2012 in review... sorta

Too many yummy things made...

But we wish a fond farewell and RIP to the beloved twinkie... the latest lemon filled version featured prominently in a lovely lemon berry trifle this summer.

More blogging in 2013... I promise.

Uh oh... it's been far too long...

So I will appease the bloggie gods with this recipe and hopefully add the picture later...

Crockpot Spaghetti

1 jar spaghetti sauce
spaghetti noodles - a good generous handful, broken
Meatballs

Put 1/2 the sauce in the bottom of your crockpot instert. Then add the broken - UNCOOKED - spaghetti and the meatballs. Pour remaining sauce over the top and add water to your jar - 1/2 full ... swish to get all the saucy goodness and pour in. place lid on crockpot and plug in. Cook on low for 5 - 8 hours. serve with parmesean cheese, green salad with italian dressing, crusty french bread or garlic breadsticks and spumoni ice cream for dessert.

say it together now.... ON THE MENU!

Hunger Games Movie food recap...

District 11 bread - a crescent moon shaped bread, studded with seeds. Interpreted as crescent rolls, rolled up with honey butter and with an egg wash and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Mini Cinna-mon rolls for our favorite designer - recipe and discription is previous on the blog.

Reaping day cupcakes - May the odds be ever in YOUR favor... mini snickers, milky way and 3 musketeers candy bars, baked in a chocolate cupcake, frosted with cream cheese frosting and varied sprinkles.

Girl on fire cupcakes... celebrate the tribute from District 12 with these chocolate cupcakes featuring mini oreos baked inside, a cookies and creme frosting, dusted liberally with coal dust... oreo dust and decorated with fire... orange/yellow striped frosting.

Also available was: cinnamon roasted almonds, mixed dried berries, beef jerkey, Peeta Chips and hummus.  a good time was had by all at the midnight show.

I'd do it all again and it's totally on my menu!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars... or 3 weeks of bake sale ... i must be crazy...

So... I actually haven't minded the constant baking that happens around here lately. I may or may not be down with it next year. LOL The beauty of this year is though that I haven't really had to buy much to work with. I have managed to deplete my stocks of mixes and baking things but that's a good thing as I need to get more anyway.

Of course, with a bit more thought and planning, any month long fundraising project could stand to have a bake sale every other week.  But I will admit to secretly calling this a tasting menu for future projects. You know, that dream one of having my own bakery/cafe with premises? Yeah, that one that won't happen for quite some time.

It has lead to continued thoughts of starting some sort of in your home party catering business ... themed dinner or birthday parties... a party for friends or for a game day... you know, the sort where we get together and plan a menu and you pay me a set amount for a certain menu and I get the groceries and come to your home to cook all day so that you don't have to... but making it so your home smells really really good when it's time to entertain and for a certain amount of money, I may even agree to clean up as well as serve if you want. Of course, if you have a dishwasher, even better ... and you get to keep the leftovers.

But I'm pretty sure that these bars would play a lovely feature role of any dessert menu, maybe served warm with some ice cream on top. So here they are...

PB & J Bars

1 pkg Peanut Butter Cookie mix
1 Egg
1 stick of butter - melted
Jam or Jelly - your choice.

Heat oven to the temperature listed on cookie package. Spray 9x9 pan with cooking spray.

**IMPORTANT**   You MUST disregard whatever it says about what is needed on your package of mix.  ONLY use the 1 egg and the stick of butter. okay? okay.

Mix the cookie dough mix, egg and melted butter together until smooth. Place 3/4 of it into the pan and pat down into even layer. this will be fairly thick and that's fine. Bake for 5-8 minutes until mostly set.

Pull pan out and spread jam or jelly on top. I used about a 1/2 cup of homemade raspberry jam and then dotted the top of that with teaspons of store bought seedless blackberry jam. Why? Well, the homemade jam is rather thin and wasn't quite enough to give a nice coating of jam to my liking. The effect was really nice... a bit of a mixed berry sort of thing.   Put the rest of the cookie dough on top - dropping it in drips and drabs to create a mixed looking top and so that you can see the jam through it.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, checking it every few minutes or so after 10 minutes to see how dark it is getting. You may need to bake a bit longer as you want the top to be golden brown and the jam underneath bubbling.

Cool. Cut into squares or rectangles when cooled. Again, could skip complete cooling and serve warm with ice cream.

mm mm gooooood....

totally and completely on the menu.

Happy Hunger Games.... Hungry?

Well.... it's been out for a bit and I still haven't made it back to watch the movie again at a 'non Midnight' show. But I will be there soon. It's become a bit of a fascination ... some may say obsession but I'm trying to get things done that don't involve these characters. LOL

In the mean time... enjoy some lovely Cinna-mon rolls in honor of our favorite District 12 stylist.

How to make them:

1 tube crescent rolls or seamless crescent sheets

butter - melted

cinnamon... ground

brown sugar, preferably dark.

cream cheese frosting

Heat oven to the temperature specified on the dough tube.

butter mini muffin tins with the melted butter.

unroll the dough and spread liberally with melted butter. sprinkle with ground cinnamon and cover with heavy helping of brown sugar. roll up and slice into 12 rolls. Place in the mini muffin tins and

bake for 8-12 minutes until golden brown. let cool for 5-10 minutes - brush with more melted butter while warm. After removing from tins, drizzle or spread with the frosting.

enjoy while waiting in line for the movie... erm... for breakfast warmed up with lots of crispy bacon.

so totally on the menu...! 

recipe 3 - late due to weather... LOL

SuperBowl Guacamole

modified to serve one... 2 servings but one... LOL

1 avocado, halved and pitted
1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 quarter red onion, chopped.

smash avocado with lime juice, add salt and pepper. stir in red onion. serve with chips or on top of nachos or taco salad.

YUMMY!

NOTE: do not wait until the superbowl to eat this, it's incredible and you should have it at least once a month...

ON THE MENU!!!!

Recipe #2 - Stay in Bed Mimosas

The recipe calls for champange or prosecco but I don't drink so substituted sparkling water. ... just so you know.

it also calls for 'melting' sorbet in a saucepan over medium heat until slightly melted. I skipped that too. LOL

so I guess this drink, lovely as it is, should be called inspired by the recipe in the book.

seeing as I made it for one... as well.

Mimosa... I thought that was orange juice required ... guess not so this is more like a sorbet sparkling water float... LOL

2 -3 small scoops mango sorbet (bought small serving size container for $1.29 at safeway. just enough for 2 drinks as wanted...)

sparkling water (arrowhead lime flavored... $1 at safeway... fyi...)

let sorbet melt a bit in your glass before adding water. bonus points if the water has slushed overnight in the fridge...

stir to blend and enjoy.

not bad.

don't really need to make it again... I'm having a better time drinking berry pomegranite mio drink enhancer squirted into that slushy sparkling water now anyway... will probably just eat the last bit of sorbet! LOL

could be on the menu again... perhaps as raspberry sorbet with a splash of lemonade and lemon essence water...

100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know

I have very messy counter space. I just realized that. I also have realized that I want a bigger food processor so at some point, I think I will be investing in one. This one's nice but gets crowded quickly and I think it may have impacted my final product.

Anyway...

Goal 4 for 2012 is to make at least one recipe a week from the cookbook mentioned in the title. And since it is week one, here is the first recipe. (almost a non recipe but I am committing to working with what I have on hand and I had banana's almost ready to turn on me so here it is...)

Secretly Good for You Banana Soft Serve

2 to 3 frozen peeled bananas, broken into pieces (I peeled 2 bananas and sliced them into thick chunks before freezing them. Stuck them in the freezer before work and had this after dinner...)

Cocoa powder or ground Cinnamon - for sprinkling (optional)

Other toppings (optional)

1. In a food processor, process the bananas for about 5 minutes, stopping a few times to scrape down the sides. As each minute passes, the bananas will get light and fluffy and take on a creamy texture - sort of like soft serve!

2. Serve. Can be sprinkled with cocoa powder or cinnamon or served with sliced fruit, whipped cream or as I did - drizzled with chocolate syrup for a chocolate covered banana effect.

It was really good. I had a doubt or two that it would really be that soft and creamy but it was. I still have about 1 frozen banana due to how small my processor is so I will be making this again or adding it to a smoothie...

On the menu, for sure as a quick and easy fix for a dairy free dessert.

cranberry sauce 2011

Recipe:

1 bag cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1 to 1 1/2 C Orange Juice
1/2 C water
1/4 C maple syrup
12 oz raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 Sugar - to taste, may need a bit more
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

If needed - 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed into a slurry with a bit of water to thicken

(if frozen berries are used, you will probably need the cornstarch as it will have a bit more liquid)

Put all ingredients except the optional cornstarch into pot and bring to a boil, stirring often to reduce sticking. Reduce heat once most of the cranberries have 'popped' and simmer on low until sauce has reduced and thickened.

If sauce has reduced but not thickened enough, then add in the cornstarch.

also - if you don't want the raspberries to break down as much as the cranberries then I wouldn't add them in until the simmering process.

Uses: with turkey... duh... LOL or mix about a 1/4 cup of sauce with an 8 oz pack of cream cheese and use on bagels, with or without sliced turkey on top. yummy!

very, very much on the menu

Food Memories are forever... part 1

Food memories... we all have them. WE all have things that instantly take us back in time to different memories. Starting a new thing that I think will be fun ..... starting then, with the food memories of.....

that's right... Diet Coke! Mmmmmm .....

Why did I think to start with this food? Well... you know how sometimes, something just tastes a certain way and it just makes you go back in time? Yeah, that feeling? well... that's what happened earlier this week. the slightly flat, a faint bit warm taste of my Diet Coke that I finished off at work the following morning took me straight back to my days in high school.

Maybe it was Jr. High... hmm. anyway. the memory that the taste of that soda envoked was one from going to a basketball game... arriving during the JV game and buying something to eat, a candy of some sort and a paper cup - the wax coated one, mind you - of ice and diet coke. I'd eat everything else and basically sip that soda through out the game and well into the varsity game. By the end of the game, the cup was limp and would collapse at the slightest touch and the soda had gone pretty much watered down and flat but it was still something I drank because I bought it.

I'm not saying that we didn't drink soda - but it was mostly root beer, sprite or 7up and things like that. I drank diet coke or dr. pepper whenever I had the chance because it's not what I could get at home and usually was something reserved for a sporting event or movie. sometimes when eating out.

I think it was also in a misguided attempt at weight control. My almost 20 year struggle with weight has been enlightened over the last couple years with the fact that diet isn't always best for helping you lose weight.

Diet coke is the drink of movies and red robin and Disneyland.

It's the soda that I used to sneak as much as possible ... it went really well with the pop tarts and cookie dough that I used to buy at the student store.

It became the go-to drink when it became apparent that I could give up crystal light or diet coke but not both of them at the same time.

I love it in cherry... in vanilla - I miss it in vanilla... don't mind it with lime ... hate it with lemon and splenda. fine, fine... caffeine free is okay too. and it was an okay drink to nurse all night long when hanging out watching a show at a bar... or comedy club.

it was the drink that made it's way into the tiny courtesy cups at the theatre when we could drink what we wanted in our own cup or the courtesy cups... it's the flavor I long to see in a slurpee... and can now make into my own slurpee thanks to my recent fair purchase... only 6 more to go and it's paid for itself. LOL

Roller skating rinks... hockey games. McDonalds monopoly games... again, disneyland!! ... Diet coke is a part of all those memories.

and still ... in moderation... and on occasion... on the menu.

chocolate peanut butter no bake cheesecake

YUMMY!

on my other blog, I had already waxed poetical over the ease of a no bake cheesecake. but here's a post for this one... perhaps my favorite version of it... Chocolate Peanut Butter!

1 graham cracker or oreo crust

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar or splenda

1 8 oz tub cool whip - your choice: regular, lite, fat free or sugar free

1/4 to 1/2 C creamy peanut butter

1/2 C chocolate chips

Mix together cream cheese, sweetner of choice and blend until smooth. fold or mix in cool whip. set aside.

melt the chocolate chips in microwave or over double boiler until smooth when stirred... 30 seconds to 1 minute in microwave. Pull out about a cup of the mixed cream cheese mixture and stir in the chocolate.

mix the peanut butter into remaining amount. the amount of peanut butter is negotiable depending on how 'peanutty' you want it. it does become more prominent as it sits so you may want to do this before the chocolate step and then add more if you want it.

Assembly:

spread 1/2 of your chocolate mixture on the bottom of the crust. carefully spread the entire peanut butter mix on top and top with remaining chocolate part. swirl this to show both flavors as you will not have enough to totally top it.

(you could of course put all the chocolate on the bottom and then top the whole thing with hot fudge sundae topping - this thickens quite nicely and smoothly and is just a decadant topper.)

chill well...you can freeze... and serve ...

*sigh*

love it on my menu!

Orange and chocolate sandwich cookies

Totally simple and easy...

1 betty crocker sugar cookie mix
1 egg
1 stick of butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1 tbsp orange marmalade
1 container chocolate fudge frosting

mix everything but the frosting together and chill. scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet using mini cookie scoop. bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. cool on rack. when cooled, spread one cookie with frosting and sandwich. can also use chocolate ice cream instead of frosting and serve as ice cream sandwiches.

these are so awesome, especially if you love chocolate orange. If you cook them to the lower time allowed, they'll be a little chewy which is nice with the frosting too. :)

so absolutely totally on the menu...

the perfect summer accessory...

Nutter Butter Flip Flops!!!!
These are so adorable and sooooo easy to make.

1 package Nutter Butters
Wilton Candy Melts or chocolate chips
large flower sprinkles or mini M & M's

Melt the candy melts and use a piping bag, squeeze bottle or sandwich bag with a tiny corner cut off. Pipe the straps to your flip flops and place your sprinkle or candy on the point where it would be the toe. Allow to dry and serve.

These are always a huge hit at work and so easy and quick to make. The ones above only cost $3.25 to make which is the cost of the cookies because I just used other supplies I had on hand.

so totally on the menu for any beach or luau themed party. :)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Well, fine... a little early... LOL

and that's not the greatest picture but it does it's job.

It's what you get when you add food coloring to white cake and bake it... and color the frosting and then chill separately and combine.

How fun was that?

I call the above plating: firework

and it's on the menu...

well....

This is most of what I had to start with on hand... the left over pizza was good for two meals... the blueberries lasted for 3... the left over fajita stuff for 2... well... one... one good in theory but not in execution.

I only spent $17 on groceries this week because of having things on hand as you can see.

I have come to the conclusion that I need to up the goal to $30 a week because I will not always have leftovers and staples on hand to work with. I had a few separate budgets this week as well so I don't feel that I really did a good job with it.

So... will shelve the project in favor of just making sure to keep my fast food eating under control, which does allow me to actually focus on having a focused grocery list. I haven't filled up my fridge with frivolous purchases this week, which has been refreshing.

This week: company coming on Friday ... and need to make a cheesecake for work. So will resume my goal then of trying to post more this month for sure. I may make July a challenge month of trying to blog every day - or not, because I do have a vacation in there and not all of it will have a good internet connection. hmm... we'll see.

Grocery update....

Okay... off and running today...

Spent $3.55 at grocery outlet on juice, feta cheese and some fizzy water. Not too bad of a start...

Did not stop and get the other things yet because well... I still have them and maybe I don't need to buy everything all in one shopping stop.

The ads change tomorrow... (will post fridge pictures soon...) but here's the run down... today... I ate- out of my fridge... well, and counter:

1 strawberry lemonade cupcake - YUMMY!!!!

1 container strawberry/banana yogurt with about a cup of blueberries
2 slices left over pizza
1 single serve hummus with pretzels from my desk at work.

2 cheese quesadilas

1 fantastically yummy peanut butter cup cupcake.

no pictures of the cupcakes... they were way too yummy to stop and take a picture. Will try to have more resolve later and do so... in the mean time... www.pinkabellacupcakes.com is the website *swoon*

tried: peanut butter cup, strawberry lemonade, root beer float and salted caramel.

lovely, lovely...

right now - the salted caramel is better from cupcake royale, but only because the frosting is more of a caramel ganache type thick and gooey frosting. this one is a lightly caramel butter cream - still yummy but not what I'm looking for.

all and all - on the menu!

coming soon...

New Bloggy fun!!!!

On my other blog, I'm launching a challenge to myself to track my fast food eating ... coffee eating ... etc... starting June 1. I predicted that I would/could potentially log in 50 times that this is the case for my eating.

I can cook. really.

I just don't do it that often.

1. I despise most leftovers.

2. I hate cooking for just me.

therefore, I really don't like to cook for just me. It would be totally different if there was someone else to cook for. I really can count on one hand just what I cook that I don't mind eating for leftovers - and it's really less than 5.

So... what typically happens is I will get inspired to make something... buy a whole bunch of special ingredients and then between the shopping and home, decide that fast food is better because... oh, I forgot something. I'll make it tomorrow.

tomorrow comes... stop and purchase the 1 crucial ingredient and decide again, not in to cooking.

by the time I cook... the original idea is totally skipped and the ingredients are turned into something else and then either I barely eat a serving... or... I never make anything at all and end up wasting money because I throw it away.

I really... really... need someone else to cook for.

So here's the bloggy fun.

I am going to try and make it through each week by only spending $20 on groceries. There is a separate fast food and coffee budget. Most of my grocery money is spent on lunch and breakfast stuff anyway, but I'm going to try and do a couple dinners a week too.

For instance, at the end of this week, I have tickets to the Seattle Storm game.. Saturday will be a fast food day for sure. Sunday may as well, as I have Mariner tickets. Today, is a holiday so where I have splurged on a fast food lunch, and cupcakes from a new find at the mall (pinkabella - $3 each but so far, I LOOOOVE the 2 I've eaten...) Plus - it's not June yet... the fast food thing starts on Wednesday.

But the grocery thing starts today. Well, technically tomorrow because I have not needed to shop today. So tomorrow, I will take pictures of what I have on hand to work with and then go out to limit myself to $20 of groceries. That does include the staples - milk... etc. So that grocery budget could fluctuate a bit depending on what I'm out of. Just had company so a little low on milk, but we didn't eat the bread so I have a whole loaf to work with.

I'm starting to get a bit excited by the prospect. LOL

See you soon... with some creative stuff on the menu! (I hope...)

I lied...

I didn't mean to...

But I really didn't feel like discussing at length how to make the cupcake thingy's. So... www.bakerella.com visit her site! She is the one I grabbed the idea from. She's got tons of ideas and a book! But... I prefer to make them cupcakes all the time.

So, now on two what is on my menu!

My version of Chile Colorado!

In the crockpot:

1 large can red enchilada sauce

1 14 oz can pumpkin

1 can french onion soup

1 package taco or chili seasoning

Stir well.

Add:

2 pounds beef stew meat seasoned with salt, pepper and a dash or two... four... of worchestshire sauce.

Cook in crockpot for 6 to 8 hours, until meat is fork tender.

At the 6 to 8 hour mark, mix a little cornstarch with water and stir in - I like mine a little thicker.

You can eat it in tortillas or over noodles... or as pictured above - over rice, covered with shredded cheese and served with a side of tortilla chips and salsa with sour cream

YUMMMMM!

totally, completely on the menu (and on the menu as leftovers too!)

Just a little visual...

More later next time as I explain more about making these sweet little cupcakes....

2011

Happy New Year!!!

I'd meant to post this closer to Christmas but time got in a huge rush and sped on by me. The picture you see above is a picture of the only Christmas Cookies that I managed to make and the recipe is one of simple nature. They have been very popular and I think I will definitely be making them more frequently.

Peppermint Cookie Cups

1 pkg sugar cookie mix
1 stick butter
1 egg
1/2 bottle peppermint extract
Dark Chocolate Hershey Kisses
Red wilton candy melts
crushed candy canes

Mix the sugar cookies with the butter, egg and extract. Put into mini muffin tins and bake according to directions on cookie mix package.

Pull tin out of oven and insert kiss upside down into the cookie. Cool slightly in tins before removing cookie and repeating process as needed. Cool on rack until kiss turns mostly solid again.

Drizzle with melted candy melts and sprinkle with the candy.

Freezes well and stores well... and

totally on the menu!