"I made THIS and there is no milk in the house?! Seriously...?!"

I got started blogging a little over a year ago after stumbling upon the foodie blog, Kacey's Kitchen. Not only is she all around awesome (the girl does roller derby for goodness sake!), Kacey's blog is engaging, fun to read, and effing hilarious!!! She even emailed me back after I sent her a quick admiring note instead of treating me like the food blog creeper I am WOO HOO!!! The name of my blog is actually a tribute to Kacey and her food bloggy awesomeness....not just a lack of creativity FYI.... ;)

As of the writing of this post, her latest entry was something that was so mind blowing, I had to attempt it the first chance I got. To quote from Kacey:

Do you need something to completely blow your co-workers minds? Do you need to leave your friends in a sugar coma for a week? Do you need a dessert that is simple to make??? Hell yeah you do!!!

Go forth and make these, now. Just be sure to have a gallon of milk on hand and a nice cozy spot to nap after you've pigged out on them!

Yes, yes, and yes!

Kacey's Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 Cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 oz bag chocolate chips
• 1 bag Oreo Cookies, (Like Kacey, I used the double stuff -- go big or go home!!!)   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until well combined. I cut my butter into chunks and let them sit until they were room temperature. If you've read my other baking post...you know that I've learned this lesson the hard way!

Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda (I sifted mine just to be sure).

Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.

 

Using a cookie scoop, take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough.

Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes (mine were perfect at 10min) or until cookies are baked to your liking.

Look at him...TAUNTING ME with the minutes left to bake!!! *Shakes fist!!!*

Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Serve with a tall glass of milk, enjoy!

And yes, the title of this blog entry is true. Can you believe I don't have any milk in the house?! With this kind of karma, you'd think that I kicked a puppy/made a child cry on purpose/cut in front of a little old lady in the grocery store line or something! To put the universe into balance again, I am bringing these to share with my coworkers tomorrow...lucky them right?!

P.S. As an added bonus, I have a KILLER chocolate cookie recipe now! EEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Happy eating!!!

*Recipe adapted from Kacey's Kitchen.

Annie's Mom's Clam Sauce

Annie from Annie's-Eats does it all. Wife, mother of two young children, doctor...I have absolutely no clue how she manages everything and yet still finds time to bake and cook and blog all about it! This woman is an inspiration!!! I have a not-so-secret-foodie-crush on her and have forwarded the link to her blog many times over to friends. :)

One of my favorite things about Annie's blog is that she has such a variety of recipes for all different skill levels. Since I am just getting back into the kitchen, I found a quick and easy recipe for clam sauce on her website that would be perfect for me to make during the week. I will say this though, as yummy as it was, I think I will tweak it next time by adding some herbs and wine to the sauce. Either way, the original was tasty!

Linguine with Clam Sauce

• 12 oz. linguine pasta
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams, juices reserved
• ½ cup heavy cream (or half-and-half)
• Salt and pepper
• Grated Parmesan, for serving

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Cook pasta according to the package directions until al dente. Drain well. Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat until the butter is completely melted.

Add the garlic to the pan and sauté until golden and fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the reserved clam juice to the pan, bring to a simmer, and reduce by about half.  With the heat on medium-low, stir in the clams and the heavy cream.  Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Portion the pasta into warmed serving bowls.  Spoon some of the sauce over the pasta and top with grated Parmesan, if desired.  Serve immediately.

* Borrowed from Annie's-Eats

Happy eating! :)

Fluffy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

If I had known how quick and easy these pancakes were to make as opposed to packaged mix, I would have made these yummies ages ago! I mean really -- they were SO EASY to make!!! I'm never purchasing boxed-pancake mix again......EVER!!!

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, plus some for frying
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

In a large bowl, sift together the flower, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and melted butter. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients into a lumpy batter. Do not over mix.

Heat some butter in a skillet or a griddle over medium heat. Spoon 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet/griddle and sprinkle the top with blueberries. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. (note: I look for the little air bubbles popping up to know when to flip.)

Serve with maple syrup. (serves 4-6 people or one redhead with cats over several days)

As a side note, I wish I could say that I don't have a picture of the finished product to add because I was distracted by winning the lottery or there was a zombie apocalypse going on but the truth of the matter is, is that these were SO DELICIOUS AND FLUFFY THAT THEY WERE GONE BEFORE I COULD EVEN THINK OF TAKING A PICTURE IN CAPS!!!

The leftover batter is in the fridge -- I know what I'm having for breakfast Monday morning....

Happy eating! :)

What is it about red velvet cupcakes?

Two things:

1.) I have red hair.

2.) I like eating cupcakes.

Therefore, I think that I am qualified to make a post about red velvet cupcakes. Also, while I'm at it, icing bags are more complicated than they appear to first time time users who don't now read the instructions.

This was my first time ever baking from scratch. From the cake to the frosting, I boldly made the promise to find the best red velvet cupcake recipe I could and bring the cupcakes in for Ana's birthday. Classic example of not thinking before I speak! First time EVER and I'm promising birthday cupcakes to a friend and the entire office will be eating them?! As a side note, we have a woman who regularly bakes from-scratch cakes and brings them in. I'm competing with her legacy?! What was I thinking?! Luckily for me, I didn't completely fail (only a teensy bit), and the hyenas ended up wolfing them down before 8:15am anyway.

*Queues the music*

Enter the red KitchenAid stand mixer.... (yes, those are angels singing!)

I knew exactly where to start. Bakerella is a very gifted baker and blogger extraordinaire. I've been an avid fan of hers forever and I knew that she had the red velvet cake recipe that I was going to use for Ana's birthday cupcakes. Without a ton of ingredients and her stamp of approval, I knew that her recipe was a winner as long as I could execute it.

Baking is science. Unlike cooking, you need exact measurements or else a little bit extra of this or not enough of that and you can pull a lump of goodness knows what from your oven. Execution my friends....execution is key.

Everything was going swimmingly until I realized that my butter was not room temperature. This is the teensy bit of failure that I was alluding to up above. Butter cannot be rushed. Putting it in the microwave (as I did) does not give you the consistency that is required for baking. Lesson learned -- my cupcakes were not as fluffy as I would have hoped/liked! To speed up the process, you can cut your butter into smaller, tablespoon sized chunks for them to become room temperature faster. Remember, you cannot speed up softening your butter by putting it in the microwave! AHHHhhh!!!

OK moving on.

Cupcakes baked and cooling on my bar area, etc. etc., it's time to make the icing! I'm not a particular fan of icing but let me tell you...this frosting was AMAZEBALLOONS. Good thing I live by myself - I was practically spooning that stuff into my mouth it was so good!!! (By the way, if anyone asks me about the frosting spoonage, I'm totally denying it.)

Frosting made, now comes the next tricky part. I was trying to go all fancy-pants mcgee with the frosting application. Normally, I spoon it on from the can but since I was making this stuff "from scratch," I wanted it to be as pretty as possible. I had purchased from Michael's a piping kit that included the plastic bags and metal heads to pipe different frosting designs on cakes/cupcakes/cookies. Guess who didn't read the instructions. Guess who figured out after the fact that the metal heads are applied from the inside, not held on the outside by the baker who then gets frustrated and ends up yelling at cake. THAT'S RIGHT, ME!!!

Not knowing how to move forward after sharing that bit, I'm just going to post another picture and the recipe and then go poor myself a nice glass of  some "wine of shame."

*Cheers!*

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 oz. red food coloring

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.
• Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.
• Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.
• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
• Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.
• Then make the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups confectioners’ sugar

• Sift sugar and set aside.
• Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.
• Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.
• And frost away.

*Both cake and frosting recipes are from Bakerella

Woo hoo the blog is back!

Long time no talk foodies! After a long hiatus from blogging, I have returned in full force *cough* more like baby steps *cough* but HERE I AM! I'M BACK!

As an FYI, all of the posts below this one were recovered from my first blog. As of yesterday, I have consolidated all of the old ones here and am now using Blogger as my super duper awesome (and free) platform. Free = win!

Ask anyone who knows me, and he or she will tell you that I really enjoy food. Like...I enjoy food. I love the preparation, the presentation, the texture, the smells and tastes, all of that good stuff that goes into a meal that you are proud (or maybe not so proud of). When I dine out, I try to decipher all of the different elements that went into making the dish so I can attempt to make it at home in my own kitchen. I can't say that I've ever recreated a dish perfectly, but I've definitely improved on a couple enough that I'll make it my way again!

My break from blogging was largely in part due to the fact that I live on my own. As much as I love being in my kitchen, it is so easy to to come home from work and choose to pop a frozen dinner in the microwave instead of tie my apron on and get to work. Living on my own, I don't have anyone other than myself to cook for and the cats could care less if I make anything or not. Cats are not good motivators people, not one bit.

If anything, Murphy and Jenny inspire me to be lazy and take naps:

Yesterday, I had a bit of a "come to Jesus" talk with myself about getting back into the kitchen. I was trying to remember the last time I had prepared something....ANYTHING for myself and nothing came to mind. I made my grocery list, went to the store on my way home, and tied the apron around my waist and it felt great!

This chili casserole is incredibly fast and easy to make -- perfect for a weeknight when you're home and tired from work. I tweaked a few things to try and make it healthier. "Healthy" and "casserole" are not two words that you typically see in the same sentence but I did my best and I didn't feel like the dish lacked flavor or mouthfeel.

Texas Two-Step Chili Casserole

• 2 Lbs. lean ground beef
• 1 Jar (34oz.) Cookwell Texas Two-Step Chili Mix (I purchased this at H-E-B)
• 1 Bag (16oz.) frozen tater tots
• 2 Cups (8oz.) 2% Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Shredded

1.) Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Place tater tots over bottom of baking dish; when oven is hot, place dish in oven until "taters" are slightly crisp.

2.) Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in chili mix; bring to a boil and simmer 5-10 minutes.

3.) Pour chili mixture over tater tots and top with shredded cheese.

4.) Bake 10-15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

* I chopped up green onion to put on top of mine. Other topping ideas include: sour cream, avocado, pico de gallo.

 

Besides being incredibly easy to make (and to clean up!), this was flavorful and something to consider serving to picky eaters. Seriously...who doesn't like cheesy-chili and tater tots?!

Happy eating! :) 

P.S. I'm still using the camera on my iphone...bear with me!