Let's Get Shnazzy!

So I am well aware of the fact that it is neither Tuesday or Wednesday night, and it is indeed much later that I am posting this but, I must be honest. The creative juices that I feel I need in order to write intriguing posts, was depleted. It has taken up until about now, which it is almost 12am Saturday/Sunday, to regain the will to write. :(
As pathetic as that may be, it is true. But I guess better late than never!

Ok. So what's on the menu for Tuesday, October 26, 2010 you might ask?

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Broccoli-Stuffing Casserole
Cream Cheese twice baked Mashed Potatoes

So, instead of telling you HOW to make them, which a website (allrecipes.com) can simply do, I will just share with you how it went down in our kitchen. Sound good?

It is 12:50 and my last class of the day has ended. HURRAY! time to go home and get the shopping list made. We have tonz of time, dinner could potentially be on the table at a reasonable hour, which has yet to happen.

And a new discovery has been made.... COUPONS! Who doesn't like those?

So between dawdling, finding coupons, and other mindless time killers, dinner still wasn't served till late. Sorry. But let's just say, it was worth the wait. I don't even like ham (which I saved $0.55 on from said coupons) and the cordon-bleu was delicious.

2: Casserole, ehh, it was pretty good, I mean, who doesn't like fresh broccoli. Except for the fact that the recipe called for dry stuffing mix, which we thought was a little odd. Ended up tasting pretty good if you don't mind the crunch, but a quick solution which we found was to put the easy, delicious, wine-free, cordon-bleu sauce right on it. Mmmm... Yummy

3: Take my advice, don't even bother putting the mashed potatoes back in the over, it makes them just.. Hotter?... Wooh :/  just eat it as soon as it's ready. Problem. Solved. Although they were still pretty good I must admit.

I have decided to get readers input on next week. As of now we have yet to pick out a meal for next week and time is drawing closer. I was blessed to have absolutely no homework this week/weekend, but I must assume that this will come to an end very shortly. So please, please, please, if you have a recipe or link to a recipe that you would suggest, feel free to do so.
Also, lastly (I promise) I have noticed that there is a lack of fruits and veggies, basically anything healthy, in our meals, so if you have any veggie recipes, send those first. Ok, thanx, byeeee ^_^

Recipe Links:

• http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Cordon-Bleu-II/Detail.aspx
• http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broccoli-and-Stuffing-Casserole/Detail.aspx
• http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000257790

Breakfast for Dinner

What's for dinner? ..... Breakfast for Dinner!!! yay

No one can EVER go wrong with good old fashioned breakfast for dinner. It's an all-time favorite, and if you don't like it, well, you might need to go to the hospital and get that checked out, because there is something wrong with you.

So this week was indeed breakfast for dinner, but it wasn't just your eggs and toast. We made :

Orange-Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Sausage Pigs in a Blanket
Homemade Hash-browns

Hashbrowns:

• shredded potatoes
• oil
• salt and pepper
• garlic and onion powder

simply shred your potatoes, pour oil in a pan, and once your potatoes are cooking --> flatten them into a patty. Flip and cook opposite sides

Sausage Pigs in a Blanket:

• Crescent Rolls
• Fully Cooked Sausage Links

Cut crescent rolls in half and proceed to make pigs in a blanket. Cook according to crescent rolls instructions.

Orange-Chocolate Chip Pancakes:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Mix together all dry ingredients (excluding chocolate and zest) in one bowl

In bigger, separate bowl, all the liquid ingredients

Sift them together, then add zest and let it sit for about 10mins.

*I found it useful to wait to put the chocolate chips in while I was cooking them, otherwise they will all just fall to the bottom of the bowl (in my experience)

I put honey-butter on my pancakes, and left the syrup for the sausages.

Milk on the side.

Amazing!

Bruschetta Fresca & Coca-Cola Cupcakes

So it's week 3 and here are a few little things that we have learned :

1. Read the ENTIRE recipe before starting
2. Double check the pantry before going to the grocery store
3. Always use less ginger
4. It's usually a good idea to bring a recipe to the grocery store, so that when you're buying ingredients that you won't be using very often, you only get what you need. This can eliminate wasting money on something that will go bad
5. Just because you found it on the internet, doesn't mean that it will taste good.

Now I gave you all a hint last week of what this meal would be, and here it is.... Bruschetta Fresca..

So the bruschetta alone wouldn't be enough to fill everyone up, so we had to make some chicken alfredo to go with it, but the exciting part is the bruschetta anyway

Things you'll need:

1 bakery baguette

8oz. fresh mozzarella cheese

4-6 fresh basil leaves

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomatoes

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Step 1

Preheat the oven on broil 

Cut the baguette into 1/2in. thick slices 

Broil on each side for 1min

Step 2

Cut cheese into small cubes

Combine in medium bowl : garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. 

Stir in cheese, tomatoes, salt, and pepper

Serve with basil leaves on top... 

Ok, now the exciting part (or so we thought)

Coca-Cola Cupcakes... that sounds, well, simply put. AmAzInG!

Well, apparently, Kristin and I are cursed. You see, whenever we cook, we're only allowed to make one delicious thing at a time. Two? are you crazy?

and yes... we followed the recipe exactly, and they were still horrible. They were a horrible texture, horrible taste, horrible frosting. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible I tell you, just simply horrible.
This about sums up our third adventure. We got tonz of laughs out of it, and at the end of the day, we sat down with a glass of coke instead of our coke cupcakes, it was ok tho. We enjoyed the process, and it just made us want to eat more of the bruschetta, and when all was said and done, we hade acquired yet another "dirty recipe".

Now

Because I am so nice, I will enlighten you with what I have brewing in my brain. (haha. pardon the pun) Halloween is coming up, and I'm not the person that gets all into dressing up and trick or treating, but I do think some of the decorations are adorable... Not a fan of the creepy stuff. With this being said, I have taken on the self-inflicted task of baking Halloween Cupcakes...

Since you asked nicely, I will share with you some of my ideas that I have been tossing around. 

You will not know what they are made of tho, you are only allowed to look.

So I have narrowed it down to 3:

So, tell me what you think! If you were to be consuming a hand made cupcake by your truly, which one would you want it to be?

Moroccan Chicken and Banana Pecan Cupcakes

Ok. so it's week 2 and we're all excited and everything, and we're like, "yeah, we got this, we're ridiculously good cooks, lets do something we've never heard of!"

So Kristin and I decided on this recipe that she found online for Moroccan Chicken. So we're checking off ingredients that we need to get at the store, and what we've already got here... you know, making a list, checking it twice.

Shopping.... Check

So we get home... and we decided to measure everything out and put it to the side so we look legit and all, and that's when it hits us. We forgot the ginger!

Shopping Trip #2 .... Check
(mind you, by this time we've already gotten into comfy clothes, which do not match, because we weren't about to change to run back to the store for 5 mins, and yes, everyone was staring at us, including the cashier that we checked out with for the 2nd time in an hour)

So we get home, read the recipe and start. Then something else hits us. It's supposed to marinate overnight!
UGH! - apparently. it pays to read ahead, and not get overly ambitious. But alas, we are bound and determined. We decided to just bake it, and hopefully it would soak up as much of the marinade as possible.. not a bad idea right...... Psych

Long story short.... the chicken sucked

Oh well, at least the Cupcakes were good
I mean, you can't go wrong with the classic banana nut muffins, err.. I mean, cupcakes.
Plus, the frosting was simply powdered sugar and butter. That's it. The End.

So as for our second adventure, it did not go nearly as well as planned, but fear not, we have not been discouraged. Ok, maybe a little bit, but we are very much looking forward to next week's meal.... and since you begged, I'll give you a hint.
Here it is
don't miss it....

The key ingredient is fresh chopped Mozzarella Cheese. Yummy!

So this concludes week 2, and all I have to say is that although the food was nothing to brag about, we enjoyed the process, and now we have acquired "another dirty recipe".

BBQ Chicken Pizza & Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

Ok, so I know it's not "technically" day 1 of this, but, better late than never right?

This was Kristin and I's first "Tasty Tuesday" adventure....
the quest... making something edible

I found this website called foodiereflections.com , it's absolutely fabulous, you should check it out... no seriously, i'm not joking, go do it right now, and you'll see that i'm not lying..

Ok, now that you're back lets continue

As the title elicits, BBQ Chicken Pizza was the dinner we chose, and it was definitely a good choice. Everyone loved it, and it's so simple, a 2yr old could make it. Well, hopefully you're all very wise parents and don't let your toddlers near an over, but you get what I mean.

Basically, you spread out some Pizza Crust, which you can buy in those air-tight containers, just like you buy biscuits and crescents, you roll it (or them for multiple) out onto a baking pan...

Now, meanwhile, you are to thaw out chicken, about a half pound per pizza, and once it is "un-frozen" you rub it in BBQ sauce and bake in the oven for 20-25mins at 350 degrees.

After your chicken is finished, you spread a hefty amount of the BBQ sauce onto the pizza crust, just like you would do for pizza sauce, only it tastes much better than pizza sauce.

Now, concerning cheese (which is the single most important element of a pizza), we decided to do two layers. We sprinkled one "layer one" then cut up the chicken and distributed it throughout the pizza, and then coat it with another "layer" of cheese.

Bake for 13-14mins if you're using a square pan, and 8-10mins if using a round pan, both at 425 degrees.

Ok, so I must be honest.... the REAL recipe called for onions but...... um, we don't like those on our pizza, so we just skipped that part.

NEXT.....

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

ok, so the pizza we made was delicious, and not to discredit it, but.... the cupcakes (which look more like muffins) kicked the pizza's butt.

Thing's you'll need :

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, @ room temp.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cut dark brown sugar (most people have light, and we did too, but we spent the $1.75 or w/e it was just in case)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup apple butter (which is NOT by peanut butter, which would make sense, but it IS by jelly)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups peeled, cored and finely chopped apples, preferably Granny Smith (and if you're like me, those make you squeal, but when they're baked, they add just the right flavor and pizzaz)

FYI : this makes supposedly 30 cupcakes, mine made 24 good sized ones

So preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Sift the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a smaller bown

Then

In a larger bowl,  beat the butter, add the sugar, then mix in the bown sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, then pour 1/3 of the flour mixture in, and 1/2 of the apple butter in, then another 1/3 of the flour mixture and second 1/2 of the apple butter, then the last 1/3 of the flour mixture and all of the sour cream... once finished, fold in the chopped apples.
Bake for 18-20 mins

FrOsTiNg (because that's everyone's favorite part anyway)

1/2 stick unsalted butter @ room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
16oz cream cheese @ room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup apple butter

combine the butter and brown sugar in large bowl and beat. Then add the cream cheese and beat, then the powdered sugar, then the apple butter..

and Voila.... the most delicious frosting you've ever tasted in your life

by now you're probably thinking to yourself. "wow, this was a bunch of rambling that I probably could've just read on the website that you even gave me."
well... I'm almost finished, so just give me a sec.

As we were cooking and baking, there's ingredients flying all over the place, and it's a good thing we clean up as we go, but, SOMEHOW, our recipe's get food all over them, and it dawned on me. You know, it's only been recently that I've gotten into and really enjoyed working with my favorite thing on earth (food), and having food all over my recipe's somehow goes right past my OCD and need for absolute organization, and makes me feel like somewhat of a cook (or chef, cause apparently "cook" is offensive).

So why don't you go treat your 2yr olds that were aforementioned, to some delicious, and somehow kiddy foods, and accumulate 'another dirty recipe'.