Happy Halloween!

I made my first batch of Halloween cupcakes for a Halloween party we went to last night. They were so much fun and easy to make. There's no wrong way to decorate a cupcake but having a theme sure makes them more fun! Hope everyone has a great Halloween and stays safe trick or treating!

Make Now Bake Later

I love baking but there are times I don't feel like it or I just don't have enough time. I've always wanted to try to freeze cupcakes. I know you can bake cupcakes and THEN freeze them but I've always been to nervous because I want them to still taste fresh when eaten. I recently came across this website with 3 ways to freeze cupcake batter! That means all you have to do is mix all the ingredients now and then bake them later. Now any one of these three ideas will work just fine, however I prefer to stick with the first or third ways just because they are easier and less time is involved of course. I recently tried out the first way, freezing the batter in the wrappers and I LOVED IT! This is a great option to use if you have unexpected company coming or your short on time. They go from freezer to oven and that's it. You can then either whip up your favorite frosting or use a pre-made store brand kind.

For option 1, Freeze batter in wrappers, you make your cupcake batter as directed, line your muffin trays like normal, and then fill the cups. Cover with plastic wrap tightly (so it doesn't drag on the surface) and freeze. Once frozen, remove tray and toss the cupcakes into a ziploc bag and remove as much air as possible. When your ready to bake them put them back in the muffin tin and you can either allow them to come to room temperature before baking or leave them in the oven for an extra 5 to 7 minutes. See super easy!!

Frozen cupcake batter

Put frozen cups in freezer bag and throw them in the freezer for a rainy day, or a day your craving cupcakes but don't want to do the dirty work.

I put my frozen cupcakes straight into the oven while it was preheating, once the oven had reached the desired temperature I baked them for the same time normally needed.

Pumpkin Time!

One of my favorite things about Fall is all the pumpkins that are ready to be picked and used for decorating, carving and baking! This year was the first year my father-in-law planted a pumpkin patch out in our garden. With the so called "pumpkin shortage" there apparently was this year I was very happy he planted them. My husband said we should sell them to our friends to make some money! We weren't sure how well the pumpkins would do but we ended up actually having a REAL pumpkin patch! My FIL thought we would get more pumpkins then we did but I picked 20 pumpkins!!! TWENTY PUMPKINS! I think that's a pretty good year, especially being our first year planting them. So what do you do with that many pumpkins?!?!

Our growing pumpkins!

The perfect pumpkins for carving! I picked four of them of course (one for me, one for my husband and one for each dog!) The dogs are so ready to get their pumpkins carved in this picture, ha ha!

Now what to do with all these pumpkins? I gave a couple away but with the rest of them I'm going to use them for baking! I have many pumpkin recipes that I've used in the past and new ones I want to try (cupcakes, cheesecake, bread, muffins, pancakes, etc) and using fresh pumpkin is suppose to be the best. Of course all these recipes will be coming up in the next couple months so stay tuned. As for now, it's pumpkin carving time and the main reason I love carving pumpkins is roasting the pumpkin seeds!! And I am NOT is short supply of those this year, remember 20 pumpkins! This week I sat down and cleaned out our four pumpkins and turned them into jack-o-lanterns. Dave took a look at them and asked me "Where's the happy one?" Jack-o-lanterns aren't happy, their suppose to be scary! Although I think two of them look more scared then scary.

Now making pumpkins seeds take a little more. I divide the seeds into one bowl and put all the pulp in a garbage bowl. Pumpkin seeds are extremely slipper suckers so beware! Once I have all the seeds out for all the pumpkins I'll soak them in a large bowl of water and squish the pulp to pull away from the seeds. I then put the seeds in a large colander and rinse with water a few times until the seeds are completely clean. Once clean I usually soak in salt water for a while then drain, season as desired and put them in the oven for roasting. I usually just coat my seeds with some extra virgin olive oil (evoo) and salt. This year I have two recipes I used this year that I got off allrecipes.com.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
• 2 Tbs butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

• 1 1/2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Combine the margarine, salt, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce and pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly and place in shallow baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

What's your favorite Comfort Food?

I have many, but mac & cheese is definitely one of them and NOT from the box!! So I am on the hunt for some good homemade macaroni and cheese recipes. My first recipe to try comes from The Pioneer Women , which I found on another blog ( just can't remember which one) that had some rave reviews. I've seen recipes from The Pioneer Women all over the Internet so I thought this would be a good place to start.

Doesn't this look delicious? It was a pretty quick and easy recipe to follow and lucky enough for me, I already had all the ingredients so no extra trip to the store which is even better! You can choose to bake your mac & cheese or not, either way it's still good! I decided to throw mine in the oven afterwards because 1. it gives me an excuse to add extra cheese on top and all for more cheese, and 2. I like getting that crisp golden top layer I think it just adds more to the texture when you first bite in! Yum!

Macaroni and Cheese Ingredients

• 4 cups dried macaroni
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 tsp dry mustard, more if desired
• 1 egg
• 1 lb cheese, grated
• 1/2 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt, more to taste
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• Optional Spices: cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme

Directions:
Cook macaroni as directed on package. In a small bowl, beat egg, set aside. In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Don't let it burn.

Pour in milk, add mustard and whisk until smooth. Cook for 5 minutes until very thick, reduce heat to low. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. Whisk together till smooth. Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly, stir until smooth.

Add in cheese and stir to melt. Add salts and pepper. Taste sauce ans add more salt and seasoned salt as needed. Do Not Undersalt. Pour in drained, cook macaroni and stir to combine.

Serve immediately OR pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

And it's Time to Eat!

Red Lobster Biscuits

One of my favorite things from Red Lobster has nothing to do with the seafood but it's their biscuits! Those cheddar cheese biscuits are just so good I could eat an entire basket by myself before they set my drink down. And now I can have them anytime I want! There's nothing like the real thing but these come close. Brushing the melted butter on top after they bake is a must. These are really easy and fast to throw together in no time!

Red Lobster Biscuits

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 450. In a medium bowl mix Bisquick, milk and cheese until blended, batter will be thick. Drop by tablespoons on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Mix together butter and garlic powder and brush onto biscuits with pastry brush immediately after removing from oven.

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.