Nov9

Brownie Cupcakes

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 Several years ago, I made Hershey’s Best Brownies and they were such a hit that they became my standard brownie recipe. Today, I decided to make the Hershey’s deep dish brownie recipe but at the last minute made them into cupcakes.  Shania helped me make them and I have a big announcement to make- she can finally crack eggs! Without getting them all over the floor! 🙂

One thing I love about making brownies from scratch is that you can easily make them by hand.  This is an easy and fast recipe.  As cupcakes, they were done in 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. We topped some of them with Reese’s topping mix.

Hershey’s Brownies

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.

2. Combine butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 16 brownies.

From: Hersheys

Oct20

Barbeque Chicken Pizza

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I’ve been wanting to make this for a long time now.  But, I love my pizza sauce so much that I never want to stray away from it when I make pizza.  I came across this recipe  on AllRecipes which combines marinara sauce and barbeque sauce.  This was a great way to combine my love of pizza sauce and try the barbeque sauce, too.  I meant to buy a red onion to go with the chicken but I completely forgot it. So, I used what we had on hand and tend to put on pizza anyway- sweet red peppers on my no-cheese half and mushrooms on Scott’s half. I really liked this sauce- the flavor of the barbeque sauce was good but wasn’t too overwhelming.  Scott- who normally eats sausage, pepperoni, bacon (anything but chicken!) loved it and said he would like to try chicken again now.  I will definitely make this again!

Ingredients

  • 4-5 chicken breast tenders, cut into chunks
  • salt [and pepper
  • italian seasoning
  • 1/4 cup barbeque sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce
  • 1 pizza crust
  • 1 cup pizza cheese
  • desired toppings
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. Cook salt and peppered chicken in a skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Sprinkle with italian seasoning. Add a couple tablespoons of barbeque sauce while cooking.
  2. Mix remaining barbeque sauce and pizza sauce in a small bowl. Spread evenly over pizza crust.
  3. Sprinkle pizza cheese. Arrange chicken and any other toppings on top.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 45o degree oven or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with cilantro while hot.

Modified from AllRecipes

Oct19

Happy Birthday-tini

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Several months ago, I saw a story on a morning show about Lolita Martini Glasses. They showed some really pretty and unique hand painted glasses. I made a mental note to buy one someday. A few months later, I was at the mall with Patrice and discovered that Macy’s had started selling the glasses. I told her about how I saw them on tv and loved them. In August, she bought me one for my birthday.  I was so excited! I finally had one. When I saw the box, I hugged her and told her I loved it before I even looked at it. She asked me how I knew I would like it and I told her I would like any of them! And I really did love it. Thanks, Patrice!

So, I decided to start collecting them. Periodically, I will buy one for myself and maybe I’ll get more as gifts for special occassions. (helpful hint to any family and friends that need a gift idea for me! 🙂 )

Oct12

Girl’s Night In

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Here are a few pics from my girls only get together. It was a Sex and the City pajama party. It was nice to kick the boys out for the night for some girl time!

We had cosmos, flirtinis, champagne and wine. Everyone brought an appetizer, snack or dessert and we ended up with a variety of foods- and a lot of it! I regret not taking pics the way I normally do! I only have pics of the food that I made and took before the party.

I made shrimp cups that were inspired by this recipe. I baked wontons in a mini muffin pan and filled them with salad shrimp seasoned with Garlic and Herb Old Bay and cumin, fresh salsa, shredded cheddar cheese.

 I also made mini chocolate cupcakes.

 And here are the red velvet cake balls that no one saw!

I didn’t have enough white chocolate, they were a mess and they didn’t set in time for the party. But Scott ate them the next day and said they tasted great. Oh well. Maybe next time! 

I can’t wait to plan my next event!

Oct4

Herb Crusted Salmon with Mixed Greens Salad

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This recipe is very healthy and yummy! It’s the kind of salad I could eat every day and not get tired of.

Ingredients

  • Salmon:
  • 1/2  cup  dry breadcrumbs
  • 2  teaspoons  chopped fresh oregano
  • 2  teaspoons  chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2  teaspoons  chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons  grated lemon rind
  • 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
  • 2  garlic cloves, minced
  • 4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick), skinned
  • Cooking spray
  • 1/4  teaspoon  kosher salt
  • Salad:
  • 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
  • 1  tablespoon  extravirgin olive oil
  • 1  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
  • 1/4  teaspoon  kosher salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
  • 4  cups  mixed salad greens

Preparation

 

1. To prepare salmon, combine the first 7 ingredients in a shallow dish or pie plate. Lightly coat both sides of fillets with cooking spray, and sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Dredge both sides of fillets in breadcrumb mixture.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fillets to pan; cook 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; carefully turn fillets over. Cook 4 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

3. To prepare salad, combine juice, oil, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add mixed greens; toss gently to coat. Place 2/3 cup salad on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 fillet.

From: Cooking Light

Sep22

Grilled Salmon with Barbeque Spice Rub

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(sorry for the blurry pic- my camera died before I could take more!)

When Scott said he would grill this salmon for me, I was tempted to use a barbeque sauce but decided to try this dry rub instead.  I am glad I did. It was so good!! It is a perfect combination of sweet and spicy. I added a little garlic powder to this but didn’t measure it.  I didn’t get a good picture of it but the recipe is very blogworthy!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2  teaspoons  kosher salt
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons  dark brown sugar
  • 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
  • 1  teaspoon  dried thyme, crushed
  • 3/4  teaspoon  coarsely ground black pepper
  • 3/4  teaspoon  sweet paprika
  • 3/4  teaspoon  chili powder
  • 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
  • 1  (3-pound) center-cut salmon fillet, skinned

Preparation

1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

2. Combine salt and next 7 ingredients (through cinnamon); rub salt mixture over fish.

3. Grill fish for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

From: Cooking Light

Aug27

Homemade Pizza

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These recipes for pizza dough and sauce are very easy to make. The dough rises in 30-45 minutes. I made the sauce and prepped the toppings while the dough was rising.  I’ve been making this easy pizza sauce for years and love it.  The dough recipe was one I hadn’t tried before.  It was on the back of the Flieschmann’s Active Dry Yeast packet.  I had another recipe in mind but when I saw it, it looked so easy that I gave it a shot. I made this while my parents were in town and they loved it. Of course it’s pretty easy to pick up the phone and order a pizza but making a homemade one really isn’t that hard and it’s so worth it.

Pizza Dough

1 envelope Flieschmann’s Active Dry Yeast

1 cup warm water

2-1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar (my addition)

Soften yeast in warm water, in a mixing bowl.  Add 2 cups flour, salt, sugar, and oil.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth, about 4 to 6 minutes.

Place in greased bowl; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 to 45 minutes.  Punch dough down.  Pat dough into a greased large pizza pan. (Make sure you use a large pan unless you want very thick dough!) Top with desired toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

8 ounces tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 oregano

1/4 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

few dashes, black pepper

dash, crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine all ingredients and spread on pizza crust.

Note: Instead of oregano and basil, sometimes I use 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning and that works very well, too.

I used mozzarella, italian sausage, pepperoni, green peppers and onions on the pizza for Scott and my parents. I made a small no cheese pizza for myself with grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, green peppers and onions. I sprinkled a little dried cilantro on both of them before baking. Yummm! 🙂

Jul27

Mmm…Ice cream cone cupcakes and funfetti cookies!

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Ice cream cone cupcakes are very easy to make and so much fun to eat.  You make your cupcake batter as usual and put it in ice cream cones, filling them about 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or so.

Funfetti cookies are made with Pillsbury’s Funfetti cake mix. The recipe is on the side of the box.

Shania, Khalia and Michaela had a great time making and decorating them… and eating them! They got very excited over the toppings and sprinkles. I’d set out mini chocolate chips, mini peanut butter chips and a variety of sprinkles. I foolishly thought they would choose one topping for each cupcake. Before it was almost too late,  I realized they were putting everything on all of them! I had them stop and leave a few plain ones for the people who weren’t interested in a sugar overdose.

Baking with kids combines my two favorite things. 🙂

Jul15

Oven Baked Brown Rice

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I was looking for a new way to make brown rice and came across this recipe in Renee’s blog, Savory Safari.  She adapted the recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. I’d been thinking about making garlic rice but then I had to try this recipe when I saw it.  So, I added a tablespoon of minced garlic to the dish before I baked it. Mmm… so good! The only thing bad about this rice is waiting an hour to eat it.

Oven Baked Brown Rice

Ingredients

1 ½ cups brown rice

2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 ½ Tbsp. butter (I used olive oil instead)

Dash salt

Large wedge of lemon

¼ tsp. garlic powder

Black pepper

 

Directions

1.       Set oven rack to middle position and preheat to 375 degrees.

2.       Spread rice evenly in the bottom of a small round casserole with a lid.

3.       Bring broth and butter to a boil in a covered saucepan (make sure it’s covered – otherwise, some of the liquid will evaporate and mess up the proportions).  As soon as it’s boiling, stir in dash of salt and pour the liquid over the rice.  Cover and bake for 1 hour.

4.       Remove rice from oven, uncover, and fluff with a fork.  Squeeze wedge of lemon into the rice and add garlic powder and black pepper.  Fluff again to combine.

5.       Cover with a towel and let stand 5 minutes.  Uncover and let stand 5 minutes more. Fluff and serve.

From: Savory Safari