Dinner Out

I have come to LOVE LOVE LOVE sushi! Yes, I use to dislike fish. My roommate in college introduced me to sushi while we were in college, thanks Tiff! The first time I tried it I didn't like it very much. I couldn't get past the whole texture thing. However I started out with the fried rolls the first few times, like Shrimp tempura (yeah I know this isn't REAL sushi but it's so delicious!), and now I have started to love real, raw sushi. I went to dinner with a friend this last week and since Dave hates fish I jump at the chance to get sushi anytime I meet friends for dinner. I try to pick new things to try each time I go. I love the presentation, I think it definitely adds to the flavor, everything always looks so good. It's such artwork when they set the plate down in front of you, so I had to take a picture of my delicious meal and my friend Cassie's even though she got Chicken teriyaki.

Strawberry Heaven

In celebration of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month and my co-worker Tami's birthday (who picked this weeks flavor) I made strawberry cupcakes with a strawberry cream cheese frosting. Both recipes are from Martha Stewart, the cupcake recipe is all over the Internet. So many people have tried this recipe out that I wanted to see what the big deal was and have been waiting for the perfect occasion to made them. I must admit after making them and trying them, I was not impressed with the cupcake cake. It just wasn't enough strawberry flavor for me and too dense. So I will be on the hunt for the perfect strawberry cake recipe. However I was blown away by the frosting! It seriously really does taste like strawberry ice cream!!! I think I could sit down with a bowl of this frosting and eat it with a spoon it's that good!! In fact I have some left over and that thought is pretty tempting...hmmm.

The cupcakes and frosting are both a very light pink, I swear, I just have a cheap camera that doesn't take very good "detail" picture (hint, hint Christmas present Dave :)) I bought a container of fondant from Michael's awhile ago and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. I used a small flower cutter to cut out a dozen flowers and used an edible marker to write "Check your Ta Ta's" on them. I've actually never tasted fondant before and wasn't sure what to expect as I've heard it's not very good, but to my surprise it really wasn't that bad at all. On the other dozen cupcakes I wanted to make pink ribbons. For these I melted 4 squares of white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, added a small amount of pink gel to make the chocolate light pink. I let the chocolate cool slightly and poured it into a squeeze bottle. I printed off a page of ribbons which I laid under wax paper and then used traces the ribbons in chocolate. I then put the wax paper with chocolate ribbons in a cookie sheet and places in the refrigerator to harden overnight until I assembled my cupcakes the next day.

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake
Makes 1 dozen.

• 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

• 1/2 cup whole strawberries
• 1 stick unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
• 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, slightly cold
• 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 22 ounces of confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1.4 pounds)
  

Directions:

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not over mix or frosting will incorporate too much air.

Note: The frosting is able to be piped, but is on the soft side and definitely needs to be refrigerated!

For The Dogs

Yesterday was our dog Maddux's 4th birthday. Yes we celebrate our dogs birthday's, hey we don't have any kids yet so we are still obsessed with our furbabies! So in honor of his birthday I decided to try my hand at making a doggie birthday cake or what I like to call a "pupcake"! I'm not a fan of feeding my dogs chocolate like treats (carob powder is the chocolate like substitute used), as I don't want them to mistake real chocolate for dog treats, so I looked around on-line for awhile until I found exactly what a wanted, peanut butter!

See doesn't it look good enough to eat!?! With the ingredients used below, it smelled good mixing together.

I decorated the cake with low-fat yogurt for the frosting. I reserved a small amount and used a couple drops of food coloring to make a light orange color (I thought I'd play off the carrots in the cake). I later added a few sprinkles right before serving. There are sugar-free sprinkles you can use if you can find them but I read that using regular ones are fine as well, plus I didn't use very much.

Peanut Butter Delight

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8" round cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool. Puree cottage cheese in blender for icing. Decorate with more peanut butter and carrots.

This was my first attempt at making anything home made for my dogs and it turned out pretty well. As you can see from the above picture they loved it! I might have to try making dog treats and biscuits.

Websites I used:

http://www.dog-treat-recipe-exchange.com/dog_birthday_cake_recipes.html

http://www.dogbirthdaysandparties.com/

Autumn Dinner

I've kind of been in denial of it being Fall already. I'm just not ready for the warm weather to disappear! But I have come to love these cool nights and warm days, even with it getting dark around 7:00pm and soon 6:30pm, then 6:00pm... you get the picture. I decided to kick October off with a nice Fall-like dinner which included a new recipe I've never tried, Loaded Baked Potato Soup with Beer Bread! Beer bread is one of the easiest breads to make because it involves four ingredients which take 5 minutes to combine and then the rest of the time it's in the oven. I've only made beer bread a few times and I don't think it's ever been the same recipe. The last time I used the Tastefully Simple mixes but that's not homemade and I'm all about the made from scratch lately. I found this beer bread recipe on My Baking Addiction.

Beer Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 12 oz beer
• 2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8x4 inch loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, salt, and beer. Mix well. The mixture will be sticky. Pour into the loaf pan and back for 55 minutes. At the last three minutes of baking, remove from oven and brush the top of the loaf with the melted butter and return to oven for the final three minutes of baking.

When pouring in the beer, the reaction will cause it to become foamy

Sticky dough.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens NEW Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 large baking potatoes, about 8 oz each (I actually used 3)

• 6 Tbsp thinly sliced green onions, about 3

• 3 Tbsp butter

• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

• 2 tsp fresh dill or chives or 1/4 tsp dried dill

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 4 cups milk

• 1-1/4 cups shredded American cheese

• 4 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled
  

Directions:

Scrub potatoes, pat dry. Prick potatoes with a fork. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 40-60 minutes or until tender. Or if your impatient you could be like and just microwave your potatoes. Cool. Cut each potato lengthwise, scoop out white portion of each potato. Break up any large pieces of potato; set aside. Discard the skins.

In a large saucepan cook 3 Tbsp of the green onions in hot butter over medium heat until tender. Stir in flour, dill, salt, and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir for 12-15 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Add the potato and i cup of the cheese, stir until cheese melts. Top each serving with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese, remaining 3 Tbsp green onion, and bacon. And ENJOY!

It was delicious! I like the combo together. The beer bread is a nice thick bread to dip into the hearty soup, it holds its own.

Chicken Quesadillas

Texas Chicken Quesadillas

This recipes comes from Allrecipes.com which had well over 100 reviews (which is how I pick my recipes). These were very easy to make and really good. I minced up some garlic cloves and added to the onions and served with sour cream and salsa and a side of fresh sweet corn on the cob!

Everything you need

Ready for the oven

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 onion, sliced into rings
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
• 1/2 cup barbeque sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Slowly cook and stir onion until translucent. Mix in honey. Stir until onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Place remaining oil and chicken in the skillet over medium high heat. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in barbeque sauce and evenly coat chicken. Layer 4 tortillas individually with chicken, onions, Cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese. Top with remaining tortillas. One or two at a time, place layered tortillas on a large baking sheet. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Do not let tortillas become too crisp. Remove from heat. Cut into quarters to serve.

Coming Next:

Beer Bread and Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Practice Makes Perfect

I thought since I would eventually like to actually decorate a real cake I should practice my piping skills. Now remember this is really my first time actually trying to pipe any sort of decorating with my cake tips. Piping frosting on a cupcake is a totally different thing then on a cake. So here is my first test run.....

I don't think it's too bad for a first timer....

Obviously I need LOTS more practice...

But really not too bad right?!?!

Bite-Size Tacos

Earlier this week I hosted a jewelry party and wanted to make a few appetizers. I wanted them to be quick and easy to make as I wouldn't have a lot of time from after I got off work till guests arrives. I was thinking finger foods. I previous came across this easy recipes on My Baking Addiction and thought these would be perfect! And my guests loved them! Perfect finger food for kids too.

Picture courtsey My Baking Addition, I forgot to photograph my own.

Bite Size Tacos
Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive olive
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• Tostitos Scoops
• Optional Taco Condiments: shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, hot sauce

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and saute the chopped onion until soft.

2. Add in ground beef and cook until browned and thoroughly cooked.

3. Add taco seasoning and follow package directions.

4. Assemble the meat and condiments into the scoops and serve.