you want to cook.

*Optional: 1 tablespoon of white wine before adding Alfredo sauce- its delicious!

>Once vegetables are cooked add in Alfredo sauce, probably just one cup if you are making 1-2 servings.

>After sauce is warmed up add in cooked pasta to get everything mixed together
then serve! What a simple but fabulous meal!

Vegetable Quiche

I have been super busy with finals starting this week so I figured why not create a delicious meal that could be eaten at all times of the day when I'm short on time. This veggie Quiche was not only simple to make but I was able to make two with the recipe and it lasted me quite a while!

Ingredients:
two pre-made pie crusts
1 bag of fresh spinach leaves
1/2 a white onion, chopped
a few pieces of broccoli  
4-5 Eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk or half & half
a block of mozzarella (or a bag of pre-shredded)
Salt and Pepper

>Preheat oven to 375, and bake pie crusts for ten minutes before filling. *this might depend on the crust so make sure to check the wrapper as well
>Heat a pan on your stove top with a little bit of oil to cook the vegetables before filling the pie crust. start with your onions, then the broccoli then spinach. They all cool at different rates. and, of course any vegetables could be used for this recipe so get creative!
> once the pie crusts have baked for 10 minutes remove from oven and cover the bottom of the crust with shredded mozzarella cheese
>fill crust with veggies almost full
> Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl and pour over veggies to the top. Layer the top with shredded mozzarella cheese
> place pie crusts back in the over for 40 more minutes

>use a knife to check the center of the Quiche to ensure the eggs have completely cooked, also the cheese on top should be golden brown then you will know it is done!

Eggplant Parmeasan

If you are looking for a great meal to share amongst several people you have come to the right place :) I am used to cooking for one, but the other day me and my friend Megan made a delicious Eggplant Parm dinner for our friends, and by no doubt was everyone pleased and of course, stuffed!

We used a recipe directly so here it is Delicious Eggplant Parm. Every, step worked perfectly, you may want to make sure u have some extra eggs and breadcrumbs we went through a lot!

 To the right are the breaded eggplant slices after being baked for 30 minutes before preparing the dish with the sauce and fillling

Even if it looks like bread crumbs are falling off don;t worry! I thought it might be a problem but they were still evenly breaded and delicious !

What I really love about this recipe is that nothing is fried. Baking eggplant brings out the flavor much more, it isn't saturated and weighed down with oil.




With our eggplant parmeasan we have sides of salad and bruchetta bread. I have made bruchetta a few times so I sorta winged it this day but you will need these key ingredients
*Baguette slices
*3-4 medium tomatoes
*Balsamic Vinegar
*Olive Oil
*fresh basil leaves (5-6 large ones)
*minced garlic
*Parmesan cheese


Steps:
Cut tomatoes, you might want to make them as small as possible, these snacks are bite sized so the smaller the better
Mix tomatoes in a bowl with about two tablespoons of olive oil and  1/2 teaspoon of vinegar
Add 1-2 minced cloves of garlic
chop fresh basil , add
You may want to add a sprinkle of salt and pepper as well.

Bake bruchetta bread at 375 for about 15 minutes, you can keep them in the oven with the.Eggplant while it is finishing up!

Enjoy :)

Cocoa-Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes

Easter is only a few days away now and my brother and I decided to make some special holiday cupcakes for our family. I altered a recipe from my "Scrumptious Cupcakes" cookbook...heres what I made...

Chocolate Cupcakes: I cut a corner and used a box mix since my brother is only 13 and he was helping a lot, it made it a lot easier. Once your cupcakes are cool you will want to start the frosting

Cocoa-coconut Buttercream Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1 stick of butter ( 8 tablespoons)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened coconut

(I added a little more milk than this but it was super runny so stick with the recipe as is)

1. Start  with butter at room temperature can me mixed with handheld mixer
2. Add in powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and cocoa powder
3. Once frosting is smooth, mix in coconut, fill piping bag and decorate cupcakes, try to make look like a nest

Decorate with malted milk ball Easter eggs :)

GOOD Friday Fish and Chips

Get ready because your favorite fish dinner of the year is just a day away! 

Tomorrow is going to be an extra Good Friday with this delicious meal.

One thing I miss about living away at school is being able to enjoy Friday fish Fry's with my family. Since I cook practically every meal I eat I wanted to take a shot at a fish dinner but I did cut a few corners here although it was equally as good!

Fish: Pre-breaded fish fillet from Wegman's ready to cook section ( Mine was breaded Cod)

Just bake for 11-13 minutes at 450, you might want to add a little lemon juice once it is done!

Fries: These are thick cut potato wedges I made from Russet Potatoes
1.Cut potatoes into 4th or 6ths... after cutting in half, lay flat side on cutting board for safely cutting other wedges
2. Lay wedges on baking sheet, run a little canola oil over them and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder(Lightly on this one!), if oil is uneven you can spread it around with your fingers a little.
3. Once oven is preheated to 450, these fries will just need 25-30 minutes
4. Make sure you flip or move around with spatula half way through, and one or two more times before they are done for an even golden brown color and crispy taste.

Macaroni Salad

Start a pot of covered water and bring to a boil

2. Add elbow macaroni (1/2 box)

4. In a smaller sauce pan fill half way with cold water, and two eggs, keep on stove top until boiling and then remove from heat, covered for 15 minutes for hard boiled eggs

3. While macaroni is boiling finely chop up 2 stalks of celery and a handful of baby carrots

4. Macaroni will be done within 10 minutes, remove and drain in a colander. Run cold water over macaroni for a few minutes to bring down the temperature, next add into the bowl with carrots and celery

5. When eggs are done, also finely chop and add to macaroni and veggies, these too might want to be ran under cold water for a few minutes

6. With all ingredients in your bowl add a dash of both salt and pepper and about 2 large spoonfuls of mayo, or as desired, mix, and set, covered, in fridge to cool.

* When cooking for one you will see that you will have lots of macaroni salad! Great for snacking, with sandwiches, or to share with roomates :)

Coleslaw: I don't eat a lot of coleslaw so if you want to make this meal quick and easy just buy some from the deli section at your grocery store :)




Enjoy! It pairs great with a light beer like Harpoon UFO White,

today I drank it with Troges Nugget Nectar which was  also delicious but...


a nice wheaty beer like the UFO has a perfect fresh crispy taste with the fish.

Happy early Easter! Keep posted we have some really cute Easter cupcakes coming up!

What I have been up to...

Hello Everyone! I know its been a while since I posted regularly.. some of the things I didn't get posted before are the Cranberry Muffins, Tortellini soup and Chimichangas, Check it out!

For the past few days I haven't been cooking much I just finished celebrating my 21st Birthday yesterday but I just had to share this....my friend made these delicious homemade cupcakes for me, the frosting was the best I have ever had... now we are going to have to get her a blog to find out her tricks!

Chimichangas

These is nothing I love more than Mexican cooking- and I definitely wear myself out with tacos sometimes so I decided to try making Chimichangas. These don't require very specific measurements- in fact you can add just about anything to it- (or even take away too..)

 Ingredients: ( I made 2 with this)
 Ground beef (about 1/3 pound or so)
Spoonful of re-fried beans
3 chopped green onions, save some chives for garnish
3-4 tablespoons of salsa
2 (larger) tortillas
Mexican shredded cheese ( didn't measure because I love it so much- but any amount works)

Looks weird, but its good!

-Warm up ground beef in a fry pan until brown- if you would like to add spices of your choice now is a good time, I added a teaspoon of taco seasoning.
-Add the green onion and let it soften for a minute
-Now you can add your salsa, re-fried beans and cheese, stir and let everything melt together.
-While doing this heat up another fry pan witha thin layer of oil.
*for a healthier- but less yummy option- you can preheat your oven and bake chimichangas for 5 minutes

When your beef mix is ready scoop into a tortilla, and fold like a wrap.

You wont want to fill it so much that it leaks, sometimes its better to just have two smaller ones.

Place chimichangas in new fry pan with oil and let them fry untill they are golden brown

*If you want to bake them, you can cover the tops with cheese for a little more flavor. These pictures show the baked kind

Es Comida muy perfecto ;)

Cranberry Muffins

Hello everyone! These cranberry muffins were the first baking I ever made from scratch- needless to say they are super easy but still delicious, and each time I make them they get even better. This past time I made them was my best batch yet- my roommate and I ate 1 1/2 dozen in just 3 days.... well, you only live once!

 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

To a a medium bowl add...

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 egg

a pinch of salt

-I used to mix this by hand before i got a handheld mixer and i cant tell you what an amazing difference the mixer makes... I absolutely recommend it. Just mix to get out all the lumps.

-After the batter is ready fold in frozen( but thawed- takes about a half hour) Cranberries.

-You will only need one cup of cranberries

-pour mix into paper cups on a muffin tin. You can fill 3/4 to almost full.

- 20-25 minutes in the oven should be just perfect...

I love to have them with a bit of warm butter in the center. These are great at any time of the day- not just breakfast. ENJOY!

Easy Chicken Tortellini Soup

Hey everyone This is my shortcut version of chicken tortellini soup. If anyone has a suggestion help me out! The recipe is pretty basic but I really was just playing around in the kitchen and it turned out pretty good.

1 Chicken Cutlet- cooked and shredded apart
2-3 stalked of celerby diced
handfull of baby carrots diced
1 box of Swansons chicken broth
2 cups of fresh tortellini
a few chopped leaves of baby spinach
dash of pepper
dash of salt
Parmesan Cheese ( to add to your likening)


Start out with your chicken broth in a pot, let it heat while you are chopping carrots, celery and chicken

Add these ingredients and reduce to medium low but keep an eye on things, you want the vegtables to soften and for the ingredients to absorb all the flavors.

At this point you can add your salt and pepper

Check your veggies, once they are softer, and this may take a few minutes, then you can add in the tortellini

Tortelini is really quick to cook, once they are at the surface give it about 3-5 minutes, you wont want them over done or they might fall apart

Serve soup with Parmesean cheese and sprinkled spinach.

Enjoy!

Spinach Balls

Spinach Balls are my favorite appetizer for holiday dinners. So, whose to say I can't have them all year round? These are soo easy to make and really easy to reheat for an afternoon (or late night) snack!

You will need:
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 eggs
a few tablespoons of chopped onions- if desired
one clove minced garlic
1/2 cup of butter
about a cup of  Parmesan cheese- you can add more or less how you would like
1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs- like with cheese, you can add more

Spinach Balls before baking

-Preset oven to 350 degrees
-Begin roughly chopping spinach (you can also use a package of frozen spinach but I like using the fresh kind, if you use frozen spinach you must make sure all water has been drained from the thawed spinach.)
-throw spinach in a mixing bowl and you can add all ingredients at once. (Before adding the egg u might want to whisk it a little)
- once mixture is holding together you can roll pieces in between your palms like if it were a meatball
-bake spinach balls for 20-25 minutes, they should be a little browned on the top.

Enjoy :)

Fried cheese balls

It's been a pretty lazy weekend for me- with a freshly sprained ankle I haven't made it out of the house so I have been making do with what I have in the fridge and treating myself to some not so healthy snacks!

These cheesy balls of goodness were practially the main dish of my dinner- I just couldn't get enough! And they only require a few steps so I didn't have to move to much while cooking which was perfect today.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of ricotta

1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella

2 eggs

and a bunch of flour and panko crumbs for rolling and breading

plus-any favorite dipping sauce- I used a marinara



Before Frying

 -First, mix the two cheeses in a bowl and roll them into the size of a ping pong ball...I noticed that the smaller the size the easier they were to handle while frying.
-I rolled all the balls first and set them aside, then began the breading process.
-Its just like when making chicken parm or what not- roll them in the flour, dunk into the eggs (which should be whisked and in a bowl) and then roll the ball into the Panko crumbs and set aside while you bread each other balls.

Heat up a sauce pan with an inch or so of oil- let it warm up first as you would when frying anything else, and keep ball in oil for only about a minute. They will quickly become golden brown to perfection.

I made a lot so I froze most of them for now- I will get back to everyone on how well they do going from freezer to fry pan soon!

Enjoy- this was seriously my favorite thing I ate all week! YUMMM

Garlic Parmesan Croutons

Homemade croutons are so easy its a wonder why not many people make them!
Earlier this week I bought an Italian loaf at the grocery store and didn't finish before it started to get a little stale.

When using bread for croutons you don't want it to be too old but a few days old is good to work with.
Just roughly chop into bit size pieces and lay into a fry pain with a light covering of oil.
They take about fifteen min and don't need a whole lot of attention- they are seriously SO EASY and sooo worth it.
Just flip them over every once and a while int he pan to evenly brown all the sides.
Leave them in for as long as you would like depending on how hard you want them to turn out.

Afterwards when they are still a little wet from the oil, dunk them in a bowl of mostly Parmesan, with a dash of garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Its so simple but makes the most basic lunches a little bit more special!



Croutons on a side salad with a BLT- what a simple yet delicious lunch!



Chicken Avocado Quesadilla

Hello Everyone! I'm back in the kitchen and ready to share some new recipes! Last night I made these quesadillas and was really impressed with the taste-- and how easy they were!

Ingredients (for one):

2-3 Chicken cutlets

1 tortilla

3-4 green onions, sliced

a hand full of shredded Mexican (or mild cheddar) cheese

2 strips of bacon

half an avocado, sliced

I also made a side of of guacamole. There are several variations but I usually make mine with about 1/2 an avocado, 1-2 tablespoons of diced red onion, a dash of both salt and pepper, and fresh cilantro. I blend these ingredients (In my small kitchen I use a magic bullet- it really lives up to the infomercials lol). After, stir in chopped tomatoes and perhaps chopped chillies as well.

I make guacamole all of the time, and cilantro doesn't always last as long as I would like, so I invested in cilantro paste, it may look weird but once blended into the other ingredients tastes exactly the same, its a great way to save in a college kitchen.

First cook your bacon in a fry pan then set aside on paper towels to soak up oil

I used the same pan to cook my chicken (marinate how ever you like- I used roasted red pepper dressing)

When the chicken is almost done, cut into bit sized pieces and return to the pan, adding the green onions to soften up and take in the flavor.

In a larger fry pan I had heated up a light layer of oil on med-low heat and dropped in my tortilla

After a few min you can add your chicken, bacon, cheese, green onions and avocado to the tortilla and fold.

Flip a few times to get a golden brown coloring on both sides

With  sides of guac, salsa, and sour cream my quesadilla was MUY BUENO!