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!