Santa Cupcakes

I think the funnest thing to make!! They turned out even cuter than I hoped. The head is a mini-cupcake turned on it's side and then stuck on top of a regular sized cupcake (secured by a toothpick). The hat and beard are gum drops rolled out flat and cut to shape. The nose is a red hot. The eyes are mini chocolate chips. The fluff on the hat and the rosy cheeks are piped icing. The green mittens are green gumdrops and the red body is red icing rolled in red sugar sprinkles. Anyway, just a lot of fun!!

HO HO HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I also made these mini-cupcakes that turned out really cute too.

The whole santa lineup, ready for some Christmas action.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin and more Cookies

These turned out so yummy. I found the original recipe online at cooks.com but I made so many modifications that I feel it is my own now. Perfect for that pumpkin and spice crave. Sorry no picture, we ate them too fast.

Ingredients:

1 C Flour

1 C Whole-wheat flour (I used hard-white wheat in case you wanted to know or cared)

1 1/3 C Old-Fashioned oats

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Ginger

1/4 tsp Cloves

1/2 tsp Salt

2 sticks Butter (I used real butter - I never trust margarine in cookies)

1 C Brown Sugar

1 C Granulated Sugar

1 C Pure Pumpkin

1 Large Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 C Raisins

1/2 C Dried Cranberries

3/4 C Chocolate Chips

**After it was all mixed up together I ended up adding an extra 1/3 C Oats and about 1/4 C White Flour because I felt it was too moist and sticky. Use your judgement.

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 1st 9 ingredients (all dry). Whisk together well. Set aside

Cream butter and sugars. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Stir in dry ingredients along with raisins, cranberries and chips and if you want walnuts or something that would be yummy too ;)

Check if it needs a little more flour and oats.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Yielded 3 1/2 dozen and a couple of my batches were really big cookies.

Hope you enjoy!!

Key Lime Bars

Key Lime Bars

America's Test Kitchen

This recipe makes an 8x8 size pan, double it for a 9x13. These have a very intense lime flavor and I loved it! So yummy!

CRUST:

5 ounces animal crackers (any brand)

3 TBSP packed brown sugar

4 TBSP butter - melted and cooled a little

FILLING:

2 ounces cream cheese - soft

1 TBSP lime zest (the zest of about 3 regular limes)

1/8 tsp salt

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (do not use bottled lime juice)

GARNISH:

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

Heat oven to 325. Spray 8x8 pan with oil spray. In a food processor, pulse animal crackers until broken down and evenly fine. Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine. Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until evenly moistened. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 -20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling.

While crust cools and before making the filling - toast the coconut; spread coconut in rimmed baking sheet. Bake in 325 degree oven, stirring often until golden brown and crispy (about 10-15 minutes). Set aside.

While crust cools, stir cream cheese, zest and salt until soft, creamy, and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk until combined and no lumps; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until incorporated (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 - 20 minutes (about 25 minutes if 9x13 pan). Cool on wire rack 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Before serving top with toasted coconut. (coconut will go soggy if you top the bars and then cover and refrigerate, add it just before cutting and eating.)

Spider-man Cake

This is a Spider-man cake I made for my 3 year old's birthday. He's been asking for a spider-man cake for his birthday for the past 2 or 3 months. Since I was not about to do a replica of spider-man's head, this is what I came up with. I thought it was fun, and turned out pretty cute. Just wish my kitchen was better for taking pictures. The cake was a new recipe - tropical carrot cake by America's test kitchen. It takes a typical carrot cake and adds pineapple, coconut and extra spices. It turned out really moist and pretty yummy but I think I still prefer just regular carrot cake. I don't think the recipe called for enough salt, the flavors fell a little flat. Oh well, you add cream cheese frosting and anything is delectable right?

Where are all the maternity clothes?

From the 4 clothing stores we have to choose from in this town, none of them sell maternity clothes anymore. Desperate for something to wear to church that I can fit into I scoured 3 of the stores yesterday for anything knee length or longer and elastic. Knowing there are no clothes specifically for the expectant mother I figured I'd be shopping in the old lady section, everything is elastic there right? WRONG! Not only is this town anti-pregnancy but apparently it's anti-normal-church-attending apparel too! Shopko had no skirts that I could find, Sears had a couple formal looking heavy black floor length things and some upper-thigh showing mini's, and Wal-Mart had 1 decent peasant style skirt that I might consider if the sizes offered weren't reduced to only Small and XXL. So again desperate, I headed for the fabric department of Wal-Mart picked out some fabric that hopefully will match an extra stretchy long shirt I had purchased at Sears that day, along with some wide elastic and decided to take matters in my own hands. I started the no-pattern skirt at 9:24pm Saturday night and finished at 12:10am this (Sunday) morning. Wore it to church today and loved it!

My new skirt and baby bump, getting bigger!

Black and White wedding cake

My most recent cake and first wedding cake. I would have changed many things about this cake, but it was a huge learning experience. A lot of little things went wrong along the way that I hopefully have learned from. Hope you like :)

Oh yea, it tasted awesome!

Mint Brownie Pie

This is so good. Wish the picture was better. The picture is from the first time I made it, then I made it again tonight for a church dinner and it turned out even better, but no picture. It was a hit at the dinner!

Make 1 boxed or homemade brownie mix according to directions. Pour about half of the batter into the bottom of a greased spring-form pan (this is if your recipe makes a 9x13 pan, if your recipe only makes an 8x8 then pour it all in.) Use the rest of the batter for a pan of 8x8 brownies.

Bake the brownies until done. Let cool completely in the pan.

Filling:

8 oz Cream Cheese

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp mint extract

green food coloring

8 oz tub of Cool Whip

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar, add mint extract and food coloring. Fold gently into cool whip. Pour into spring-form pan on top of cooled baked brownie. Either drizzle the top with melted chocolate or better yet, just sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let set up in fridge or stick it in the freezer for several minutes to firm up, just don't let it freeze.

Take off the side of pan, slice into pie wedges and enjoy!!!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I am a huge soup person. I love making and eating soup, all different kinds, I feel like I'm just doing something good for my family and for my body. This is not a new recipe, instead it is one of my all time favorites. I make it all the time, the ultimate comfort food for me - and so healthy and low calorie. It usually will feed our family of 4 for two dinners, and then feed me lunch one other day - I lOVE it!

My mom passed the original recipe onto me several years ago when I was in college and I've turned it into my own streamlined version.

Ingredients:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 or 4 large carrots sliced

4 stalks of celery diced

1 large onion chopped

2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced

6 cups water

3 tsp chicken bouillon

2 cans low sodium chicken broth (I prefer Swanson's - no MSG)

Egg noodles (I usually use about 1/3 to 1/2 package and I always go with "No Yolk" brand extra wide)

Bring water to boil, add bouillon. Simmer chicken in bouillon water for at least an hour, until chicken is cooked and soft. Remove cooked chicken and add all the vegetables and canned broth to water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are soft - about 20 minutes. While vegetables are cooking - chop chicken into bite size pieces. After vegies are soft add egg noodles and chicken and cook 10 minutes longer.

Totally easy and really yummy - love it!!

Baby Shower Cake

This cake was so much fun to do. My friend asked me to make a cake for a baby shower she was throwing for her friend who is having her first baby, a little girl. How exciting! I jumped at the opportunity and immediately dreamed up the design. She sent me a picture of the baby's crib bedding so I used that as a color and design starting point. A lot of work, I'm not going to lie - it's just me in my little kitchen, no staff of helpers to get the cake baked, filled, and dirty iced before the real fun begins with the decorating. Still I love the process, it's an outlet and when it turns out so fantastic, I enjoy it even more. Hope you like!!

(I'll post the lemon cake recipe in a future post, it was yummy :)

Black Forest Cake

Don't you just love how it looks - I love it when things just look so yummy you want to eat it right now! I first attempted this cake last year for my husbands birthday. While it tasted phenomenal, aesthetically it didn't do too well.

LAST YEAR'S CAKE MISTAKE!

This year for his birthday I was determined to redeem myself and create an authentic (with one major substitution) and aesthetically pleasing Black Forest Cake.

Start with a regular chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's food). Make it according to the directions (I used bean puree instead of oil). Bake 2 - 8 or 9 inch round layers. Let cool. Level the cake by trimming off the dome.

Ingredients:

1 can of tart cherries packed in water

Cherry pie filling

1 pint whipping cream

8 oz baking chocolate, semi-sweet or bitter-sweet

Process:

Make a simple cherry syrup - drain the tart cherries reserving the juice. Combine the cherry juice with equal parts sugar, heat on stove until the sugar is dissolved and then let it cool = simple cherry syrup. *Note - An authentic Black Forest Cake calls for Cherry Liquor or rum drizzled over the cake layers - I'm definitely NOT an alcohol person and using alcohol was not an option, thus I came up with the cherry syrup instead.

Make ganache: Bring 1 cup whipping cream to boil. Pour over chopped chocolate in large bowl. Let sit a few minutes then whisk until completely melted and combined. Let it cool and set up in the fridge.

Whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form, sweeten with sugar.

Assembly:

Pour several tablespoons of cherry syrup over both cake layers, allow the syrup to soak into the cake.

On the bottom cake layer, pipe a ring of ganache around the top rim forming a 'barrier' or 'dam'. Spread 2/3 of whipped cream over bottom layer inside the ganache barrier. Sprinkle several tart cherries on top of the whipped cream.

Place second layer of cake on top of bottom layer, making sure the top layer is upside down so the very top of the cake is completely flat and not domed.

Frost the sides only with ganache. Pipe a design around the bottom of cake with ganache (I made a normal shell border with a #32 tip)

Pipe a reverse shell border around top of cake with remaining whipped cream (I used a 2D tip for this). Fill in top of cake with cherry pie filling, keeping within border and not disturbing the whipped cream.

So yummy - don't you wish you had some right now!!

AND happy birthday to my wonderful, hardworking, sweet, loving, ever-faithful, patient husband of 10 years! Here's to a hundred more baby!! Love you!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I really love artichoke dip. My husband and I order it at restaurants when we feel like splurging. I found this recipe years ago (allrecipes.com) and have made it a handful of times, I always get compliments when I make it. I think it ranks up there with the restaurants. You should try it!

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (apparently you can buy marinated and non-marinated - I have always used the marinated)

1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese (I used Italian cheese blend)

1 - 2 garlic cloves, minced

Combine all ingredients in small baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 until bubbly - about 25 minutes.

Couldn't be easier - seriously.

Cheese Bread

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. Loved it when I first made it, and then made it again today for company and everyone here loved it too. Good recipe! And what's so great is that it is a fast bread recipe, you only let it rise once for 20 minutes, so you can be from start to finish in less than an hour. Awesome!

1 cup warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 TBSP yeast

1 TBSP oil

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour and used way more than 2 1/2 cups - just keep adding a little at a time until it reaches the right texture - soft dough but not sticky)

In a bowl, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Add oil and salt. Add 1 cup of flour, mix well, keeping adding flour little by little until a soft ball forms. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise in warm place for 20 minutes (I always heat my oven on 350 degrees for exactly 2 minutes, turn off the oven and then let my dough rise in the warm oven, works wonderful! And I cover the bowl with a lid or with plastic wrap, never a towel, this keeps the moisture in better)

Place dough on a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan greased with olive oil. Pat dough until it stretches to the edges of the pan.

Brush the top of your dough with olive oil, just enough to coat your dough, don't drown it. Combine seasonings:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp pepper

Sprinkle evenly over dough.

Add 1 - 2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese and 1/4 to 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese (I used italian cheese blend) - sprinkle evenly over dough.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Make-ahead Spinach Manicotti

I totally blew it on the picture of this dish, it looks way ugly - but don't be deceived - this was delicious! I've never made manicotti before, and this recipe I found is awesome, and way easy. The recipe comes from Taste of Home magazine submitted by Christy Freeman.

1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided (I used the grated kind from the can)

1 egg

2 tsp minced fresh parsley (I used 1 tsp dry parsley)

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder

2 jars (28 ounces each) spaghetti sauce with meat

1 1/2 cups water

1 package (8 ounces) manicotti shells - left uncooked

In a large bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, egg, parsley, onion powder, pepper and garlic powder. Combine spaghetti sauce and water; spread 1 cup sauce in an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish. Stuff uncooked manicotti with spinach mixture; arrange over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Cook it right away or you can put it in the refrigerator and save it for a day. Take out of refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 14 manicotti shells or 6-9 servings depending.

I found it to still have a lot of sauce even after cooking uncovered. The water may be able to be reduced a bit. I liked the extra sauce though, it was not watery at all. This fed my family of 4 two dinners and a lunch - winner! I liked it so much I'm going to make three pans of it for my big family reunion in June!!

Homemade ice cream sandwiches

These are the easiest things in the world to make, and so worth it. I've had homemade oreos, or chocolate sandwich cookies. While very yummy, they are always so rich. Even after just one bite I'm not sure if I get through the whole thing. These ice cream sandwiches were light and refreshing and perfect.

I started with cake mix cookies - very simple

1 cake mix (any flavor really, but I chose Devil's food)

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

**side note - I substituted the oil in the recipe for 1/3 cup bean puree. Bean puree???, yep. You can substitute it for oil in a lot of baked goods and you don't know the difference. In fact, in my opinion, if you're substituting oil in cakes, breads, and muffins - things that are supposed to be light and cakey and fluffy, they turn out better with the beans (more moist). If you are substituting beans for butter in things that are supposed to be flat and chewy like cookies and brownies - they don't turn out right, they're too cake-like. Anyway, for these cookies though, it made them the perfect texture for the sandwich - PERFECT. Go to this link to see where I got the idea for using bean puree and information on how to do it http://everydayfoodstorage.net/?s=bean+puree.

Mix the cake mix, oil (or beans), and eggs together until you get a dough similar to sugar cookie dough. I had to add some water because I used the beans. Roll cookies into a 1" ball and flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in powdered sugar (or you could use cocoa powder). Bake at 375 for 9 minutes or until done. Let cool on cooling rack.

After cooled, scoop a large ball of any flavored softened ice cream you want (I used reduced fat cookies and cream). Place on one cookie (turned upside down) flatten with spatula then top with another cookie and press.

So simple! The slightly warm soft chocolaty cookie, the cool ice cream. My husband kept saying "mmmmmm" with every bite.

Try it (if you haven't already!)

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

When planning out my month of meals I assigned Thursday to be my "bean" day of the week. Each day of the week has it's own main ingredient or type of food. Monday is soup day, Tuesday is leftover day (I always have leftover soup), Wednesday is Pasta, Thursday is rice or bean or rice & bean, Friday is Chicken...etc.

This Slow Cooker Turkey Chili recipe comes from Cook's Country magazine. It is definitely not a 5 ingredient or less recipe, luckily I already had all the ingredients but one on hand. It turned out really yummy. A little too spicey for the kids though. One problem for me was that the recipe made way too much to fit into my little slow cooker. I ended up having to just simmer it slowly on the stove top in my stock pot. I felt it turned out perfectly yummy just the same. The recipe says it feeds 8 - 10, but I think it feeds more. I would say at least 12 if you're eating anything else with this dish. It makes a lot, I'm going to have to freeze some of it.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

1/4 cup chili powder

1 TBSP ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

2 slices of hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces

1/4 cup soy sauce

6 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

2 lbs of ground turkey (anything but 99 percent lean)

3 TBSP vegetable oil

3 onions, chopped fine

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 (16- ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (28 - ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 TBSP brown sugar

2 tsp minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo (this is your heat, eliminate it for mild chili, or use crushed red pepper or something else for heat, if you prefer)

1. Heat chili powder, cumin, and oregano in large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Set aside.

2. Using potato masher, mash bread, soy sauce, 1 TBSP toasted spices, half of garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in large bowl until smooth. Add ground turkey and gently knead until well combined.

3. Heat 2 TBSP oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Cook turkey mixture, breaking up meat into 1 inch pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow-cooker insert. Add onion, bell pepper, and remaining oil to now-empty skillet and cook until softened, 6-8 minutes. Stir in remaining toasted spices, tomato paste, and remaining garlic, and cook until paste begins to darken, 1 - 2 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.

4. Stir beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, and chipotle into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until turkey is tender, 4 to 6 hours. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

Orange Walnut Chicken

I was tired of walking to the pantry at 4:50 pm every day and not know what to cook for dinner, then ultimately settling for something routine and boring. I decid

ed at the beginning of March to plan out my entire month of dinners. A week or so before this I had taken home a stack of cooking magazines from a church free market and subscribed to Cook's Country magazine (America's Test Kitchen). So in figuring out how to plan my month of dinners I found myself continually wanting to try all these new fantastic recipes in these magazines, and why not. This month has been so much fun. New recipes, new ingredients, new adventures!

This Orange Walnut Chicken recipe was my first new recipe of the month, it comes from a Taste of Home magazine, submitted by TerryAnn Moore. When I first saw

the recipe, I didn't get overly excited about it, but it had won the grand prize in a contest they do every issue. That's got to be worth something right? Definitely. It turned out phenomenal. I loved it. So so yummy. The crunchy toasted walnuts and the green onions just set it off perfectly. When my husband bit into it he said, "It's like I'm eating at some exotic restaurant." Thank you honey! Here you go!

Ingredients

3 TBSP Orange juice concentrate

3 TBSP Vegetable oil (divided)

1 TBSP Soy sauce

1 garlic clove minced

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I actually used chicken tenders)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 TBSP Butter (I used margarine)

4 Green onions, thinly sliced (divided)

1/2 cup orange marmalade

1/2 cup Orange juice

1/4 cup Lemon juice

2 TBSP Honey

1 to 2 TBSP Grated orange peel

2 to 3 tsp Grated lemon peel

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Hot cooked rice

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine orange juice

concentrate, 2 T of oil, soy sauce, and garlic. Add chicken; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Remove chicken; reserve marinade. In a skillet, cook chicken in remaining oil until juices run clear. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, saute walnuts in butter until lightly browned; removed and set aside. Set aside 1/4 cup green onions for garnish. Add remaining onions to saucepan; saute until tender. Add reserved marinade and the next eight ingredients. Bring to a rolling boil; boil for 2 minutes, Reduce heat; si

mmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until sauce reaches desired consistency. Serve chicken over rice, top with sauce and reserved walnuts and onions. *note - I found the sauce to be very intense - start with a little and add more as you need it, don't just dump a bunch on right off the bat! (If I had a nicer camera or better light at dinner time, the picture would do the dish justice, but this will have to do, and it will have to do for future recipe posts!)

Cake Decorating

For my first post, I wanted to show my favorite cakes that I've done. I've only been 'dabbling' in cake decorating for about 2 years, getting a little more serious these past few months. I'm 100% self-taught and 100% obsessed. I've listed them in chronological order starting with the most recent (and most fabulous!)

My first 3 tiered cake. I made it for a church dinner. It turned out wonderful. The bottom tier is white cake with lemon curd filling. Middle layer is chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and crushed oreo filling. The top layer is spice cake with cream cheese frosting for a filling. It's decorated in homemade marshmallow fondant.

6" mint chocolate chip cake with chocolate buttercream. So little and cute!

Whole wheat carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

Valentine's cake for a bake sale.

Basket of roses cake. Love it!

Father's day cake. Chocolate heaven. Chocolate cake with chocolate and oreo filling with chocolate buttercream icing.

Cherry chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and whipped cream.

My very first fondant cake, and still one of my very favorites!

Basket weave cake. Pretty and elegant.