Garlic Cheddar Chicken and Mashy Peas

I have seen this recipe for Garlic Cheddar Chicken floating around on so many of my friends' blogs, I just had to try it. Most recently, I saw it on my friend RacheyPoo's blog, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I figured it would be good, but in no way was I prepared for how excellent this meal is!!! It was exactly what we needed after a week of eating out with the family. A delicious, home-cooked meal. The chicken was succulent and juicy...crunchy and cheesy - Mike couldn't stop talking about how good it was, and neither could I!

I served the chicken with mashed potatoes and mashy peas. We first had mashy peas when we were in London, and absolutely loved them. I don't really have a recipe, I just throw things together. Peas, butter, green onions, salt & pepper, and a bit of cream. Then you mash them up! They are so yummy. :)

(I got the man to do the mashing work for me!)

Garlic Cheddar Chicken

2 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon dried parsley

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded thin (I didn't notice that you were supposed to pound them thin...they worked just fine.)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender about 5 minutes.

In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, and spices (if you used them).

Dip each chicken breast in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9x13 baking dish.

Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.

Bake 30 minutes in preheated oven or until chicken is no longer pink and juice run clear.


This probably wasn't the healthiest meal ever, but it wasn't too bad. I am definitely making it again, so I think next time I'll just cook the garlic in olive oil instead of butter. Overall, this recipe gets an A+ rating!!!

I got a facelift!

Check me out! Thanks to my friend Nikki, who showed me an exciting site called Pyzam, I was able to find a pretty new layout for my blog! Nothing too fancy, no major changes, but I think it's prettied up a bit. :) Thanks, Nikki!

Fierce and Ferosh Ferocity.

These cupcakes are some bad mamma jammas, that is for sure. They really pack a punch. In fact, you could say they are the fiercest cupcakes I have ever eaten.

I had decided that I would NOT make any more cupcakes until the next Cupcake Hero challenge, in fear that my waistline would expand exponentially if I kept baking. But when my dear friend CB posted a challenge for this week, inspired by Project Runway, I couldn't resist. Fierce and ferocious cupcakes? How can you turn down that challenge? (It also helped that the in-laws are in town, so I had help in eating these cuppys!)

I spent several days agonizing about what exactly the word fierce means, especially in cupcake terms. I felt that in order to be fierce, it really has to have a bite to it.

Grr, baby, grr!

The word fierce also made me think of a badass warrior. Carefully, I began devising a plan. What would pack a punch to the palate, and be fashionably fierce as well? I chose to make Mexican Chili Chocolate Cupcakes. I found a cake recipe and altered it slightly to fit my tastes. It ended up making exactly 12 cupcakes - perfecto!!!

The decorating of these cuppys was a little harder than I expected. I had such great aspirations. I figured that if my cupcakes were fierce in Mexican flavor, they should be fierce in Aztec warrior glory. See my inspiration?I decided to decorate them as Aztec warrior headdresses. My future sister-in-law (maybe) and I went off to the grocery store and Michaels to see what we could find. It was harder than I expected to find supplies to recreate these glorious works of art. I ended up just buying some Ghiradelli chocolate squares and a few sprinkles and candies, and hoped for the best.

These cupcakes were great to bake. The recipe was fun and pretty easy. I toasted up almonds and ground them in my coffee grinder, and it ended up making a fine almond flour. How cool is that? I couldn't taste the chili powder in my batter, so I kept adding cayenne until I could. These cupcakes baked up so nicely! I love it when they get all dome-y in the oven.

On to the decorating. The frosting was easy to make as well. Once again, I couldn't taste the chili powder, so I just kept adding cayenne. In the end, it came out PERFECT. So rich and chocolatey. You could taste the cinnamon, and afterwards came the fierce punch of cayenne. MMMMMmmmmm..... I piled that frosting on as high as I could. I think the frosting was as tall as the cupcake. FIERCE, baby, fierce!!!!

By this time, my friend Keziah was totally into this with me. We were having a ball decorating these cupcakes. Things were going well. I stuck the chocolates onto the frosting, and got ready to use color to create the feathered headdresses. I used some leftover white chocolate frosting from my last cupcakes. BAD IDEA. The frosting was SO soft. It totally gooshed all over and made my feathers look like leaves, and then eventually melt into blobbiness. :( But, seriously, I think it just made them look even more ferocious. We added toothpicks to the headdresses to make them look still more intimidating. Really. Dangerous. Ferosh.
This is one army of warriors you would not want to stumble across unprepared. They are fully lined up for battle, and they will kick yo' ass!

See them dressed in full battle gear? Seriously fierce. There is no denying it. Swords and shields are drawn and ready.
The captain is preparing to give the battle cry.

Ayiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lookout is keeping watch on the sidelines.

This ugly, scary mofo is in the rear, watching for any attacks from behind. You don't want to mess with this fierce cupcake.


In the end, however, I won the battle. I ate those cupcakes, ferosh as they were. But wow, they sure did let me have it on the way down! I could feel the burn as I savored every bite.


These cupcakes are YUMMY. They are hardcore. They are fierce on so many levels. As Mike said, "it was a very complex dessert." They have a deep, dark chocolate flavor, with a hint of cinnamon. As the flavor travels across your taste buds, you begin to feel the subtly delightful burn of the chili and cayenne. OMG, yum. The frosting is rich, the cake is somewhat dense but oh so moist and yummy.

For those of you brave enough to attempt to take on this fierce recipe, see below.

Mexican Chile-Chocolate Cupcakes

10 ounces Mexican chocolate, or semisweet chocolate, plus 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used dark chocolate)
2 tablespoons strong hot coffee (I used espresso)
1 stick ( 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla or other premium vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder, lightly toasted (for a hotter chile hit, use guajillo or New Mexican red) (I did this, and added cayenne until it looked good.)
1/3 cup toasted almonds, finely ground
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate in coffee.

Cream the butter with a mixer until fluffy; add 1/2 cup sugar and continue beating for 1 minute. Beat in egg yolks one at a time until well incorporated. Beat egg whites on high with salt until soft peaks form, gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat until stiff peaks are formed and the whites are shiny.

Blend the warm melted chocolate mixture, extracts, chile powder and almonds into egg yolk mixture and then fold into egg whites alternating with the flour. Continue gently folding until all is incorporated.

Place batter in a well-buttered and floured 8-inch cake pan and bake for 35 minutes, or in individual souffle cups and bake for 25 minutes. (I used a cupcake pan, of course! I baked them for 25 minutes.) Cake will still move slightly in the center when done. (Mine didn't move. They sprung back nicely when I poked them.) Garnish with powdered sugar and cinnamon or more chile powder or whipped cream along with toasted almonds or shaved chocolate. (I frosted them with the recipe below.)

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Per serving (based on 8 servings): 407 calories, 6 grams protein, 22 grams fat, 11 grams saturated fat, 51 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams fiber, 107 milligrams cholesterol, 67 milligrams sodium.

Chile Chocolate Frosting

1 stick softened butter
2/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/3 C + whole milk
1 T vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
cinnamon and chili powder to taste (I probably used about a teaspon of cinnamon, a teaspoon of chili powder, and a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne.)

Mix butter, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly add milk and extract. Add more milk, a tablespoon at a time until desired texture and volume is reached.

I need a makeover.

Or, my blog does, that is. I love the plainness of my blog, but at the same time, it makes me a little sad that it's not prettier. Sure, I'm an artist, but I'm not good at designing web pages and stuff. Do any of my readers have a talent for that? I want something pretty...I like vines and flowers and pretty stuff. I love red. It's pretty much my favorite color. Green is my second favorite color, but I don't really like red and green together unless it's Christmas time. I do like light green with red though. Anyways, does anyone have any ideas for me? I'd appreciate it! :) If you can make a design for me, I can send you cupcakes or something as payment.... :)

Blog Name Change

I have decided that I am going to change my blog name so that it matches its URL. I am feeling confused myself, so I am sure some of you have been confused as well! It is now known as "Artists in the Kitchen." Dexter still hangs out in the kitchen with me at times, but not so much these days...not unless I am cooking shrimp, which he is TOTALLY silly for.

Also...my apologies...I failed to complete this month's Daring Baker's challenge. :( Seriously...the recipe was 16 pages long, and was supposed to take 10 hours to complete. I only had two weekends this month in which I had that much time for baking, and I happened to be sick both of those weekends. Boo!!!! :( Check out my friends' blogs though, to see their lovely French Breads!

CB
Nikki
Nina
and many more!!! If you haven't checked it out yet, visit the Daring Baker's Blogroll to find many more bloggers who participated in this month's challenge.

Muffins.

nft

More wedding pics....

After looking at all my friends' wedding photos, and voting again (you can vote every day - I would be super fantastically pleased if you'd go vote for me again today! ;)), I have been looking through more of my photos, and I feel like sharing the ones that didn't make it into the top 7. Just for fun. Bear with me...I'm still a newlywed and get a little sentimental over the best day of my life. :) ::cheese!::
I promise, no more wedding stuff after this! :)

I love this picture of Mike, getting ready.

My "something old, borrowed, and blue." My mother-in-law's antique pendant, passed down to her from her grandfather. I was going to wrap it around my bouquet, but I decided that I loved the way it looked with my dress.

I love how pretty the aisle looked with these pomanders.

Me and my girls.

I think this shot is adorable...everyone making cheesy faces at us. :)

My husband is just too freaking adorable in this picture. :)

A very cool winery shot. :)

This is the photo we sent out with all our thank you's.
You gotta have the barrel room photos!

Here come the newlyweds! Ready to party. :)

Father & Daughter Dance

My cake table looks super cool in this shot...though you can only see the very top of the "I DO" letters.

I think this is such a classic, pretty picture of the cake cutting.

My nephew thoroughly enjoyed his cake... :)

Time to boogie!

Not sure what Mike is doing here...

Oh yeah, I like to get down on the dance floor!

The coolest bouquet toss shot ever...I totally threw it over everyone's head!

This shot is one of my favorites...end of the night, so romantic. :)

Thanks for putting up with all my wedding reminiscing! :)

Meal update

So...I've been slacking on the blogging. Honestly, since my cupcakes, I haven't done much cooking. We ended up having people over, so we just BBQ'd burgers. Then, the other night, I had planned to cook, but it didn't happen. I went to the gym, took a shower, and then put on sweats, intending to cook dinner. I came upstairs, walked into the kitchen like a total mess, pj's, wet hair and all, and M's friends said "Hey, want to go out for dinner? I'll buy." Sheesh. Well, I didn't want to bother cooking, but at the same time, I really didn't feel like changing my clothes and putting myself together. But, what the hey...I can't turn down a free dinner. So, we all carted off to the Burger Lounge. I didn't have very high expectations, since I was picturing a little Hamburger Stand or a snooty bougie place, since it was in La Jolla. I was pleasantly surprised! It was pretty classy in there but still had that 50's diner kind of feel. I ordered a turkey burger, which was delicious, and Troy ordered a vegetarian burger, which was actually made of quinoa! It was really tasty. Mike ordered chicken fingers, which came on a stick. Matt had a regular burger. We all agreed that our food was delish, though Mike wished he had ordered a turkey burger too. On the counter, they had these huge cupcakes. I honestly could not stop staring at them. The girl at the counter probably thought I had a problem. I was just loving the way they were decorated...how nicely shaped they were. Wow. What has gotten into me? I'm becoming a cupcake fanatic. I resisted the urge to buy one, however, since I had just gone to the gym, and a beer and a burger was quite filling enough for me.

So, on to last night. I did cook, but I didn't take any pictures because the food came out SO ugly. It tasted great though! I made this and this. I thought the Tilapia Francaise sounded lovely, and I too made it with steamed broccoli, just like my friend Andrea did. I had a lot of fillets, so I had a really hard time making sauce in the same pan as the fish, and I ended up breaking the fillets into pieces, which was not pretty. :( But, again, it tasted great. The white pepper REALLY helped. I could take it or leave it, but Mike really liked it. The Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries were SO good. I love sweet potatoes, and with the chili powder and Parmesan cheese, they are delectable! The horseradish dipping sauce was just the icing on the cake. I am totally making these again!

I probably won't be blogging about cooking for a while...we are having family from Ohio here for the next week, so I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of eating out. Tonight we are BBQing carne asada and pollo asado with our dear friends, Chris and Holly. Should be a blast!

Ciao!

Vote for me!

Dear blog readers:
I entered my wedding photos into the Knot's contest - The First Annual Wedding Awards. It is a competition for the best wedding of 2007. I personally think that my wedding was the best wedding EVER, so of course, I had to enter! :) Please, check it out, and please, vote for me! I would SO love to win a South African safari. I would also get my photos published in the Knot magazine. I'm sure my photographer, Angie Gaylor, would be thrilled!

Here is the link to my photos. I would be SUPER excited if you'd rate me 5 stars on all counts.... ;)

*muah!*

Tagged again!

I have been tagged again! My friend, Mrs. Watermelon, is the guilty tagger this time. :)

These are the rules:1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. Share 5 facts about yourself3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I do not like meringue.

2. I have decided to limit my cupcake baking to once a month, in order to preserve my waistline.

3. I talk to my cats a lot. Probably too much. People probably think that I am already a crazy cat lady.

4. I actually like doing my taxes. Entering information into computer programs is actually interesting for me.

5. I took 3 semesters of Italian. I can kind of understand and read the basics, but I am not good at speaking or writing, unfortunately.

I'm not going to tag anyone else, since I think everyone I know has already been tagged! :)

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with White Chocolate or Rose Frosting

Cuppys with White Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting

Cuppy with Rose Frosting

I have been really excited to make these cupcakes. As you might have noticed, I have a thing for vanilla beans and cupcakes lately. Since my vanilla bean frosting turned out so well, I wanted to try a vanilla bean cupcake! My friend CB shared this recipe with me. You can find it at Leite's Culinaria. I followed the recipe as-is (other than halving the frosting recipe), so I won't repost it here. I'm not a huge white chocolate fan, so I wanted to try another type of frosting as well. I've been really curious about rosewater as a flavoring lately, and I thought it might go well with a vanilla-flavored cupcake. It is definitely different, but I like the originality of it.

Rose Frosting
3 oz cream cheese
2 1/2 C confectioner's sugar
1 T milk
1 t rosewater

Here's me slicing open my vanilla bean, preparing to scrape out the seeds.

Holy crap...look how much batter is left after filling my cupcake tray! It says it makes 12 cupcakes....I ended up with 32!!!



Look how nice and poofy they got this time! :)

Getting ready to chop the chocolate.

Chocolate milk in a bowl...I was supposed to let this chill for at least 4 hours, but seriously, who has that kind of time when cupcakes are on the line? I let it chill for 2...It worked fine. I don't know if the flavor would have changed or not.

Overall, these cupcakes were delicious. I was really not that impressed by the vanilla bean flavor though, unfortunately. They really just kind of taste like white cake. They are really moist and tasty though, so I can't complain! They are good with the rose frosting - it is subtle, but definitely is the highlight of these cuppys. For the white chocolate frosting, while I didn't care for the flavor so much on it's own, when I piled it on top of the cupcake, OMG...it was heavenly! So light and fluffy and airy. I don't like the fact that the cupcakes need to be stored in the fridge because of the milk content in the frosting, but hey, I'm not going to complain. :)

The boys loved these cupcakes, so all in all, they were a success!

My first special feature!

Today I was featured on All Things Cupcake for my Vanilla Nut Martini Cupcakes! I feel like I am really moving on up in the world of blogging. :) Check out my cupcakes, as well as some of the other amazingly tasty-looking treats featured!!!

Tagged again!

A. Grace of A Southern Grace so kindly tagged me, after I "made the grave mistake" of commenting on her blog. Oh, but it was no mistake...I just wanted to get tagged again, so I would feel more popular! :)

Seeing as how I just did 5 things about me, I'm going to mix it up a bit, as a few others have done recently. You are going to find out my favorite things for today.

Favorite color: red - every car I have owned has been red, my coat is red, my purse (up until recently) was red, my umbrella is red, my coffee mug is red, and so on.
Favorite movie: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I can watch it over and over again!
Favorite dessert: cupcakes - preferably with fresh vanilla bean
Favorite day of the week: Saturday
Favorite time of day: roughly 7 pm (on a weekday)
Favorite food: I am REALLY craving a burrito these past few days
Favorite holiday: whichever one is coming up next (that we actually get off work for)
Favorite sibling: just kidding - I don't play favorites

That's all I can think of right now...sorry...it's still early in the AM.

Have a lovely weekend, all!!!



There will be no food blogging today...last night I went out to dinner with Natalie and Marilea (happy birthday, Marilea!), and the night before that, Mike and I ordered pizza.  Stay tuned for more on another day....

Garlic Shrimp with Lemon Parmesan Risotto

Last night I made Lemon Parmesan Risotto. Unfortunately, I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture first. :(

Lemon Parmesan Risotto

2 T butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

5 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups arborio or other risotto rice

3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

2 T butter, extra

sea salt and cracked black pepper

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, oil and onion and cook for 6-8 minutes or until soft and golden. Place the stock in a separate saucepan. Cover and bring to a slow simmer.

Add the rice and lemon rind to the onion mixture, stirring over medium heat for 2 minutes or until the rice is translucent (I didn't see this step...I only stirred it for a minute before adding the stock).

Add the hot stock 1 cup at a time, stirring continuously until each cup of stock is absorbed and the rice is al dente (around 25-30 minutes). To serve, stir through the parmesan, extra butter, salt and pepper. (When I added the last cup of stock, I covered the pan and turned the heat down to low. Why? Because 1. I had a bad experience last time I made risotto with the rice not getting tender enough, and 2. I needed time to cook my shrimp. It took about 5 minutes to cook...perfectly tender rice!)

Serve immediately. Serves 4.

I also topped the risotto with shrimp sauteed in olive oil, butter, and garlic.

This meal was SO yummy!!! I can't wait to go eat leftovers. :)

Crack - I mean Buffalo Chicken Dip

So, I found this recipe circulating around on several blogs. It sounded a little weird, but from the ratings it was getting, I figured I had to try it. Seriously, how many dips do you hear called "Crack Dip?" I decided I'd make it for our house-warming party so I would have many guinea pigs to try it out on.

It is SO simple! Here is the recipe I used, though I totally didn't stick with the measurements closely at all. I just dumped things in the amounts that seemed right - the way I like to cook!

The last place I found this recipe was on my new friend Gillian's blog.

Ingredients:
3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts (I just used two, and microwaved them because I was already using my oven for cupcakes)
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
8 ounces cream cheese (I used the lower-fat Neufchatel cheese)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Method:
1. Mix the cooked and shredded chicken with the hot sauce in the bottom of the pan.


2. In a separate pan, melt the cream cheese and ranch dressing together. Blend in the blue cheese. Spread this mixture on top of the chicken.

3. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. After baking, I let mine cool so I could transport it. Sprinkle it with the cheddar and bake an additional 10 minutes or so to warm it through.

I served this with carrot sticks and celery sticks and tortilla chips. The tortilla chips worked MUCH better. It was hard to eat hot, cooked chicken on a raw carrot stick. They did go well together though. I could NOT stop eating this stuff! All night long, people kept coming up to me and saying they loved the stuff, and asking for the recipe. So, here you have it, people! Buffalo Crack Dip. Or Crack Chicken Dip. Whatever you want to call it. :)

Apple Cinnamon Granola

I found this wonderful recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Baking Bites. I've been thinking about fresh, homemade granola for quite some time now, so when I found this recipe, I just HAD to make it! It's so easily customizable, anyone can make it, however they like!

There is quite a bit of cinnamon in this granola, so I am entering it into this month's Master Baker competition. There is nothing quite so yummy as apple cinnamon granola!

Here is the original recipe, with my changes in red.

Mix-n-Match Applesauce Granola
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 cups puffed rice cereal
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch ground cardamom
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup plain applesauce
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey (I used honey and Karo Syrup)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used a vanilla bean, because I am obsessed with them lately)
up to 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts
up to 1 cup dried fruit

nut suggestions: almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, etc (I used pecans, slivered almonds, and pumpkin seeds)
dried fruit suggestions: cranberries, raisins, apricots, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. (I used apples, dates, and blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet (or two smaller sheets) with parchment paper. (I cooked mine in a Pyrex baking dish because that's how my mom used to do it, but it took WAY too long to bake since it was so deep.)
In a large bowl, combine oats, puffed rice cereal, and spices. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, applesauce (do not use chunky applesauce), maple syrup (or honey)and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients along with chopped nuts and stir to combine. Spread on prepared baking sheet(s) in an even layer. (I wasn't paying attention and I added the dried fruit now. I think it came out fine though, because I wanted my fruit to be mixed in the granola clusters.)

Bake for 30 minutes, then turn over the granola carefully using a large wide spatula, and bake for additional 15 minutes, until crisp and golden. Depending on the size of your baking sheet, the center might not be fully dried if your granola layer is thick, so if necessary remove the edges of the cooked granola to a cooling rack and let the rest cook for another 10-15 minutes until done.
Cool on pan or on a wire rack.
Break granola up as desired and stir in dried fruit. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 8 servings, more depending on add-ins.

This granola is so yummy! I ate it plain, out of the pan, and in milk. It would also be delish with yogurt!

Tag...I'm it!

My dahling friend CB, of I Heart Cuppycakes, has tagged me!

These are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

5 Things About Me That You REALLY Wanted to Know (Or Didn't Want to Know at All)

1. I was homeschooled. Kicking and screaming the whole time, but my parents tied me down and kept me there. I believe I got a good education...but I sure did miss having a normal social life.

2. I'm not really a huge fan of chocolate, but I LOVE vanilla. Especially vanilla bean vanilla.

3. I live about 5 blocks away from the beach, and I still haven't been down there yet. (I've only lived here for 2 months though...and it's winter...and I don't surf. I swear I will walk down there in the next couple weeks at the most!)

4. I love to cook, but I really don't like cleaning up dishes. I usually do it anyway though, because cooking in a kitchen full of dirty dishes does NOT work for me.

5. The older I get, the more interested in politics I get. I didn't vote until I was probably 22 years old. I'm VERY interested this year.

Who’s ready to play next…?

I tag:
(sorry if I double-tag anyone...)

Alanna from Two Fat Als
Nina from Love-Sweet-Love
Dawn from My Life in a Nutshell
Beth from The Hagie Life
Nikki from Crazy Delicious

Cupcake Hero: Vanilla Nut Martini Cupcakes

This month's Cupcake Hero challenge was to make cupcakes that included liquor in the cupcakes and/or the frosting. The wheels in my head started quickly turning, and I decided to use the flavors from my favorite martini of all time - the Vanilla Nut Martini. The martini is made with Frangelico and vanilla vodka. Frangelico is such a delicacy...I love the sweet hazelnut flavor. It's an expensive bottle, but OH so worth the money. I adapted a recipe for Amaretto Dream Cupcakes, replacing the Amaretto with Frangelico, and omitting the slivered almonds. I also used the frosting recipe, but omitted the Amaretto, and used 1 t vanilla extract, and a vanilla bean. Every day I kept thinking about how I wanted to do these cupcakes. I decided that the vanilla bean would add a more distinctive vanilla flavor than just plain vanilla. I also wanted to keep my hazelnut and vanilla flavors separate by making the cupcake one flavor, and the frosting the other, rather than combining them.

OH. MY. GOSH.

You would not believe how heavenly these cupcakes are. I was licking the bowl like crazy. It was seriously the yummiest batter I have ever tasted!!!! The cupcakes baked nicely, although my oven is whack. (We got new knobs that don't seem to align properly, and the temperature is never right. It took me an hour to bake my last cupcakes, so I set the temp for 100 degrees hotter this time. They still took 10 extra minutes to bake this time, but whatevs.)


The frosting turned out very nice. I had to use 5 T whipping cream, because I didn't take into account the liquid I was missing from the Amaretto.

I served these cupcakes at our housewarming party, and people were seriously freaking out about how good the cupcakes were. The cupcakes themselves were perfectly moist and soft. The flavor of the Frangelico had baked out a little more than I had hoped, so in the future, I might add just a little bit more. They had a really nice, mellow flavor though. I think it was everyone's opinion that the frosting TOTALLY made the cupcakes. It was SO good. The natural vanilla flavor was so good! I heard someone say it almost tasted like Breyer's vanilla ice cream.

I cannot wait to make these again...they were AWESOME!!!! Everyone at the party asked for the recipe. So, with no more ado...here is the recipe after I made my modifications to it.

Vanilla Nut Martini Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Frangelico

Icing:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
5 T whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
vanilla bean

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add 1/3 of the flour and all of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour and all of the Frangelico, beating well after each addition. Add remaining flour; mix until smooth.

Line regular or mini muffin cups with baking papers. Fill each 2/3 full. Bake at 375ºF for 14-16 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pans for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

For frosting, beat powdered sugar and butter in a small mixing bowl. Scrape out vanilla beans and stir in into sugar mixture until they're evenly distributed. Add whipping cream and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add remaining cream if needed to reach spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cupcakes.

Yield: 24 regular or 48 mini cupcakes.

Spinach & Mushroom Lasagna

(photo from Jesse - mine looked very similar, so since I am sans-camera, I'll show you her pic!)

Last night I made lasagna. I was SO hungry. I didn't feel like cooking, but I had the ingredients in the fridge that needed cooking, and really, I was starving. Unfortunately, the process of cooking and then baking probably took an hour and a half or more, but it's all good. I found this idea on Jesse's blog, "We All Go Poopie" (that name cracks me up) and decided to figure out how to make it myself. She doesn't actually have a recipe on her blog, just a run-through of her ingredients, so I'll try to share my process with you. :)

Lasagna:
lasagna noodles
shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
mascarpone cheese (ricotta will also work well)
shiitake mushrooms (any kind will probably work)
fresh sage
2 bags fresh spinach
1/2 onion
salt & pepper to taste

Bechamel sauce:
1 1/2 T butter
2 T flour
1 C milk
1/2 t salt
1/8 t nutmeg

First, I made a VERY tasty Bechamel sauce. (I didn't know what that was, so I had to look up a recipe.) I melted 1 1/2 T butter in a saucepan, and added a couple tablespoons of flour. I cooked it until it turned golden brown, then added 1 C heavy cream. (The recipe called for milk, but I didn't have any. I think the heavy cream made it even more decadent!) I let it boil, then cooked it for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. I removed it from the heat, and added 1/2 t salt and 1/8 t nutmeg. Then I let it sit until I was ready for it.
Next, I sauteed shiitake mushrooms and fresh sage (from my garden!) in butter. In a separate pan, I sauteed chopped onions in olive oil, and then added two bags of fresh spinach leaves. After they wilted, I added salt & pepper.

Now for the fun part. I spread a little of the Bechamel sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan, then layered no-bake lasagna noodles on top. I spread a bit more Bechamel on top of the noodles, and then spread a third of the spinach on top. This was followed by half of the mushrooms. Then I scattered dollops of mascarpone cheese on top, followed by mozzarella and Parmesan. I put more lasagna noodles on top, and repeated the previous steps. The top layer was just spinach, mozzarella, and Parmesan.

I covered the lasagna with foil, and baked at 375 for 55 minutes. I took the foil off and baked for 5 more minutes, til the cheese was golden.

Yum!

I think it would have been better with chicken, but Mike thought it was pretty good as-is. I like the ease of the no-bake noodles, but I think next time I'll stick with the regular kind.