Bake Your Heart Out

Thanksgiving Dessert - Pumpkin Creme Brulee

2010-11-19T11:37:00.000-06:00

I'm making pumpkin creme brulees for Thanksgiving dessert and wanted to see if anyone has a good recipe! I've looked online and have found some with varying ingredients but since I've never made them before I'm not sure which one to use!

I've been meaning to post an adorable cake I made for a one year old's birthday. Hopefully I'll have time to post it next week!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2010-11-06T11:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, it has been over a month since I blogged last. I will spare you the boring details about how busy my life has been and just get to the recipe! Pumpkin whoopies pies, courtesy of Martha Stewart, are perfect for fall. I'm one of those people that loves Fall, not only because it's my birth season (see my birthday cake below), but because everything pumpkin flavored comes back!

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can pumpkin filling, chilled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling ingredients
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside. In a stand mixer, mix brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin filling and mix well. Add eggs and vanilla until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture until fully incorporated. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake until cookies are just starting to crack on the top - about 15 minutes.

Icing - sift confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment beat the butter until smooth. Add the cream cheese until well combined. Add sugar and vanilla and beat just until smooth. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and spread a healthy portion on the bottom side of one cookie and place the second cookie on top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

And as promised, here is my birthday cake from my 25th birthday! I think Ben did a great job telling Miss Muff'n what I wanted!

Furniture Makeover

2010-10-01T16:26:00.001-05:00

I recently re-did a small China cabinet Ben's mom gave me. And when I say "re-did" I don't mean that I did anything that a normal person couldn't do. Just sanded, primed, and painted!

Supplies:
Small can of gray primer (I used Glidden brand)
pack of 150 grit sandpaper
1/2" and 2" paint brushes
pack of small paint brushes (for the detail on the front)
painters tape
small can of paint (I used Martha Stewart "Maine Lobster" in eggshell paint finish)
scrap newspaper

The cabinet had a medium brown stain when I got it, and while researching I found lots of people who said that you have to completely remove the stain before you can paint. WRONG. That would have taken me YEARS to finish. Luckily, Stacy (of The Little Chick fame) gave me some very helpful and time-saving pointers before I started on this little project!

I started out by sanding everything with 150 grit sandpaper. I can't take all of the credit for the sanding, Ben was definitely helpful, because let's be honest, sanding is no fun. FYI - I would remove any doors or anything like that and sand those separately.

After we finished sanding, we wiped down everything with a damp cloth and let it dry for a couple of minutes. As you can see, I had to carefully place strips of newspaper behind the wood on the front so I could paint it. While this did not 100% keep paint off the glass it was definitely helpful. Hint - about 5 minutes after you paint the primer remove the newspaper, otherwise the paint will make it stick to the wood (I learned this the hard way) and use new newspaper strips when painting the top coat.

While priming the cabinet I decided to leave the back and bottom brown, but after painting the first coat of red paint I went back and painted the bottom red because something just didn't look right.

Then the red painting started. I did two coats, which was the perfect amount. At first I was nervous about this color, because it's red and red can easily go horribly wrong, but after it was all said and done I loved it!

Hint - do not go by what colors look like on the internet. They are wrong wrong wrong. Go look up Maine Lobster. It looks nothing like this.

The flash makes the glass look weird - sorry

This project was so much fun and really didn't take very long (and you don't have to be a furniture expert to do it)! I probably could have finished in one weekend if I had devoted most of my time to it. If any of my instructions weren't clear or if you have any questions just e-mail me - jstansbakery [at] gmail [dot] com

Party Food - Hummus

2010-09-21T10:40:00.000-05:00

I have not always been a big fan of hummus. I know I've said this before, but I am picky, and hummus was one of those things I was not going to try. I repeat: NOT. GOING.TO.TRY. That all changed when Ben started making homemade hummus. It wasn't like I all of a sudden became obsessed with it, but I gradually started to warm up to it. And here I am making my own.

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas, reserve liquid
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons of tahini
salt

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid. In a food processor, add the garlic and pulse a couple of times until it is minced. Add chickpeas and most of the liquid, also add tahini, salt, lemon juice, and 1/3 cup olive oil. Process until smooth. Serve with warm pita bread.

Bruschetta is next!

And a big WOO PIG SOOIE to my Razorbacks who are ranked #10!!!

Fall 2006

Party Food - Taco Dip

2010-09-14T22:02:00.001-05:00

Recently I hosted a little get-together at my house for the Kappa Delta Alum group I'm in. We had an international theme (I used a rough interpretation of international) which was more difficult to plan out than I had anticipated. Luckily, my bff and hostess extraordinaire, Elizabeth (we call her Ecampbell), had some great food ideas! I'm just going to highlight one of them tonight, but rest assured, you will get every recipe that I used, including an AMAZING dessert (not to brag or anything).

I'll start with our neighbor to the south, Mexico. Ecampbell gave me a delicious taco dip recipe. It has layers like a seven layer dip, but better, because it's served hot!

Taco Dip
1 lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
1 small can black olives
1 small can green chiles
1 jar taco sauce
shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Brown the meat in a skillet and add taco seasoning as if you are making tacos. Drain the excess liquid. In a dish, layer refried beans, chiles, taco meat, taco sauce, and olives (in that order). Cover with shredded cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Serve hot with tortilla chips or fritos.

The great thing about this dip is that it can be made ahead of time and just pop it in the oven before serving.

Next up, hummus!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

2010-09-01T15:06:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend my sister and I were trying to decide what to cook for dinner so naturally we started at the end of the meal with dessert. She whipped out her iTouch and used the Big Oven app to look up a chocolate dessert and this is what she found:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares
Ingredients
2 sticks butter, divided (Paula Deen would be proud)
2 cups creamy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (we splurged and got Ghirardelli)

In a large sauce pan, melt 1 stick of butter. Add the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and graham cracker crumbs. Stir. This will form a dough. Spoon this into a greased 9" x 13" dish and press down evenly. In a medium sauce pan, melt the remaining 1 stick of butter. Add the 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate and stir until completely melted and smooth. Pour over the graham cracker crust and spread using a spatula. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Slice into squares before serving.

These are seriously addicting. I had to cut them into small squares so they would last longer! Enjoy!

P.S. I am so excited about the first Razorback game of the season! Woo pig sooie!

Egg and Cheese English Muffin

2010-08-25T15:07:00.000-05:00

The Pioneer Woman has done it again. She always makes the most delicious food, so I was very excited when Ben wanted to try this recipe.

Ingredients
English Muffins
4-5 hard boiled eggs
shredded cheddar ("how much?" you ask. that depends on how much you love cheese, so for me it was a lot)
8 slices fried bacon
1 cup. mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Worcestershire sauce

Chop the hard boiled eggs. Chop the fried bacon. Put the eggs and shredded cheddar in a bowl. Add the bacon and a cup of mayonnaise and stir. Add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and 2 teaspoons of garlic powder. Add two-three dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Stir everything together slowly. Spread on the top of half of an English Muffin. Put them on a cookie sheet and broil for three-four minutes with the rack in the middle of the oven.

yum! And the best thing about these is that you can make them the night before and pop them in the oven the next morning!

Dinner on a Stick

2010-08-23T15:03:00.000-05:00

Hello! I am embarrassed to say that I have been back from my beach vacation for a week and am just now getting around to blogging! So sorry to abandon you like that. But to make up for it I have some great recipes!

While at the beach, each couple took turns cooking dinner. As you may know, Ben and I like to make everything more complicated, so we had a themed meal - Dinner on a Stick. Sounds fancy, I know. We served everything from appetizers to dessert on sticks - four courses in all. So I'll start with the appetizer and work my way through the meal. Enjoy!

Antipasto on a Stick
Ingredients
1 package sliced salami
1 can large black olives
Italian dressing
1 package cheese stuffed tortellinis
toothpicks

Cook tortellinis as directed. Transfer to a bowl with ice water to stop cooking. Pat dry and put in a medium bowl with salami and olives. Pour 1/3 cup Italian dressing over the ingredients, stir. Begin assembling Antipastos on the toothpicks.

Salad on a Stick
Ingredients
1 head of iceberg lettuce
carrots, sliced
cherry tomoatoes
cucumber, sliced
salad dressing of your choice
Skewers

Cut iceberg lettuce into chunks. Assemble carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes on skewers. Drizzle dressing before serving.

BBQ Chicken on a Stick
Ingredients
package of boneless skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt
pepper
Garlic salt
BBQ sauce of your choice
Skewers

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Assemble on the skewers. Grill it over charcoal for 15 minutes. Towards the end, brush BBQ sauce over the chicken.

Zucchini on a Stick
4 zucchini, sliced
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
Skewers

Slice the zucchini. Assemble on skewers. Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill for 5 minutes.

Popsicles
Peaches and cream
2 cups non-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup mashed peaches
1/2 cup skim milk
sprinkle of sugar
wooden stir sticks (found in Wal-Mart's craft section)

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Pour into ice trays. Freeze for 3 hours and then place wooden sticks in each tray.

Strawberry Orange Popsicle
1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup orange juice
sprinkle of sugar
wooden stir sticks

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Pour into ice trays. Freeze for 3 hours and then place wooden sticks in each tray.

This meal was a lot of fun and the Popsicle got great reviews, so I will definitely be making those again!

Grilled Peach and Mozzarella Salad

2010-07-30T11:21:00.000-05:00

This recipe is brought to you by the Fine Cooking magazine. Ben found the recipe while browsing through the magazine and knowing that I love peaches and basically any kind of cheese he decided we needed to try it out.

We couldn't immediately find any Buffalo mozzarella, so we just grabbed a ball of the regular kind and I don't think it made a difference, or if it did I didn't notice. I also suggest making this salad when you already have food to prepare on the grill, so you aren't lighting the grill just for the peaches.

Ingredients
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Kosher salt and ground pepper
2 ripe peaches, halved and sliced
4 1/2 teaspoon EVOO
4 cups baby arugula
1 ball mozzarella cheese, cut into 3/4" chunks

Prepare a charcoal fire grill. Combine the vinegar and thyme in a 2 quart saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the mixture is thick, syrupy, and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6-9 minutes. Remove from the heat, discard the thyme sprigs, and season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Rub the peaches all over with 2 teaspoons of the oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill cut side down until lightly charred, 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Slice each piece into thirds. In a medium bowl, toss the arugula with the remaining 2 1/2 teaspoon of oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a platter. Top with the mozzarella and peaches. Drizzle with about 2 teaspoons of the reduced balsamic vinegar.

Delish!

Chocolate Covered Bacon

2010-07-29T11:01:00.001-05:00

At first I was skeptical about this food venture, but since I love the combination of sweet and salty foods I thought why not give it a shot? Our friend Rob's birthday presented the perfect opportunity to try this recipe. He will be the first to tell you that he loves bacon (and whiskey), but since I don't have a recipe that calls for whiskey I had to go with the bacon.

Ingredients
package of Petit Jean thick cut bacon
24 ounces of semisweet chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place bacon on the baking sheets (you'll probably be able to fit 6-7 on each one). Bake bacon for 18 minutes for soft bacon or 20 minutes for crispy bacon. About half way through flip each slice of bacon so it will evenly cook on both sides. Take the bacon out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. Transfer it to a papertowel lined plate. Set up a double boiler and heat the water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Pour half of the chocolate morsels in the double boiler and stir with a fork until melted and smooth. Slowly add the remaining morsels. Lay 2 sheets of parchment paper on the counter. Dip the bacon slices in the bowl of chocolate, rotating to coat both sides. Place on the parchment paper to cool, then transfer to the refrigerator to harden.

The chocolate covered bacon was great! We even had a piece for breakfast one morning! (what? it is bacon!)

Fried Squash

2010-07-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

I am loving all of the fresh veggies people give us from their gardens. This year we only planted tomatoes (bleh) so I'm having to rely on the generosity of other to get my summer veggie fill! Apparently fried squash is not a new dish, but it was new to Ben and me. Yes, we've made fried okra, but squash? Who knew?

Ingredients
5-7 medium sized squash
1 1/4 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper
1 cup flour
1 cup buttermilk
vegetable oil
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, minus the Parmesan. Pour butter milk in a medium bowl. Wash and slice squash and place in the bowl with the buttermilk. Make sure to coat the squash really well with the buttermilk. Transfer squash to the dry mixture and make sure to coat well (you will have to do this in shifts). Place a large skillet on medium high heat. After about 1 minute carefully pour the vegetable oil so it covers the bottom of the skillet. Place about 6-8 squash rounds in the skillet and let them cook until golden brown, then flip to the other side. Transfer to a paper towel and sprinkle Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Are there any other fried vegetables out there that I need to try (NOT tomatoes, though)?

Dark Chocolate Creme Brulee

2010-07-21T10:48:00.001-05:00

This weekend I made dark chocolate creme brulee, because I was trying to be healthy by using dark chocolate, duh. And after making creme brulee three separate times, I think I've finally realized Ben's favorite part - the torch. Do you know any guys who don't love fire? Oh, you do? Well that's unfortunate, because the torch is pretty fun.

Ingredients
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups half and half
8 egg yolks
10 oz dark chocolate morsels
1/3 cup sugar, plus extra for the torch

Preheat oven to 300. Pour whipping cream and half and half into a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl. Gradually whisk in chocolate mixture. Divide mixture among 10-12 ramekins. Place in a baking pan (you will need at least two) and add enough hot water to come half way up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custard is set, about 50 minutes. Chill for 2 hours (or more). Right before serving sprinkle sugar on top of each ramekin and using a creme brulee torch, lightly brown the sugar.

Here's a YouTube video that shows how to use the torch if you've never done it before!

The Little Chick Boutique

2010-07-14T10:53:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share the cutest online baby boutique with y'all - The Little Chick. All of the items are handmade right here in Little Rock. Stacy (Ben's aunt and the owner of The Little Chick) specializes in baby and toddler items, but no project is too big for her to handle, so if you have a special request send it her way!

I saw one of the baby blankets last week and it was so cute! The fabrics are so soft and colorful. Stacy really does a great job at matching fabrics to create unique bibs and blankets.

And even though Stacy has an adorable little girl, she makes sure not to leave out the baby boys!

If you have a baby shower coming up make sure you take a look at Stacy's store!

Check out my guest post!

2010-07-13T09:06:00.001-05:00

If you have a minute go check out my guest post on Arkansas Women Bloggers today. I made a special Southern summer meal complete with fried okra and caprese salad!

Homemade Lemonade

2010-07-12T10:20:00.000-05:00

I know most people know how to make homemade lemonade, but rarely take the time to do so. Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of that, too. It's so easy to grab a pack of lemonade mix, add water and be done. But nothing can replace the taste of homemade lemonade, especially on a hot summer day.

Happy Monday!

Key Lime Pie

2010-07-07T09:28:00.000-05:00

While we were out of town for the 4th of July this past weekend I made a key lime pie. Well, actually it was just a lime pie because Kroger didn't have any key limes, or I couldn't find them. The recipe is featured in this month's Southern Living and is supposed to be healthier than most because you use fat free ingredients. I don't mind using fat free ingredients, just as long as it doesn't take away from the taste, which I don't think this did!

Rest assured that the swan in the background is not mine.

Ingredients
1 (14 oz.) can of fat free sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons grated lime rind
1 graham cracker crust (reduced fat or not)
8 oz. fat free whipped cream, thawed

Pre heat oven to 350. Mix condensed milk, egg, lime juice and grated lime with a mixer. Pour into the crust. Bake 10-12 minutes. Place on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Top with whipped cream and chill in refrigerator until time to serve. Garnish with lime wedges or curls.

Sorry the picture is terrible quality - my camera was not wanting to focus that evening.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2010-06-29T09:56:00.001-05:00

Summer is the perfect time to make homemade ice cream and who says you have to stop at vanilla?

The recipe is simple, but patience is needed because once you make the mix you still have a long way to go before you can actually eat the ice cream.

Ingredients
3 cups half and half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
green food coloring
1 cup mini chocolate morsels

Place half and half and heavy cream in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat. Whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add sugar and whisk to combine. Gradually add the cream mixture to the eggs until 1/3 has been added. Pour in the rest and return the mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the spoon. Pour mixture into a container and allow to sit for 30 minutes. Add food coloring until you reach your desired color. Add peppermint extract. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or more (the longer you leave it in the refrigerator the faster it will freeze in the ice cream machine). Pour into the ice cream machine and follow manufacturer’s instructions. Add the mini chocolate chips towards the end of the mixing time.

Next I plan to tackle strawberry or chocolate ice cream! Sorry, Ben, no plain vanilla for you!

Cheeseburgers

2010-06-28T11:57:00.000-05:00

Everyone should know how to prepare and grill cheeseburgers. It's the American way! If you're one of the many people whose cheeseburgers always shrink to half of their size or if you can't seem to find the right seasonings, maybe this post can help you.

The key to making cheeseburgers the correct size is to pat them out as much as possible before grilling. This doesn't mean that you need to make your hamburger patty resemble a pancake. It just means that since the burger shrinks when it's on the grill you have make it a little bigger than you usually would.

As far as seasonings go, I use the following:
Worchestershire sauce
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning

Once you have the hamburger patties made sprinkle the seasonings on both sides. I usually do a couple of shakes of each (I know, I'm so precise). I used less than half of the Italian seasoning for 5 cheeseburgers, so be careful with that stuff because a little goes a long way. Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side and you're done!

Candy Sushi

2010-06-16T21:48:00.000-05:00

Last weekend my sister and I made candy sushi (with the help of Ben, of course). I think this dessert was more fun to make than actually eat. Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, but this has a lot of candy! Check out her blog for step-by-step instructions (if it's not up yet check back in a few days!).

We used gummy worms, fruit by the foot, gummy bears, and Swedish fish for the filling. And homemade rice krispy treats served as the rice and fruit roll-ups served as the seaweed.

Don't you think this dessert would be fun to have for a kid's party or some sort of themed party? I do!

Duck and Mushroom Soup

2010-06-11T11:27:00.000-05:00

I know what y'all are thinking, "Duck soup? In June? Have you lost your mind?". And my answer to that is no I have not, however, Ben HAS! Last Sunday Ben decided, months and months after hunting season, that he needed to use those ducks for something. And what does he decide to make on a day where the temp is 95 degrees and climbing? SOUP! So while I'm posting about making soup in mid-June, just file this recipe away until a cold winter weekend in December.

The dish is one of Arkansas' own - of which I am very proud! Watch the video below for complete instructions and ingredients.

The soup was delicious and I can't wait to have some this winter!

Sunflower Cupcakes

2010-06-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned last week, we went to Memphis to celebrate Memorial Day. It was so much fun! One of my bffs, Courtney, flew in from Florida with her boyfriend. It was like a mini-reunion (reunited and it feels so good!). Anyways, Katie (creator of the adorable halloween cupcakes and my 24th birthday cake) made the cutest sunflower cupcakes! She used Wilton's small leaf tip (#67) to create the sunflower petals.

Tip: We noticed that the tip really wasn't wide enough to let the icing through, so Katie had to pry it open just a little.

Katie used Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe for the cupcakes, and her grandmother's buttercream icing recipe! Yum Yum!

After letting the cupcakes cool, ice a small circle in the middle of the cupcake (see above picture)

Dip the cupcake in chocolate sprinkles.

Start icing small petals around the rim, then ice another ring of petals moving inward. (make sense?)

*Sorry the pictures are not great. My camera was acting funny.

Sausage, Cheese, and Salsa Crostinis

2010-05-26T10:51:00.001-05:00

I made these appetizers a while back and forgot to post them! oops! These are perfect for a Fiesta-themed meal and easy to prepare!

Ingredients
1 package of sausage
1 jar of chunky salsa (mild, medium, hot - doesn't matter)
baguette slices (I bought the pre-cut ones)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced

Cook the sausage in a skillet. Drain excess liquid. Toast the baguette slices. Place a spoonful of salsa on the bread and layer sausage, cheese on top. Toast in the oven for about 5 minutes. Add a small dollop of sour cream and cilantro.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial weekend. We're traveling to Memphis on Friday and will be having a crawfish boil this weekend!

Eggs Benedict

2010-05-19T11:03:00.000-05:00

For someone who doesn't usually eat breakfast, Ben is quite the morning cuisine expert. A couple of weeks ago he made these eggs Benedict and he was not surprised to hear that this would be my first time to try one. This is not unusual because I am known by many as the type of person who eats bread, chicken, and cheese. I was not forced to try new things as a child, something that Ben thinks is horrible, so now when I'm in my 20s I'm finally getting around to trying different foods.

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
pinch cayenne
pinch salt
1 English muffin, halved
4 slices of Canadian Bacon

First we'll start with making the Hollandaise Sauce. Whisk egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl until it has thickened and doubled in volume. Place the bowl over a sauce pan with barely simmering water (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). See picture below of Ben's "double-boiler. Continue to whisk rapidly, but be careful not to let the eggs get too hot or they will start to scramble. Slowly drizzle the melted butter and continue to whisk. Remove from heat and whisk in salt and cayenne.

For the rest of the eggs Benedict - brown the Canadian bacon in a pan and set aside. Toast the halved English Muffin. In a non-stick skillet, add water half way up. Add white vinegar. Bring to a slow boil and carefully crack the eggs in the pan. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes until egg white is set. Remove from the pan with a large spoon and allow to drain. Assemble muffin, bacon, egg, and pour Hollandaise sauce over the top!

Here's a picture of the eggs Benedict without the Hollandaise sauce so you can see the assembly a little better.

Chocolate Kiss and Reese's Cookies

2010-05-17T11:39:00.001-05:00

These cookies are amazing!!! Well, they're amazing if you love chocolate. Oh, you don't love chocolate? Then I'm going to have to ask you to move along to another blog, because I do not understand how you cannot love chocolate (just kidding...kind of). Ben gets all of the credit for finding the recipe. We added our own twist, though. We added reese's peanut butter cups to half of the cookies. This was probably the best decision we made. Ever.

Ingredients
bag of Hershey's kisses
bag of Reese's peanut butter cups
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap kisses and reese's. Mix the shortening and nutella in a stand mixer. Add the brown sugar until mixture is fluffy. Add milk, egg, and vanilla. Beat well. In a separate bowl, add cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to nutella mixture. Refrigerate dough for one hour. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in the granulated sugar (see 2nd picture below). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place cookies on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Immediately place kiss or Reese's in each cookie after taking them out of the oven. Let cookies cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from here.

Prosciutto Wrapped Fruit

2010-05-12T10:44:00.000-05:00

Prosciutto wrapped fruit is a great, light appetizer perfect for the summer when mangoes and cantaloupe are in season. Buy thinly sliced prosciutto and cut it into strips. Wrap it around the mango and cantaloupe slices and you're done!

Another summer dish is a simple fruit salad. I cut a cantaloupe in half and scrapped out the middle to turn it into a bowl. Then filled the bowl with mangoes, cantaloupe and strawberries.

Fruit salsa is also one of my summer favorites that goes really well with grilled chicken. Just chop mango and kiwi, mix with cilantro, a little garlic powder, salt and pepper, and diced tomatoes.

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-05-11T10:31:00.000-05:00

For breakfast on Mother's day, I tried my hand at homemade cinnamon rolls. I prepared them the night before, so I could just pop them in the oven on Sunday morning. This ended up working out well. However, when I was about to put them in the oven on Sunday I got a little worried because they looked severely lopped-sided and were starting to resemble something similar to "the blob" rather than cinnamon rolls. Luckily when they came out of the oven they were not harmed!

Slightly obsessed with icing, I know.

Ingredients for Dough
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for filling
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (plus a little extra)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for icing
4 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 425 (unless you are waiting until the morning to bake them). Place the oven rack in the middle. Grease a 9" round pan. To make the dough, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Whisk the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of melted butter in a separate small bowl. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough until smooth. If the dough becomes sticky add more flour. Roll the dough into a 9x12 rectangle on the surface. Brush with melted butter (see picture).

For the filling, mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, salt and 1 tablespoon melted butter into a small bowl. Stir until the mixture looks like wet sand. (add more butter if needed) Sprinkle it over the dough (see below).

Tightly roll the dough into a log. After I rolled mine, I had to cut off some dough on both ends because the cinnamon did not get distributed to those areas. Cut the log into 8 or 9 pieces and place them in the 9" round pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, make the icing. In a bowl combine the buttermilk and cream cheese. Whisk until smooth - the mixture may look like cottage cheese at the beginning, but keeping whisking. Slowly add the powdered sugar while whisking.

Please excuse my frumpy-looking cinnamon rolls.

Place a piece of foil in a cookie sheet and spray it with cooking spray. Place a cooling rack on top of that (see below). Carefully place each cinnamon roll on the cooling rack.

Spoon icing over the cinnamon rolls.

I love this icing recipe because it has just a hint of cream cheese AND because you can make as much of it as you want, unlike certain store bought cinnamon rolls that only give you the tiniest bit of icing!

This recipe is adapted from here.

Margaritas

2010-05-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! If you're feeling festive tonight, you should try Ben's margarita recipe! Unlike the margaritas you find at restaurants, this recipe does not call for tons of syrup. It has just the right about of lime flavor, but not so much that you can only drink one (which is what we're going for, right?).

Disclaimer: These measurements are by no means precise. I've mentioned before how Ben just kind of eyes ingredients. I probably haven't seen him use a measuring cup more than five times, ever. So with that being said, brace yourself for Ben's version of "measured" ingredients.

Ingredients
lime margarita mix
crushed ice
tequila (he used silver)
triple sec

Fill the blender 3/4 full with crushed ice (this is important, because crushed ice is easier to blend, thus leaving fewer large chunks in your margarita). Carefully blend the ice in the blender. Use a large spoon to stir the ice around to make sure everything gets blended nicely. Pour the margarita mix in the blender for 10-12 seconds (with the restrictor cap on the mix). Pour the tequila for 4 seconds (without the restrictor cap). Add 1 generous pour of triple sec. Turn the blender to liquefy and let it blend for about 10 second. Turn the blender off. Stir the margarita around with the large spoon and add more crushed ice if needed (about a cup). Turn the blender on again for a couple of seconds. Taste and adjust accordingly. (For Ben that means adding a touch more tequila).

So there you have it. Those are Ben's measurements. I tried to translate it into normal, everyday measurements, but that was just impossible.

*I highlighted the restictor caps on the margarita mix and the tequila because the flow of liquid varies greatly whether or not the cap is on, so be careful!

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

2010-05-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

In honor of the Kentucky Derby, Ben and I made a chocolate bourbon pecan pie this weekend. Yummy! AND I found out that this pie tastes even better after it has been refrigerated overnight. As overwhelming as pecan pies may seem to be, this recipe breaks it down nicely, plus if you use store bought pie crust (shhh don't tell) it means prep time only takes about 15 minutes!

Ingredients
1 9" premade pie crust
3/4 cup chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup bourbon (or water)
4 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons cornmeal
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Place pre-made pie crust in a glass pie dish. Sprinkle chocolate morsels and chopped pecans in the bottom of the crust (see picture below). In a saucepan, mix corn syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and bourbon or water and boil for 3 minutes - stirring constantly. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, butter, cornmeal, vanilla, and salt. Gradually mix 1/4 of the hot mixture in the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Continue until all of the hot mixture is incorporated into the egg mixture. Pour over the crust (see second picture below). Bake for 55 minutes.

The recipe I was using didn't call for extra pecans on top, but it makes it look so much better, so 35 minutes into the baking I took the pie out and arranged some pecans on top, then continued baking for 20 more minutes. If you think the pecans are burning you can place some foil over the pie.

*You'll noticed that I cut back on some of the ingredients compared to Southern Living's recipe, because the pie crust could not hold everything. But if you got a 10" crust you could probably use the same measurements as the recipe.

This recipe is adapted from Southern Living.

Cornflake Chicken

2010-04-30T09:38:00.002-05:00

The Parmesan chicken I made last week was such a hit that I was going to make it again, but when I got home I found that we had no bread crumbs. Because I wasn't about to get back out and buy some at the store I thought I was going to have to improvise on dinner. So I looked in the pantry and saw that we had cornflakes. I have always heard that using cornflakes for chicken is pretty good, but I was never brave enough to try it (putting cereal on my chicken weirded me out a little). But I thought, well why not? So I found a new recipe and gave it a shot. It was amazing!

Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups crushed cornflakes
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons Lawry's
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a cooling rack and place it on a cookie sheet. Rinse and trim fat from chicken. Pat dry with a towel. Place cornflakes in a gallon size bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into crumbs. In a medium size bowl, mix cornflake crumbs, garlic powder, Lawry's, and salt and pepper. Generously coat chicken with sour cream. One piece at a time, place the chicken into cornflake bowl and coat well. Place on rack. Repeat with other chicken breasts. Bake for 45 minutes and broil for 3-4 minutes.

The sour cream is amazing (but when is sour cream not amazing?). It not only holds the cornflakes in place, but it keeps the chicken moist. I'm really starting to like these coated chicken recipes. If anyone else has any good ones and wants to share, send them my way!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. It's supposed to rain here all weekend. BOOOO. But I have my eye on a pie that might be making an appearance next week!

this recipe is adapted from here.

Pomegranate Martini

2010-04-28T10:52:00.002-05:00

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about pomegranate martinis, or pomtinis as I call them, and how they are healthier and yummier than other drinks. Last night, I decided I needed to test this theory and today I am here to report that they are so good AND lower in calorie than other fruity drinks!

Ingredients
pomegranate syrup (grenadine)
vermouth
vodka
sugar
orange slice
ice

Place martini glasses in the freezer or place crushed ice in the glass to chill (see picture below). Fill the shaker about 1/2 way with ice. Pour 1 1/2 oz. vodka, 2 oz pomegranate syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon vermouth into the shaker. Secure the shaker lid and shake until well-blended. Run an orange slice around the rim of the martini glass and coat the rim with sugar. Pour liquid into the glass and garnish with a thin orange slice or a pomegranate. To be honest, if these measurements aren't enough for you, it won't hurt to add a little bit more of everything!

Happy almost summer!

Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken

2010-04-26T10:18:00.001-05:00

This is a great weeknight meal that doesn't take more than 45 minutes! To make it crispier, I placed a wire rack on a cookie sheet and baked the chicken on top of that. The spaghetti is optional, but I would recommend some sort of sauce for it, either red or white.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons Lowry's
2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash (or something similar)
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a wire rack and place on a cookie sheet (see above comment). In a bowl, mix the olive oil and minced garlic. In a larger bowl, mix bread crumbs, Lowry's, Mrs. Dash, pepper, 2 types of Parmesan and basil. Dip each chicken breast in the olive oil first, then in the bread crumb mixture. Make sure you coat the chicken breasts evenly with the crumbs. Place on the wire rack and bake for 30 minutes. Keep the oven rack in the middle of the oven and broil the chicken for 4 minutes (make sure that it does not burn).

*this recipe is adapted from here.

I'm Dating a Food Celebrity, Kind of

2010-04-22T09:45:00.001-05:00

I know y'all are probably sick of hearing about how awesome the hotwing team is, but I've got to share just one more thing. And since this is my blog, I can brag just a little bit more. A new food blog in Memphis wrote a post about You are the Ranch Beneath my Wings, saying some very kind words about the hotwings! Check out the post here. If you live in the Memphis area, this would be a cool blog to follow.

Search & Destroy Dining Guide also writes about various restaurants, cooking contests, and bars in Memphis. They rate the food/service/drinks on a 1-5 "skull" system, instead of stars. Ben's team was lucky enough to receive 5 skulls! I just realized how silly I sound saying that, but I am so proud of them!

This is the picture that was in the Commercial Appeal on Tuesday.

Ok, I'm done bragging. This is the last time you'll hear me say "hotwing"...until the next contest! HA!

P.S. I ordered five copies of the Commercial Appeal...yeah, I'm that person.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

2010-04-21T08:00:00.021-05:00

If you need a quick and easy dessert recipe this one is perfect! One tip: keep the bars in a cool place until time to serve, otherwise you will have a chocolate mess on your hands!

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup creamy OR chunky peanut butter
10 oz. mini marshmallows
1 cup roasted peanuts

Line a 9x13 dish with foil leaving enough foil over the sides. Lightly grease the foil. Melt 2 cups of the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes. Stir and microwave in 30 second intervals. Pour in marshmallows and peanuts and stir until well-coated. Slowly pour the mixture into the dish and smooth it out. Melt remaining 3/4 cup of chocolate chips, pour over dish and smooth out. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Lift foil from the dish and cut into squares.

We are the Champions! Hot wing contest!

2010-04-18T21:07:00.002-05:00

Remember when I wrote about the Southern Hot Wing Contest that Ben and our friends were in this past weekend? Well, they WON FIRST PLACE! I'm still in shock. Not because I didn't think the wings were amazing, but who would have thought that people who have never competed in a hot wing contest would steal the show? Go Memphis-Commercial Appeal ran an article about the contest and included a picture of the team! Here are a couple of pictures from this weekend to show you just how much fun we had!

Bette would be proud.

Salmon with Cheesy Potatoes and Zucchini

2010-04-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

The weather has been amazing around here lately which means it's time to break out the grill! Ben usually does the grilling, but I do the prepping (which counts for something, right?). Plus I think even if I wanted to grill Ben would have a hard time letting me take over :)

Last week we had a red wine and soy sauce glazed salmon with cheesy potatoes and grilled zucchini. It was the perfect meal! It was totally a "hey, it's nice outside, we should grill" kind of meal, which meant we were running around in Kroger like chickens with our heads cut off. But what's new?

Ingredients (link to recipe)
4 salmon fillets
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
6 tablespoons pineapple juice
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons pepper

In a large ziplock bag combine brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and pepper. Place salmon fillets in the bag and coat well with marinade. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Drain marinade into a small bowl. Place on grill skin side down. With a brush, coat the salmon with the marinade occasionally while grilling. For thick salmon, you will need to grill it for about 15 minutes, other wise about 12 minutes.

We got the cheesy mashed potato recipe from this website called allthingscheese.com. If you love cheese this website is for you!

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Wash and peel potatoes. Cut into large chunks and add to a large sauce pan full of water. Bring water to boil. Cook over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain water and return potatoes back to the sauce pan. Add evaporated milk. With an electric mixer, mash the potatoes. Add butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Garnish with shredded cheese, green onions, and bacon bits.

Ingredients
6 zucchinis
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper

Wash and cut the zucchinis. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle kosher salt and pepper. Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side. (So easy!)

Southern Hot Wing Contest

2010-04-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

This weekend Ben is on a team for the 8th Annual Southern Hot Wing Contest in Memphis.

This is the first real cooking contest I've ever been to other than our chili cook-offs in college (1st place and best presentation thank you very much)! Ben is on a team with 5 other friends - Alex, Dan, Rob, Jon Mark, and Samad. Their team name is hilarious - "You Are the Ranch Beneath My Wings". And there are even t-shirts with Bette Midler on them so you know it's legit.

It's going to be so much fun, especially if the rain holds off, so if you're in the Memphis area and love wings come out to the wing fest and look for our tent!

Baklava!

2010-04-12T13:47:00.000-05:00

Well the big surprise dessert I made over the weekend was baklava! I have been wanting to make it for a while, but just never found the time, so this weekend I was determined to set aside enough time to try it. Below is the step by step process. Leave a comment or email me if you have questions about it!

Ingredients
1 16oz. package phyllo dough
1 pound chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts)
1 1/3 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or more)
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 honey (or more)

Thaw phyllo dough as directed on package. Preheat oven to 350. Butter the bottoms and side of a 9x13 glass dish using a pastry brush. Chop nuts and combine in a bowl with cinnamon. Gently unroll the phyllo dough and place the first sheet in the bottom of the dish. Have a damp towel on hand to cover the unused phyllo as you work so it doesn't dry out.

Place 7 layers of phyllo on the bottom, brushing butter between each one.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut/cinnamon mixture over the layers. Pour a little butter over it.

Place 2 layers of phyllo dough with butter. Repeat 2 more times with the remaining mixture, except layer 7 phyllo sheets on the very top.

Cut vertically into 5 sections.

Cut horizontally into 3 sections.

Cut each square in half diagonally. Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, boil water and sugar. Add honey and vanilla. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove baklava from the oven and pour honey mixture evenly over the pieces. Let cool before removing from the dish.

Place in cupcake liners to serve.

I still can't believe I made baklava. I always imagined it to be near impossible, but after making it this weekend I'm already wanting to make my next batch!

*It is very important to put enough butter between each layer and on top of the nuts before adding another sheet of phyllo dough. This video was really helpful, too.

In the Mean Time

2010-04-07T09:39:00.001-05:00

I know y'all are wondering what is up with no new recipes/goodies. Believe me, they are coming. My next project is not going to be easy so it will have to be attempted on the weekend (I'm thinking this Saturday sounds good). I hope it turns out, because if it does it's going to be so good!

I hope everyone had a good Easter. I am in love with these

The commercials crack me up. I think it's hilarious that Cadbury used the same commercial for like 15 years. Seriously, I remember seeing it while watching Saturday morning cartoons in the early 90s.

OR the Cadbury bunny tryout commercial. Love it!

However, the normal Cadbury eggs always freaked me out a little. Who wants to eat candy that looks like a raw egg? It's just not appetizing. But, if you didn't get your fill of Easter candy this weekend, now is the perfect time to buy it, because everything is at least 50% off! (don't ask how I know this)

AND check back Monday and I promise you will see a new dessert (unless I fail this weekend, which is possible).

Cheddar and Goat Cheese Quiche

2010-04-01T16:35:00.001-05:00

Every Spring I rediscover my love of quiche and this Spring is no different. Last Saturday, I made a cheddar and goat cheese quiche. Strange combination? I think not. Because with quiche the cheddar is blended in so you can hardly tell it's there, while the goat cheese adds a little something to every other bite!

Ingredients
1 10" pie crust (yes, it's store bought)
1 cup cheddar, shredded
1/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled
6 eggs
6 strips of bacon, cooked
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt to taste

Thaw the pie crust. Cook bacon and cut into small bites. Preheat oven to 350. Mix eggs, cheddar, goat cheese, cream, bacon. and salt together. Pour over the pie crust. Sprinkle a little cheddar on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure it's cooked thoroughly.

Quiche is so easy and can be made the way you like it!

p.s. please excuse the dark brown pie crust. It got a little over done. But don't worry, the quiche was perfect!

And as a bonus I'm going to post my Easter lunch menu.

Easter Lunch Menu
2 quiche - ham & cheddar/goat cheese (see above)
oven roasted asparagus
salad with sprouts, feta cheese, and Italian/balsamic dressing
Sister Schubert rolls (yum)
Lemon squares for dessert

Those are the things that I am preparing, but other people are bringing dishes, as well. Happy Easter!

Cheese Straws

2010-03-29T14:41:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I made cheddar cheese straws and let me tell you, they are hard work! These are by no means "gourmet", like Betsy's Cheese Straws, but I think they are a start.

Ingredients
3/4 lb. - 1 lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Preheat oven to 350. At medium speed mix cheese, butter, paprika, salt, and Worcestershire sauce together. Gradually mix in flour, just until blended. (this next part is similar to making a lattice for a pie or rolling out sugar cookies). Lightly flour countertop. Take 1/3 of the mix and roll it in a large ball. Place on the counter and use a rolling pin to flatten the cheese mix to about 1/2 inch. Take a pizza cutter and cut the "dough" into long strips (like you're cutting dough to make a lattice). Cut the longest strips into thirds and the shorter ones in half. Roll up the strips making sure to press the seems together and place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

I didn't initially roll out the dough like pie crust. That happened by trial and error. I don't have a cookie press, which would have been helpful, so I tried will all of my upper body strength (which is not saying much) to squeeze the dough out of icing bags. You know, I thought I was being smart, using an icing tip and bag to make these fancy cheese straws. WRONG! This did not work at all. The dough did not want to come out of the bag, no matter how hard I tried to force it. That's when I decided on the rolling pin technique (it's a technique, right?)

If you have any questions, just ask, because I totally improvised on this little project!

Lemon Squares

2010-03-26T11:25:00.002-05:00

This past week I made lemon squares for the first time. I think these are a great dessert this time of year, especially for bridal showers, baby showers, and brunches!

I've always been intimidated by lemon squares. I see them as these dainty desserts that are served at fancy occasions (translation: they must be difficult to make, otherwise you would see them around more often, right?) This is partly right. Lemon squares not the most difficult thing to make (heck, I made them!), but they do take patience and time. Lots of time. Especially cooling time. And we all know the hardest part about baking is the cooling process, because you're so excited that you made a new dessert that you want to cut into it immediately. DO NOT DO THIS.

This recipe was featured in the March issue of Southern Living, and can also be found their website.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest (or more if you like)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Line bottom and sides of 9x13 pan with heavy-duty foil or parchment paper (I used parchment paper). Allow 2-3 inches to extend over the sides. Lightly grease the foil/parchment paper. Stir together 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add butter pieces. Put into a food processor and pulse 5-7 times (be sure not to over mix). Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned (see picture below). Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a large bowl until smooth; whisk in granulated sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir together baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour. Whisk this into the egg mixture. Pour over hot baked crust. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until filling is set. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Lift from pan, using foil sides, and let cool for another 30 minutes (see picture below). Remove foil/parchment paper, cut into bars, and sprinkle powdered sugar.

This is the crust after it was baked. Excuse the poor photo quality, these were taken with my phone.

This is the filling after it baked and cooled for 1 hour (longest hour of my life). Again, poor photo quality.

Tip: if you are not planning on serving these immediately, wait to sprinkle the powdered sugar, otherwise it will soak into the lemon square and you will have to add more (which could be a good or bad thing). Also, I think lemon squares taste better slightly chilled, so keep them in the refrigerator until you serve them (and before powder-sugaring).

Turkey Pinwheels with Chive Cream Cheese

2010-03-23T11:47:00.001-05:00

I was looking for a new h'or d'oeuvres recipe when Ben's mom suggested turkey pinwheels. These are great for Spring and Summer because they are cold, light, and fresh. This recipe made about 40 pinwheels.

Here's what you'll need:
1 package tomato basil wraps
1 jar sun dried tomatoes
1 jar black olives
8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
mixed baby spinach leaves
1 lb. sliced smoked turkey

Take a spatula and spread about 3 tablespoons of cream cheese on the bottom of the wrap (it may be more or less than 3 tablespoons, I'm not sure. Just eyeball it). I should have spread the cream cheese to the edges, because I learned that this will help the wrap stay together. Next layer some mixed spinach leaves.

Add the turkey (I put about 5 slices on each one). Sprinkle some sun dried tomatoes and black olives. Next sprinkle some cheddar cheese (not shown here). Notice how I'm try to keep most of the ingredients at the top of the wrap, leaving about 1-2 inches at the bottom. This makes it easier to roll.

Roll the wrap, starting at the end with the most ingredients and rolling towards the end with less (I hope this makes sense). Then roll it in some plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 30-45 minutes. This will make it easier to cut.

Unwrap the wrap and carefully slice it into 1 1/4 inch pinwheels. Ben did the slicing because I'm still not too fond of knives.

The great thing about pinwheels is that you can mix and match ingredients. Don't think tomato basil wraps are the only thing out there! You can use ham instead of turkey, spinach artichoke cream cheese instead of chive and onion. The possibilities are endless. Plus these were great leftovers for lunch!

Crostini with Goat Cheese Spread

2010-03-17T11:43:00.000-05:00

These are a great appetizer to prepare for dinner guests, plus it's relatively easy. Ben pulled this recipe out of thin air (isn't he creative?)! We used pre-toasted and seasoned crostini's from Kroger's.

Ingredients
crostinis (ours came with about 20)
about 8 oz. goat cheese
sun-dried tomatoes
Kalamata olives
fresh basil

Mix the goat cheese, olives, and tomatoes together in a bowl. Toast the crostinis for 5 minutes or so. Spread the goat cheese on the crostinis. Cut the basil and place on top.

Oh, and as a side note, my boss is on a BBQ team for the Smoke on the Water Championship! It's happening this weekend in North Little Rock on the river front. The team name is hilarious! "Pork Barrel BBQ", very funny! So if you're in the area stop by the BBQ competition.

Fancy French Fries

2010-03-15T10:45:00.001-05:00

Well, I lied. It's not so much that the French fries are fancy, but the way they are presented. You know, there are whole books written about how to present food attractively and I live by the motto "it's all about the presentation."

Southern Living had this idea featured under "Appetizers", but we served them as part of the dinner, because French fries go much better with BBQ ribs and chicken than they would as an appetizer. The French fries are called Salt-and-Pepper Oven Fries but they really they are Ore Ida "fast food" fries sprinkled with pepper and Kosher salt and served with a Lemon-Garlic Mayo dipping sauce.

Ingredients for the sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup mayo
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Combine minced garlic and lemon juice in a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the mayo and parsley. Stir well. Add salt and pepper.

I served the French fries and dipping sauce in some small ice cream sundae bowls. They were the perfect size!

St. Patrick's Day is on Wednesday and if you don't have much time to prepare something extravagant, here's an easy dessert. It's not green, but if you love chocolate and mint, you'll love this.

You need one package of brownie mix, a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and peppermint extract. Prepare the brownie mix as directed. At the end, mix in one teaspoon of peppermint extract and the chocolate chips. Bake in a 9x13 or 7x11 pan and serve! The subtle mint flavor is so good you'll never want to make normal brownies again!

Chocolate Creme Brulee with Strawberry Sauce

2010-03-10T10:23:00.000-06:00

I still haven't gotten enough of these creme brulees! I decided to do a little experimenting and make some strawberry sauce. I figured since chocolate covered strawberries taste delish, wouldn't strawberries and chocolate creme brulee? And the answer is yes!

Strawberry Sauce
10 oz. frozen strawberries, thawed
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon water

Place strawberries, corn starch, and water in a medium size sauce pan over medium heat. Stir continuously until thick. Pour over creme brulees and top with whipped cream.

I'm starting to think that you can do this sauce with any fruit (remember, I did raspberries for Ben's birthday?). A peach sauce would be wonderful with some vanilla ice cream!

I'm really racking my brain for a cute, fun Spring dessert to make this weekend. Hopefully on Monday I can report back with something amazing! Wish me luck!

Show my little sister some love!

2010-03-06T15:55:00.000-06:00

My little sister, Becca, has just started her very own blog about being crafty and baking and decorating adorable cupcakes! (we take after each other, if you couldn't tell!) Anyways, this blog is brand new and I would be ever-so-grateful if my wonderful readers would pay her a visit!

Thank you!

Around the Kitchen

2010-03-05T12:40:00.000-06:00

I tend to be a messy baker, spilling stuff all over the place and there's always flour on the floor. I try my best to always wear an apron, my favorite one being from Anthropologie. Unfortunately, I could not find a picture of it online, so the Athropologie one pictured below will just have to do!

I love to be comfortable in the kitchen. Jeans and a comfy top are my favorite. I also have a couple of go-to items that I am always using. My Ice Blue Kitchenaid mixer, for example. I wish I had multiple bowls and attachments, so I am not constantly washing them while I bake. The next item(s) that I love are my cupcake measuring cups. Ben's grandparents gave them to me for Christmas this year and as soon as I got them in my kitchen I basically abandoned my old set (who wouldn't, though?) They are so fancy and fun to use.

One thing I wish I had are these oven mitts! If someone is feeling generous, send me some cute oven mitts (my half birthday is coming up!). The ones I currently use are basically falling apart (you can ask anyone that has been in my kitchen). Several months ago I had every intention of making my own set. I had done all of the research, knew what I wanted, and just never got around to it. Maybe oven mitts will be a Spring project of mine, especially since my sister got a sweet sewing machine that I can use!

So, are you like me and have to bobby-pin or wear a headband in the kitchen? I get tired of constantly putting my hair behind my ears only for it to come loose 5 seconds later.

And what's your favorite outfit or thing wear around the kitchen when you bake? (and no, I will not accept your "birthday suit" as an answer!)

Have a great weekend! I hope y'all are having perfect Spring weather like we are in LR!

Potatoes on the Side

2010-03-02T13:19:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm back. Not completely healed, but ready to blog (read: I still keep a bandaid on my finger 24/7 and do not use my middle finger to type).

I made these potatoes two weeks ago, or so. They were a nice change of pace from the usual roasted seasoned potatoes and mashed potatoes. Not only that, but I think they make for a nice presentation. I found the recipe on Dinners for a Year and Beyond. If you are ever in a dinner funk go to this blog for some inspiration!

Ingredients
5 potatoes (serves 5 people)
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and scrub the potatoes really well. Cut a small slice out of the bottom of the potato so it won't roll around. Cut 1/4 inch vertical slices, but make sure you don't cut all the way through the potato. Tear a sheet of foil for each potato. Place the potato on the foil and sprinkle with salt a pepper. Then pour butter and the bread crumbs over the top. My suggestion: try to open up some of the slits and pour butter and bread crumbs in the potato and not just over the top. Wrap in foil and bake for 45 minutes, then open the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes.

Thank you to my readers and friends who have been concerned about my finger. I still don't like to look at it and may or may not have permanently altered my finger print on that finger by slicing and dicing it. (Isn't that lovely to think about? I think not.)

Kreativ Blogger Award!

2010-02-26T11:46:00.000-06:00

Thank you Dining with Debbie for the Kreativ Blogger Award!

Upon receiving this award, there are a couple of rules to follow:
1. Post the award.
2. Thank and mention the person who gave you this award.
3. Pass the award on to seven bloggers who you think embody the spirit of the Kreativ Blog Award.
4. Name seven things about yourself that others don't know.
5. Don't forget to notify your seven award winners and post a link to their blog.

I love these blogs and I definitely think they deserve the Kreativ Blogger Award!

Emily, or Emj as most of us call her, over at A Little Bit of Everything definitely deserves this award. She has cute crafts and baking ideas!

Rachael over at Rachael Jones has some great things on her blog! I've known Rachael since elementary school.

Jennifer, or Peevy as she is known by just about everyone, just had a baby in the fall and has an adorable blog for her called One Day at a Time.

Sarah, who I worked with one summer, has an adorable blog about her life as a wife and soon-to-be mommy called Ryan and Sarah.

Julie over at Brown Eyed Belle has some great posts that are funny and inspirational!

I've only recently discovered Sook over at My Fabulous Recipes. Not only is her blog cute, but she also has great recipes!

EBC over at Pleasantries and Politics as got the creative blogging down! So adorable!

Seven things you may not know about me:
1. I fractured my left wrist playing putt putt when I was 3. True story.
2. I have a younger sister. Two years and 16 days younger.
3. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream. I used to eat it occasionally for breakfast in high school.
4. I've lived in LR all my life, except for college.
5. I eat chex cereal and yogurt almost every morning for breakfast.
6. I take my filofax planner almost everywhere I go.
7. I've never been out of the U.S.A. - I'm determined to change this very soon, and no, I'm not talking about just hopping down to Mexico.

Thanks for the award! I hope everyone has some great things planned for this weekend. Mine will start with a much-needed massage this afternoon!

An Accident

2010-02-25T12:01:00.001-06:00

I know it hasn't been forever since I posted last, but I wanted to say it's going to be just a little bit longer before my next baking adventure. I had an accident on Tuesday evening that involved a dang Brussels sprout, a sharp knife, and the middle finger on my left hand. Two words come to mind as I type this: ouch and gross. There was blood, lots of it. The walls were closing in on me as I started crying, trying to find a place to sit/almost pass out.

I thought about taking a picture of my finger in the bandage, because let me tell you, it looks ridiculous. The massive-ness of the bandage makes my finger look like it was stung by a bee and I had an allergic reaction - just huge. But all of that extra padding is to protect it from me bumping it against something.

I have had to learn to type without the use of my middle finger, which is not easy, especially since I happen to be an outstanding typer (not kidding - you can ask Ben, my parents, anyone - I type fast and accurate).

I just need a break. Of course I say that, but I actually have plans to bake chocolate chip and M&M cookies tonight (but y'all have seen those before, so it's nothing new and exciting).

I'm a big baby when it comes to blood and cuts, so I tend to exaggerate the severity of injuries, but even Ben said that this looked pretty bad (and that's saying something). So I'll be back when my finger is healed and I don't look like a doofus with this silly bandage. I can promise you, though, that I'll be staying away from knifes, at least sharp ones, for a while. Bring on the butter and plastic knifes! (one day I'll tell you the story of how I managed to cut myself with a plastic knife. Like cut myself so badly that it actually bled).

Chocolate Creme Brulee

2010-02-22T12:42:00.001-06:00

I may have out done myself this time. This chocolate creme brulee was to die for. It was not as rich as some I have had before, but still rich enough to where you have a hard time finishing it on your own. However, this was not a problem for everyone - cough cough Ben cough cough.

The above picture is of the brulees before they were baked. They resemble chocolate pudding to me. After they were done baking, I thought about just using the broiler to caramelize the sugar, but after finding this torch at Williams Sonoma, I couldn't resist!

As you can see, Ben was the first to try out the torch (of course, since boys love fire so much!). But, I will have to admit, it was a lot of fun.

Yum yum yum! Caramelized sugar!

One recipe makes 6 creme brulees. The perfect amount for a family dinner plus some for breakfast the next day!

To top off the chocolate creme brulee, we made homemade whipped cream. And for those of you who know and love me, yes, I really said "H-wipped cream. Emphasis on the non-existent H at the beginning of whipped.

Giveaway Winner! And a taste of NOLA

2010-02-19T12:28:00.000-06:00

My first-ever giveaway winner is Joycee from Granny Mountain! Congratulations! The winner was chosen by random.org. Joycee, please e-mail me your mailing address and I will get those ramekins to you ASAP!

By now you know that I went to Mardi Gras last weekend. No trip to NOLA is complete without crawfish, oysters, and shrimp! For our first meal in New Orleans, Ben and Rob had oysters at a restaurant called Catch. I will admit, oysters are not my favorite, but I heard these were delicious (Ben asked me to try one and I politely declined). For dinner the next night we had this lovely spread:

I like crawfish, unless they are too spicy, which these were on the verge of being. At Rhodes, there were lots of students from Louisiana/people who love crawfish so we were blessed with multiple crawfish boils each spring. In fact, we are tentatively planning one in Memphis to celebrate Alex's birthday this spring! If you have any questions about cooking crawfish, I will have to refer you to Ben. He was the crawsfish-cooker last May when we had one for my parents' 25th anniversary.

Make sure you stop by next week, because I'm going to be putting my ramekins to use again this weekend and only one word can describe what I am going to make: YUM!

Fleur De Lis Cookies!

2010-02-18T11:21:00.002-06:00

Last weekend I went to Mardi Gras with my friend, Katie, her bf Rob, and Ben! It was my first time to go to Mardi Gras and was so much fun! Katie made sure she was ready for the festivities by making these yummy Fleur De Lis sugar cookies! They were a hit!

She used a basic sugar cookie with royal icing. For the icing, get a cup or so of powdered sugar and add milk until you get the consistency you want. Then add a couple of drops of vanilla extract. You can add as much powdered sugar and milk as you need until you get enough icing. Katie used Wilton's gel paste for the colors, which I think turned out perfectly!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway by leaving a comment on the 1 year blogiversary post! You have 24 hours to do so!

1 Year Blogiversary and Giveaway!

2010-02-16T10:08:00.000-06:00

Today is my 1 year blogiversary! I can't believe it's been a whole year since I first started this blog! I really feel like I've come a long way in my cooking and baking. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read my blog and leave comments! Because I am go grateful for all of my readers I have decided to do my very first giveaway!

The lucky winner will receive 8 white ramekins! These are great to bake goodies in (see Molten Chocolate Cakes below!). To enter, leave a comment by Friday, February 19 at noon CST!

You're probably wondering if I made these delicious molten chocolate cakes just for my one year blogiversary. Well, I hate to disappoint the blogging world, but I actually made them for Ben's birthday (which was on Sunday!) and it happened to coincide with my blog's anniversary.

I was perusing is aisles at Williams Sonoma not too long ago and came across this box.

I thought to myself, "what occasion do I have coming up that I can use as an excuse to make these?" Aha! Ben's birthday! So I bought the box and began my search for the perfect ramekins. Pier One was the only store that had more than 10 in stock and actually had 2 different kinds to choose from. So I went with basic white (exactly like the ones I'll be giving away!)

Yes, technically I used a "box" mix for Ben's birthday, but who really cares? They tasted wonderful and I think I put so much stress into them that it was more like baking them from scratch than a box. I did, however, make some raspberry sauce from scratch to top the cakes.

Raspberry Sauce
10 oz. package of frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon corn startch
1 tablespoon water

Let raspberries thaw. Add raspberries, corn starch, and water to a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir until thickened.

The cakes were to die for. They were rich, but not too rich, and the raspberry sauce provided the perfect balance. Thanks, again, for reading my blog! Love!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

2010-02-10T11:54:00.000-06:00

Mardi Gras is approaching quickly and if you'll recall last year I made a King Cake. Well this year I couldn't break tradition (is something a tradition after only one year?), so last night was King Cake baking night! Luckily, Ben was around to help, because these things are not a piece of cake (har har har - pun intended). However, that is not meant to discourage you, but just to warn you that this is a project and not just something that can be whipped up in an hour!

The cake recipe is from Southern Living and cannot be beat! But for the icing, I actually use a different icing recipe than what Southern Living calls for (I prefer a cream cheese one).

Ingredients for the cake:

16 oz. sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 (1/4 oz) envelopes active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (100 - 110 degrees)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

6 1/2 cups bread flour

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon (or more, it really won't hurt)

Cook first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Set aside, and cool to 100 - 110 degrees. Stir together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a 2-cup glass measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes. Beat sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until smooth (use a bread hook attachment if you have one). Reduce speed to low, and gradually add enough remaining flour (4 1/2 cups) until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until dough is doubled in size.

Punch down dough, and divide in half. Roll each portion into a 22x12 rectangle (not the easiest thing in the world). Spread 1/3 cup softened butter evenly on each rectangle, leaving a 1 inch border. Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over butter. See below picture.

Roll up each dough rectangle, jelly-roll fashion. See below picture. Place one dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of roll together to form an oval ring (don't forget to place the plastic baby inside!). Pinch edges together. Repeat with second roll. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 14-16 minutes. Cool cakes on wire racks. Drizzle icing over the top (see recipe below) and sprinkle with green, purple, and yellow sprinkles!

Ingredients for icing:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix ingredients together until a smooth glaze forms. Place in microwave for 15 seconds to melt if need be.

{http://www.leehansen.com/clipart/Parties/MardiGras/images/good-times-oval.jpg}

Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

2010-02-08T09:12:00.000-06:00

Well we have another snow day in the good ol' state of Arkansas! I could definitely get used to this! These cookie ice cream sandwiches were our Super Bowl desserts last night and I could really go for one right about now.

I had been wanting to make these for a while and finally found an excuse to do it. I used Southern Living's All-Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (it's their all-time favorite for a reason). As I was getting all of the ingredients out to make the dough, I noticed that I didn't have enough chocolate morsels (and this would not do!). So I practically tore apart the pantry looking for something else I could use. Luckily I found a bag of regular M&M's. Adding these to the cookies might have been the best idea I have had in a long time. Not only do they add some color to the cookies, but they also add that delicious chocolate flavor! And if you didn't catch that, I added both the chocolate morsels AND the M&M's, a little over a cup of each.

After the cookies cooled, I used a large soup spoon to scoop out the ice cream and place it on the bottom cookie. I thought using a spoon would work better than an actual ice cream scoop because it would scoop the ice cream out flatter, rather than in a ball like the scoop would (make sense? probably not).

I carefully placed the top cookie on and flattened out the ice cream so it covered the whole cookie. These are not meant to be made in advance and are best served immediately!

Not Your Grandma's Baked Apples

2010-02-03T15:19:00.003-06:00

You've had baked apples before, right? You know, the soggy texture? Well I guarantee that these are unlike anything you've had before! After they are baked, the apples have a nice, crisp texture when you bite into them, but it's not like you're eating a regular apple.

As I have mentioned on previous occasions, Ben likes to make up his own recipes, and I'm fine with that because he is a great cook that can throw anything together and make it taste good (something I cannot do). These baked apples were made sans recipe. (that's "without" for all of you non-Frenchies!)

Ingredients
4 Honey Crisp apples
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup craisins
1/3 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 small pads of butter
maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degree. Core the apples (see below picture). Score the apples around the middle. Mix brown sugar, craisins, walnuts, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Scoop into apples. Make sure to pack the mixture down in the apple so you can get as much in there as possible. Pour a little maple syrup on each apple and add a small pad of butter to the top of each. Bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on how soft you want the apples. The apples will lose a little color when they are baked, so don't be alarmed!

You can serve these whole in a bowl and even add a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you like! They taste just like an apple pie!

Oranges in a Fancier Light

2010-02-02T13:35:00.007-06:00

This is one of Ben's many recipes that he has ever-so-kindly prepared for me recently. It's a simple, modern way to serve oranges as a dessert, appetizer, or fancy snack.

Cut an orange in half and go around the edges with a pairing knife. Neatly scoop out the orange with a spoon and separate the pieces by hand. Place back in the orange half. In a separate bowl, mix 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey and 1 1/2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. Drizzle mixture over the orange pieces and serve!

Lemon and Rosemary Salmon, Asparagus, and Scallops

2010-02-01T12:04:00.001-06:00

If you have a little extra time on a week night and are up for cooking or want to impress your friends with a delicious salmon dish on the weekend, you must try this one!

The salmon recipe is from Southern Living and it will not disappoint.

Ingredients:
4 (6 oz.) salmon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (smells so good)
3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried or fresh rosemary (having your own plant comes in handy)
cooking spray

Sprinkle salt (I used sea salt) and pepper evenly over the salmon fillets. Place fillets, lemon rind, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, rosemary, and 1 tablespoon oil in a gallon sized bag. Turn to coat and let chill for 30 minutes. Remove fillets from marinade and discard extra marinade. Place fillets skin side down on a greased broiling pan. Broil fish 5 1/2 inches from heat for 10-12 minutes. Whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon oil. Drizzle over salmon before serving.

Also served with this meal was brown rice, asparagus, and scallops.

The asparagus was prepared easily. Put the asparagus in a skillet on medium heat. Sprinkle sea salt, pepper, and add 2 pads of butter. Let this cook, turning the asparagus occasionally. I let the asparagus cook for about 10 minutes. For the last 3 minutes, I covered the skillet with a lid to steam the asparagus just a little bit. Right before I served the asparagus, I sprinkled a little shredded Parmesan cheese on top!

When cooking the brown rice, I used half water and half chicken broth, to give it a little more flavor. If you want to be adventurous, use only chicken broth, no water!

Baked Scallops
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 pounds bay scallops, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour melted butter into a 2 quart oval casserole dish, Distribute butter and scallops evenly inside the dish. Combine the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, parsley, minced garlic and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle mixture over the scallops. Bake in oven until scallops are firm, about 20 minutes. recipe.

Sugar Cookie Bars

2010-01-29T14:38:00.001-06:00

I made some Razorback sugar cookies last weekend and had some leftover dough that I needed to use, so I decided that this ice/snow day we're getting in Arkansas would be the perfect opportunity to make some cookies. I didn't want to go to all of the trouble of flouring the counter, rolling out the dough, cutting cookies, etc. I wanted something easy and different. So off to Google I went to find something to do with sugar cookie dough. After a couple of minutes of searching, I came across My Baking Addiction. She had made sugar cookies bars that looked too cute! I knew I had found exactly what I was looking for.

With my cookie dough in one hand and a diet coke in the other I set off to try my hand at sugar cookie bars.

Cookie Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons almond
2 eggs
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk

Cream shortening, butter, sugar, almond, and vanilla. Add eggs, beat well. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture along with milk. Chill overnight. Grease 2 13x9 casserole dishes and evenly spread dough out. Bake on 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack and cut into desired shapes (I chose triangles).

Buttercream Icing Ingredients:
1 lbs powdered sugar (10x sifted)
1 tablespoon Wilton Meringue Powder
1 dash salt
1 cup white crisco
1 teaspoon Wilton no-color butter flavor
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons water

Cream shortening, add butter flavor and vanilla and mix well. Add Meringue powder, sugar, and salt and gradually add water.

I transferred the icing to a bag and used a Wilton #12 tip to make the icing design. Even though Valentine's Day (and Ben's birthday!) is over two weeks away, I still went with a Valentine's color scheme!

I'm thinking about bringing that snow back to my blog, since it's coming down pretty hard here!

Notecards for a Good Cause!

2010-01-28T13:00:00.001-06:00

I'm always looking for an excuse to buy cute notecards and I think handwritten notes are the best to send and receive (hint hint to all of my friends out there). Thanks to my friends Tracy and Kerry, who introduced me to Design-her Gals, I have been able to design my very own personalized notecards. This website is awesome (just look over to the right at my new addition on the blog side bar, isn't she cute!).

Not only can you order notecards, notepads, return mailing labels, and invitations, but Design-her Gals also has a foundation called Gal to Gal which supports women with Stage IV breast cancer.

I ordered my notecards last week and I cannot wait to get them in the mail! They are very similar to the above picture (I had to include a cookie sheet, because I spend a lot of time with one!).

If you are in need of some cute, very personalized cards (or many other things) click on over to Design-her Gals and you will not be disappointed!

Snickers Pie!

2010-01-26T12:39:00.001-06:00

Last night, I finally made the snickers pie (much to Ben's delight)! And as Monograms and Manicures pointed out recently, National Pie Day was January 23 (so I think two days late is not that bad!).

See all of the yummy layers?

This pie is soooo good. I had just a tiny nibble for breakfast (because I did not do a proper taste test last night). It really makes a difference (in a good way) if you leave it in over night to chill. The filling becomes even more to die for!

Ingredients
1 graham cracker pie crust (I used a pre-made because I was in a time crunch)
3 snickers bars
1 1/2 (8 oz) cream cheese packages
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
2 tablespoons whipped cream
1/4 cup coarsely chopped, lightly salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 325. Cut snickers bars into 1/4 inch pieces and arrange in the bottom of the pie crust (see picture below). Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until well-blended. Add peanut butter and sour cream and beat at low speed. Add eggs one at a time and beat just until the yellow disappears each time. Spoon mixture into the pie crust and bake for 35 minutes. Remove and let cool on a wire rack for an hour. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Microwave semisweet morsels and whipped cream for 45 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds. Drizzle chocolate over the top of the pie and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Layer of sliced snickers bars in the bottom of the pie!

This pie takes patients (almost 4 hours of it!). After you blend the peanut butter mixture, you're going to want to eat it with a spoon, and the only thing that stopped me from doing that was the fact that there were raw eggs in there (yuck). Otherwise it could have been bad. The layer of snickers in the bottom of the pie really adds that extra something to the pie and I'm willing to bet that it would taste just as good if it were in the bottom of cheesecakes, too!

This recipe is adapted from here.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

2010-01-25T11:00:00.002-06:00

We enjoyed these cheesy chicken enchiladas over the weekend. The picture is not the best, but let's be honest, nothing really looks great in a casserole dish.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 oz. diced green chiles
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups of chicken (we used rotisserie)
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of large tortillas (10, I think)
1/2 cup of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 large baking dishes.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside. To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.
Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

recipe adapted from here.

Add Pizazz to your Cookie Bags!

2010-01-22T11:37:00.000-06:00

In need of a little pizazz? A little pick-me-up? I wish I could claim these bag toppers as my own because they are so cute! They add that little something extra to a plain ol'bag of cookies.

{http://www.livinglocurto.com/2009/05/thanks-printable/}

Over at Living Locurto she has a template you can print out for free! And get this, they fit on any standard sized plastic baggie (7" wide). I can't wait to make my next batch of cookies and use these toppers!

Happy Friday!

P.S. Thanks Polka Dot Birthday for sharing this great website!

Caramel Covered Cheetos

2010-01-18T09:53:00.001-06:00

I know what you're thinking..."what the heck? caramel covered Cheetos? are you out of your mind?" No, I am not and luckily for you I am here to explain how to make this yummy treat! I got the recipe from my friend Jennifer (and there's no doubt she's cool because we have the same name).

Warning: these are a crunchy, sweet snack that will disappear from your kitchen in a matter of hours! Below are instructions for a half recipe. This is what I made because I knew it would just be my family eating it and we don't need 4 pounds of cheetos staring us in the face!

Ingredients
1 bag of Cheetos (regular size)
1 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 250. In a sauce pan, bring butter, brown sugar and corn syrup to a boil for 5 minutes. Stir in baking soda. Pour over Cheetos in a medium sized bowl. Mix well and spread onto a baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Quickly separate onto wax paper and let dry.

The pictures don't do them justice. They had a nice candy coating and the cheese taste was surprisingly not too over-powering.

100th Post! Sushi!

2010-01-13T11:05:00.000-06:00

My 100th post! I can't believe it! For this special post, I have a special meal - Sushi! I have never tried to make sushi before and had always wanted to learn. Luckily my sister, who's home from college, has recently learned how. Last night we tried our hand at it and it turned out really well!

We set up three sushi making stations. Our ingredients were avocado, crab, cucumber, cream cheese, shrimp, and carrots. The good thing about sushi is that you can add whatever ingredients you want.

We were surprised to find that Wal-Mart had a nice selection of sushi making items, like the sticky rice and seaweed wraps. The wooden spoons and bamboo mats were purchased at Whole Foods.

The recipe for how to make sticky rice is easy. Combine 1 1/2 cups of Botan's Calrose rice and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let the rice sit, still covered, for 10 additional minutes. DO NOT lift the lid or stir the rice. While the rice is sitting, in a small sauce pan, combine 1/3 cup of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir on medium heat until dissolved and remove from heat. When the rice is finished, transfer it to a large bowl and with a wooden spoon, gradually stir in vinegar mixture. Now the rice is ready to be made into sushi!

This website is a great tutorial for learning how to roll sushi. Make sure you have a bowl of water close by, because you'll need to get your fingers wet to work with the sticky rice.

Layer the ingredients in the middle of the seaweed, making sure not to layer it too high.

After rolling the sushi, take a wet knife and slice the roll in half first, then slice each half in thirds.

Here is my sister's finished product!

Here's Ben's sushi roll. So professional!

And just for fun, we made egg drop soup (yea yea, I know egg drop soup is Chinese and sushi is Japanese, so what?).

Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Bring 4 cups chicken broth to boil. Add salt and pepper. Slowly add the eggs to the broth in a steady stream. To make shreds, stir the eggs rapidly clockwise for one minute. To make ribbons, gently stir eggs clockwise.

Thanks for sticking around to read my 100th post! I'm so happy to have made it to this day!

Chocolate Chocolate Cake Bites

2010-01-10T11:35:00.002-06:00

My dad actually found these delightful treats and suggested that I try them. Well, six months later (because I'm just now getting around to it), here we are with chocolate chocolate cake bites.

Before I made my first batch, I did a little research about them and found this website. Over at Bakerella she refers to them as cake balls and they are much fancier than these basic chocolate cake bites.

Ingredients:

chocolate cake mix (eggs, oil, etc)

1 can of cream cheese frosting

1 package of chocolate bark

Bake the cake as directed on the box. Let it cool completely (I stuck mine in the garage where it's cold for 45 minutes). Dump the cake and 3/4 can of cream cheese icing into a large bowl (or back into the baking dish as I did - see picture below). Thoroughly mix the cake and icing. Place in freezer for 30 minutes so cake can firm up. Shape into balls. Melt chocolate bark according to directions on the package (I had to add some milk to the chocolate to make it creamier). Dip cake bites into chocolate (I used a spoon to carefully get them out). Let dry on foil. The recipe makes about 40 cake bites.

Now, don't get me wrong, you can mix and match and make any sort of cake bites you would like. I just happen to love chocolate, so I chose to do these first. You could also do yellow cake and red or green or whatever color bark simply by dyeing the white chocolate bark the color that you choose.

Salmon with Roasted Broccoli and Seasoned Potatoes

2010-01-07T11:34:00.000-06:00

Fancy cooking on a Wednesday night? What has gotten into us, you say? Nothing really. Just wanted something different. Don't be jealous. You can do it, too! Here are the recipes Ben and I used to make this yummy meal:

Balsamic-Glazed Salmon
6 (5oz). salmon fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine
4 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a broiling pan. Arrange salmon on the pan and sprinkle salt and pepper on each fillet. Set aside. Pour a little olive oil into a small sauce pan over medium heat. Cook garlic until soft, 3 minutes or so. Add white wine, honey, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Simmer 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Brush fillets with balsamic glaze. Bake for 10-14 minutes. Brush with remaining glaze before serving. Recipe.

Oven Roasted Broccoli
1 pound broccoli, rinsed and trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 gloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
large handful of shredded cheddar

Pre-heat oven to 425. Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces. Cut stalk into slices. In a mixing bowl, add broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix and set aside. Spread bread crumbs on a 13x9 pan and place in oven for 5 minutes or until toasted. Remove bread crumbs from oven and add them to the bowl with broccoli mixture. Lightly toss. Return mixture to pan and place in oven until broccoli is tender - 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with cheese. Alton Brown's recipe.

Seasoned and Roasted Potatoes
7 medium gold potatoes
seasoned salt
onion powder
chopped garlic
olive oil

Clean and cut potatoes into cubes. Add to 13x9 dish. Pour olive oil over potatoes. Stir to make sure potatoes are well-coated. Sprinkle seasoned salt, onion powder (somewhat generously). Stir and sprinkle again. Add chopped garlic and stir. Place in oven on 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Poke with a fork to make sure they are soft (but not too soft). Remove from oven and serve.

Have questions? Just ask!

Appetizers with Bacon

2010-01-04T14:01:00.001-06:00

Recently, I have noticed an abundance of appetizer recipes using bacon. (I can already hear all of the "yummms" out there) I have not always been the biggest fan of bacon. In fact, for a couple of years I refused to eat it (this is because of a certain movie I watched in French class circa 1999). But I have overcome my disgust/fear of bacon and fully embraced it as a delicious accompaniment to many recipes. Therefore, I bring you the three best appetizer recipes (according to me) that use bacon:

Bacon-Wrapped Crackers
These delightful treats take a little bit of time to prepare and bake, but are well worth it.

Ingredients:
Club Crackers
Sliced Parmesan Cheese
Thinly Sliced Bacon

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees. Cut bacon into thirds. (I always have to stretch the bacon out a little so that it will wrap around the cracker. I tried cutting it in half, but it turned out to be too much bacon on one little club cracker.) Place a couple of pieces of Parmesan cheese on each cracker and carefully wrap the bacon around the crackers. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 60-70 minutes.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Fontina Cheese
These are the perfect combination of sweet and salty, with a little bit of cheese.

Ingredients:
Package of Dates
Small Block of Fontina Cheese
Thinly Sliced Bacon

Directions:
Pre-Heat oven to 250 degrees. Carefully slice the dates open, making sure not to cut it completely into two pieces. Place a small piece of cheese in the middle of the date. Cut bacon into thirds and wrap a slice around each date. Bake for 40-50 minutes depending on your oven.

Cheesy Bacon Dip
I bet you're noticing a theme with these dishes (cheese + bacon = yummy!)

Ingredients:
1/2 low fat mayo (see, I'm trying to be good)
8 oz. of low fat cream cheese
2 finely chopped scallions
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (ok, the "being good" didn't last long)
6 Ritz crackers
1/2 cup of Captain Rodney's Boucan Glaze (found online here or at many gourmet food stores)
8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix mayo, cream cheese, scallions, and shredded cheddar and spread in the bottom of a small casserole dish. Top with crushed Ritz crackers. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with glaze and bacon. Serve with Ritz crackers.

My friend, Katie, made the bacon-wrapped dates the first time I tried them and made the cheesy bacon dip this past weekend. She sure knows how to find delicious recipes!

Christmas Cookies and Treats

2009-12-27T13:53:00.000-06:00

Even though the holidays are over (except for New Year's!) here is a recap of what I made this Christmas season!

Gingerbread men and gingerbread women cookies, chocolate chip cookies, Christmas tree sugar cookies are just the beginning!

This chex mix was part of the Christmas goodies our neighbors and co-workers received this season.
The recipe can be found on this post.

I could not pass up these Chinese take-out containers from Hobby Lobby. They were the perfect size and too cute!

I made some more of the chocolate chip drizzle cookies.

Can't forget the Christmas tree cookies! The recipe for the cookies and icing can be found on this post.

Last but not least, I made red velvet cupcakes with green buttercream icing! YUM!

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies with some flair!

2009-12-21T22:51:00.002-06:00

How many of you like to take something ordinary and fancy it up a bit? You know, give it a little flair. Well, I do! And that's exactly what I did to these chocolate chip cookies. Ok, get ready for this...this was my very first time to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch! (I can't believe I said that out loud!) Well, see, the thing is, I love tollhouse cookie dough. It just seemed so perfect, like nothing could beat it (now I'm not saying that these cookies beat it, but they definitely would give them a run for their money).

I'll give you one guess as to where I got the recipe...yep, that's right, Southern Living. It's called their "All-time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies" and I can see why.

Ok, let's get back to the fancying it up a bit. I just couldn't resist. Plus, who doesn't love more chocolate? I just took the left over semi sweet morsels and melted them in a double-boiler (adding some butter to make it smoother). Using the spoon I was stirring with, I drizzled chocolate over the cookies. As you can see, I dipped a couple of them half way in chocolate. Ben personally likes the ones that are covered in chocolate, so I did a couple of those for him (not pictured). This can be done to oatmeal cookies, sugar cookies, anything really!

Merry Christmas!

Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix

2009-12-17T21:44:00.000-06:00

I found this recipe on the back of the Chex cereal box. So I guess all of that reading the back of cereal boxes has paid off!

Ingredients:

9	cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex® or Wheat Chex® cereal (or combination) I used corn and rice Chex
2	cups bite-size pretzel twists
2	cups bite-size cheese crackers
3	tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1	package (1 oz) ranch dressing and seasoning mix
1/2	cup grated Parmesan cheese

In large microwavable bowl, mix cereal, pretzels and crackers. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 30 seconds or until melted. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated. Stir in dressing mix and cheese until evenly coated.

Microwave uncovered on High 3 minutes, stirring after each minute. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

The Chex website has a recipe for everyone, whether you like salty, cheesy, or sweet treats! This weekend while I'm baking a thousand other things, I think I'll make some puppy chow, too! (p.s. how did this get named "puppy chow"? Not that my dogs wouldn't love to have a treat like this...)

*recipe found here.

The Last of Christmas Paintings!

2009-12-16T16:19:00.002-06:00

Without a doubt in my mind I can say I am burned out on Christmas paintings. This is not to say that I will never paint similar things again, because I know I will, but perhaps with some colors other than red and green (I'm thinking pink would be a good start). To finish out the painting season, here are the last few that I did:

Yes, I know this one is not Christmas related, but I couldn't resist!

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season as much as I am! This weekend I'm making tons of cookies, so be on the look out next week!

Monkey Bread!

2009-12-15T09:53:00.000-06:00

I am new to monkey bread, although I don't know how I could have missed it my entire life, but I somehow did!

Here's everything you need:
1 bag of dinner rolls (not buttermilk)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon
1/2 lb butter
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

I let the dinner rolls thaw since I got them from the freezer section (I placed them in the oven on 100 degrees and let them rise a little, too). This made them easier to pull apart and also fluffier.

Pull the rolls in half. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Roll the dough pieces in this mix. Melt butter and stir in 2 tablespoons of cinnamon (I probably used about 4 tbsp - oops!) and 1/4 cup sugar. Grease a bundt pan. Place half of the rolls in the bottom and pour half of the butter mixture over it. Place the other half of the rolls on top and pour the rest of the mixture. If you like your monkey bread to be extra buttery/cinnamon-y, then add a little more butter, sugar, and cinnamon than it calls for. Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

If I were making this bread for, say, Christmas morning (and we all know how hectic Christmas morning is), I would make the bread the night before and place it in the refrigerator and wait to bake it in the morning. The bread really tastes best when it's right out of the oven. Unfortunately, microwaving it is just not the same.

*This recipe is adapted from the one found here.

Christmas Pretzel Treats

2009-12-10T13:18:00.001-06:00

At this time of year, (btw, Christmas is only 15 days away!) I find myself in the mood to bake...A LOT! And while this treat is not something I necessarily had to bake (it did not require going in the oven), it's still adorable, easy, and a great Christmas snack to give to friends and neighbors!

I bought a large container of small pretzel rods (you can use large pretzel rods, too), chocolate bark, and Christmas sprinkles. Follow the instructions to heat the chocolate. Then it's an easy three step process: 1) dip the pretzels, 2) sprinkle a little dots, and 3)let them dry on wax paper.

Well after I finished all of the pretzel rods, I still had melted chocolate that needed to be used and I am a firm believer in not wasting chocolate. So what did I do? I opened a bag of mini pretzels and started dipping! They are kind of messy looking, but still taste good!

I'm in a group called the Jingle Belles and we are having our annual holiday party to raise money for the Centers for Youth and Families in Little Rock. Check out the website and come to the party if you're in the area!

Catering a Party

2009-12-08T11:47:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness gracious, Ben has officially catered his first party and he's going to be so mad that I'm about to brag about him so much! However, I'm going to have to start off by saying I have ZERO pictures of the food (boo, I know), but whenever you're cooking/baking it's hard to remember to stop and take pictures (I will try to get better, I promise!). The only picture I have is one of the chocolate chip cookies I made (those will come in a later post). This post is to give some ideas about what appetizers work well together, because I know during this time of year (Christmas!) there are lots of parties!

Ben was asked to prepare food for about 50 people that were going to a fundraiser. He did so well! With a little over a week to get everything together, he started the planning. Here's a list of foods he made:

Seafood Dip
Sausage Balls
Stuffed Mushrooms
Veggie Bars
Cheese and Fruit Platter (fruit - grapes, cherries, strawberries; cheese - cheddar, swiss, and pepper jack)
Spinach Dip
Bacon Wrapped Crackers
Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
Marinated Shrimp (locating recipe)

In case you weren't counting, that's NINE items! Whew! Just listing them makes me hungry!

I was in charge of dessert so I made homemade chocolate cookies with chocolate drizzles and pecan tassies (my new favorite)!

For each item made, I have put a link to a recipe that is similar to the ones Ben used. This was no easy task and he did a great job!!!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!

2009-12-05T18:24:00.002-06:00

This post should have gone up last weekend whenever I finished decorating my family's Christmas tree, so sorry for the delay! I love it, though! We started the silver and blue theme last year and while we're using the same ornaments this year, it still looks different! The one thing that is different about the tree this year is the silver mesh-like ribbon that goes all the way down the tree. I love this stuff.

Lights on!

Lights off!

We have the same thing in green on the mantle, around the banister and outside around the front door. I'll try to remember to take pictures. The ribbon is called mesh Sinamay and it can be found at Tipton-Hurst Florist if you're in Central Arkansas or at other online retailers.

Pecan Tassies

2009-11-29T17:55:00.004-06:00

These treats are so good and perfect for holiday parties!

They are called pecan tassies and I found the recipe on Southern Living's website where they are featuring 22 different pecan desserts. And believe me, this was not the only one I want to try!

The recipe is relatively easy - make the dough, make the filling, put them together, then bake. I would suggest making the holes in the dough as large as possible so it can fit the most amount of filling because that's the real treat! Also, after making the first batch I realized I needed to try to make sure that the filling does not flow over the edges too much because it will burn when baking. Next, I found that using a teaspoon to spoon the filling in is the perfect amount. Lastly, depending on your oven, I would recommend baking them for 2-3 less than what the recipe says.

Oh and I added just a touch of almond extract to the filling. I couldn't resist!

Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

2009-11-24T18:44:00.004-06:00

When I was making the polka dot birthday cake I knew I would end up with extra icing because would rather make too much than not enough. Luckily I needed to make cupcakes for a meeting I was going to early in the week, so the icing was put to good use! Not only the icing, but I was also able to use the smaller fondant polka dots, too!

The cake was double chocolate - yummy!

I've learned you cannot go wrong with buttercream frosting! Here's recipe:

1 lbs powdered sugar (10x sifted)
1 tablespoons Wilton Meringue powder
1 dashes salt
1 cups white crisco
1 teaspoons Wilton no-color butter flavor
1 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons water

Cream shortening, add butter flavor and vanilla and mix well. Add Meringue powder, sugar, and salt and gradually add water.

Holiday Paintings

2009-11-19T21:58:00.008-06:00

I promised I would put up more of the canvases I've been working on, so here they are!

The "Grinch" one is my favorite (such a great movie)! I'm thinking about hanging it in my office during the holidays!

A family friend requested the below painting. I thought the colors turned out really well!

I have an order for a canvas with a snowman and the phrase "Let it snow", so that will be my weekend project (after the Razorback game, of course) and I'll report back next week!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Twist on an American Classic

2009-11-17T21:19:00.004-06:00

On Sunday I was thinking "hmmm what sounds good for lunch?" (ponder ponder ponder). "I got it! A grilled cheese sandwich!" Well, if I've learned anything about Ben it's that he likes to make foods fancier, more elaborate. Therefore, the grilled cheese was not safe from his imagination. All of a sudden he's grabbing the dijon mustard, finding a green apple and throwing bacon in a skillet.

Since sliced American cheese was not good enough for this sandwich anymore, we had to use cheddar, but all I had was shredded (desperate times call for desperate measures). On top of the cheese is the dijon mustard, then apples, then bacon. I know what you're thinking...this could turn out bad. But it didn't! This sandwich was delicious! And to think, I was going to eat a boring ole grilled cheese!

Polka Dot Birthday Cake

2009-11-15T15:53:00.011-06:00

This past week (yes, it took an entire week) I made a birthday cake for Madison, Ben's cousin, who turned 14. She wanted a three tier cake with bright color polka dots and let me tell you, I was NERVOUS about making this cake. I mean, I've made a two tier cake before, but never three! And I had never done bright polka dots either! This was going to be a challenge, but one that I readily accepted!

I began researching and luckily I know someone who is a cake expert who was really helpful (but probably got slightly irritated that I asked her questions just about everyday!). She suggested that I make fondant for the polka dots. This way I could make them ahead of time and could just place them on the cake rather than having to use icing.

I found a marshmallow fondant recipe for the polka dots (which definitely tastes better than regular fondant...less chalky and cardboardy). This was the first thing I made for the cake (on Monday evening). It must be refrigerated for at least 24 hours before dyeing it. I used Kroger brand neon food coloring and I definitely recommend it if you want bright colors.

Before I started dyeing the fondant, I covered the fronts and backs of my hands with crisco, which kept them from being permanently dyed hot pink or lime green! Or I guess you could wear gloves, but that would be taking the easy way out! To make the polka dots, I searched my kitchen for all sorts of different sized glasses - juice glass, shot glass, the reverse side of a icing tip, etc.

Here are the three cakes before I stacked them. Once they were stacked, I stuck a 1/4" wooden dowel rod, which I sharpened with a pencil sharpener, down the middle of each cake to hold them in place. To smooth out the cakes, I used a trick that I have begun to see more often: The Viva Paper Towel. AMAZING! These paper towels are definitely worth the cost. I smoothed out the cakes as much as I could with an offset spatula, then let the icing dry about 30-45 minutes before smoothing it out with the paper towel. Here's a video that demonstrates this technique.

I used buttercream icing for the entire cake. I doubled this recipe and even had some left over!

2 lbs powdered sugar (10x sifted)
2 tablespoons Wilton Meringue powder
2 dashes salt
2 cups white crisco
2 teaspoons Wilton no-color butter flavor
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
6 tablespoons water

Cream shortening, add butter flavor and vanilla and mix well. Add Meringue powder, sugar, and salt and gradually add water.

Make sure you add a little more water than it calls for, because the icing has to be very soft so it's easier to spread. I even stuck the cakes in the refrigerator for a while before icing them so they would harden a little.

To fill in the areas where the cakes didn't quite come together I used white icing and made large white dots. This way it didn't take away from the bright polka dots by adding another color to the cake.

This was the most challenging cake I have ever made, but I made it! Whew! I wonder what my next cake project will be! (Ben's birthday is in three months. It's going to be hard to top the fish cake.)

A Whimsical Christmas

2009-11-12T11:17:00.005-06:00

I think everyone will agree when I say that the Christmas season is upon us! Stores are putting up holiday decorations, the weather is starting to get cool (finally), and radio stations are starting to play Christmas tunes. (fa-la-la-la-la)

Whenever this time of year approaches, I find myself in the mood to do more arts and crafts (as I'm sure many of you do). My first project this Christmas season is a collection of whimsical Christmas signs. "'Tis the season to be JOLLY" is the first to be completed (but there are many more to come, don't worry)! This one was painted on a 16x20 canvas with candy cane stripes and a cute polka dot ribbon. This weekend I have many (probably too many) projects to complete, one of which consists of finishing a Grinch-themed sign, as well as some other fun Christmas ones. (Oh and I have a birthday cake to deliver Saturday! Pictures to come!)

Please contact me by e-mail or leave a comment if you would like to purchase a Christmas-themed sign of your very own! They can be made to say anything you want and in any size and color.

P.S. Christmas music starts on Sirius radio on Monday, November 16! Channels 3, 4, 7, 9, and 62!

Halloween Costume - Betty Draper

2009-11-05T21:55:00.008-06:00

For Halloween this year Ben and I went as Don and Betty Draper from AMC's Mad Men. We've become slightly obsessed with the show and who wouldn't love an excuse to dress like they're from the 1960s? So with Halloween as our excuse, we began working on our costumes. Ben's was easy because he already had a gray suit. After that all he needed was a skinny tie, pocket square, and slicked-back hair. Well luckily his great-aunt left him a bunch of ties that one of her husbands used to wear and even more lucky was that Ben decided to actually keep a couple of them. Next came the pocket square. Well he just dropped by Jos. A. Bank and grabbed one (I actually quite like them). Oh and he borrowed a brief case that my dad used to use, but that was just a bonus. Poof! Ben's costume is complete.

My costume was considerably more difficult to find, and I actually never found a dress I wanted (that was a somewhat reasonable price). While shopping in a vintage store, becoming frustrated that I could not find something that looked like "Betty", it dawned on me. Why don't I just make my halloween costume. Sewing a dress couldn't be that hard, right? You just follow the pattern, simple as that. Oh how wrong I was. Haha. I laugh just thinking about the silly ideas that were going through my head as I was coming up with this brilliant idea.

Next thing I know I'm dragging Ben to Hancocks Fabric store looking for a floral print (those were popular back then, right?) I found one with purple, blue, and teal in it (I could see the dress in my head, I had the perfect belt to match). Here I am, fabric in one hand, pattern in the other, determined that I was going to sew the perfect Betty Draper dress - zipper and all. Well let me tell you, I did not end up sewing a dress. Don't worry, I did have something to wear for halloween. What I ended up doing was sewing a skirt. See, the thing is, there is no way I could have sewn a whole dress in the amount of time I had (that's my story I'm sticking to it).

Even though I didn't complete what I had set out to, I am quite proud of the skirt I ended up with - zipper and all. Just throw on a blouse, pearls, belt, petticoat, and matching heels and I was a regular ol' Betty.

Baby Shower Cookies

2009-11-04T12:01:00.003-06:00

I made some sugar cookies for a baby shower last Sunday. Well, as it turned out, the mom-t0-be ended up having her baby on the day of the shower! Madelyn Grace was born Sunday afternoon. 4 lbs. 6 oz. - simply adorable! No, the cookies did not go to waste! (are you kidding?) They were taken to the hospital to be enjoyed by visitors!

I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe.

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons almond
2 eggs
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk

Directions
1. cream shortening, butter, sugar, almond, and vanilla.
2. add eggs, beat well.
3. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture along with milk.
4. chill overnight
5. roll onto floured board into 1/4" thickness and cut into desired shapes.
6. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 4-6 minutes.

For the background of the cookies, I used this icing because it hardens and is easier to write on:

2 cup confectioner's sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons corn syrup
3 teaspoon clear vanilla flavoring
3 teaspoon clear almond flavoring

Stir sugar and milk together in a bowl until icing mixture is smooth; beat in corn syrup and vanilla and almond until icing mixture is smooth and glossy in appearance. Add food coloring to desired shade. Ice cookie and set aside for the icing to harden.

I did not add any color to the icing because I wanted a white background. I'm going to have to do a little research on this and if you have any suggestions let me know, because as the white icing dried it turned clear (even though I put up to 3 coats on each cookie!), so some of cookies ended up looking like it was just a pink "M" on a cookie.

For the "M" I used royal icing, because the other icing is not firm enough to write letters. Here's that recipe:

3 tablespoons meringue powder
4 cups (1 lb.) powdered sugar
6 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use clear if you want pure white icing)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions
Beat all ingredients together until stiff peaks form (8-10 minutes). To vary the consistency, add water to thin and add powdered sugar to thicken. Will ice 2 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies.

Halloween Cupcakes

2009-11-01T19:52:00.009-06:00

Ben and I went to see some friends in Memphis for Halloween and the hostess, Katie (yes, the same Katie that made my amazing birthday cake), made the cutest, most delicious Halloween cupcakes. I know this is a little too late for this year's Halloween, but good to have for future ones! Katie got the cupcake design ideas from Martha Stewart (of course) and they turned out great! She made brain, bat, and mummy cupcakes.

We cut the bat wings out of black construction paper and used red hots for the bats' and mummies' eyes.
Katie was such a great hostess! Everything was homemade and looked and tasted great.

Ben and I went as Don and Betty Draper from AMC's Mad Men, Katie was a flapper and her boyfriend, Rob, was Edward Scissorhands (great costumes!)

Now that Halloween is over, it's time to move on to Christmas!!! (oh and Thanksgiving, too.)

Pork Tenderloin with Mustard BBQ Sauce

2009-10-30T09:21:00.008-05:00

Ben has yet again amazed us with his culinary skills, particularly in the pork tenderloin category. Like I said in my pumpkin carving post, October is a busy month for my family. Not only are there tons of birthdays in October, but some of them even fall on the same day! For example, my uncle and I share a birthday, as well as my mom and my sister (it's just crazy!). Ok, on to the real reason I am typing this post: THE FOOD. This meal was prepared for my mom's and sister's birthdays. We had Brussels sprouts (I literally would not try Brussels sprouts until I was 23...sad I know, but I love them!), rosemary potatoes, and pork tenderloin. yummy!

As always with the glazes and sauces Ben makes, the mustard BBQ sauce was a mixture of various things - honey, mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce (he never really knows how much of each he uses, but it always works out). To make the sauce, put 1/3 cup of brown sugar in a sauce pan on medium heat with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, little bit of honey, and a few dashes of Worcestershire cause, stir until dissolved (if you need to add more wet ingredients, that's fine). Add a cup of mustard to the mixture and stir. If you're not a big mustard person, I would say it's safe not to use tons of it and it would still taste good.

Ben marinaded the tenderloins in mustard for a couple of hours, but you can marinade it over night if you wish. He grilled the pork for 30 minutes total. After initially cooking the tenderloin all the way around, he started applying the BBQ sauce with a brush at 2-3 minute increments.

I chopped 3/4 a package of bacon, put it in a skillet, and cooked it for a few minutes, then removed the bacon and added the Brussels sprouts to the grease. Add a couple of tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste, then slightly steam the sprouts at the end by placing a lid on the skillet for several minutes (remember to stir occasionally). About half way through cooking the Brussels sprouts, I added the bacon and let it finish cooking.

If you have any questions about this meal or anything else on the blog, e-mail me at jstansbakery@gmail.com.

Pumpkin Cookies

2009-10-27T11:00:00.003-05:00

To celebrate Halloween, I made some pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing and goodness gracious these cookies are addicting!

I found the recipe on joyofbaking.com. This website has the recipe for the cookies and icing on one page - so convenient. The recipe calls for canola oil instead of butter, because it is a "healthy" fat, not saturated fat (so that means I can eat twice as many, right?). Plus the oil gives the cookies a soft, moist texture.

I doubled the icing recipe, because I was worried about not having enough, which was good because I only had a little left over. However, I will say that a little bit of this icing goes a long way so be cautious about the amount you use. The recipe made about 20 cookies - perfect for a party. Oh and as always, I put more cinnamon than it calls for (you gotta love cinnamon)!

Pumpkin Carving!

2009-10-23T09:35:00.009-05:00

I love love love to carve pumpkins. October is always a really busy month for my family because we have 6 birthdays! This year, however, October seemed to be especially busy. I normally like to carve pumpkins at the beginning of October, but this year Ben and I didn't get around to carving until October 21! (gasp!)

I let Ben scoop out all of the insides. I usually don't mind doing that, but I wasn't up for getting my hands dirty this year. On a side note - I am noticing now that he has slight googly-eyes. oops! haha.

We always like to think of our own pumpkin designs. I think it's more fun to have a one-of-a-kind jack-0-lantern. So we knew we wanted a mean-looking-but-not-too-scary pumpkin face. I sketched it out and started drawing.

Here are the two pumpkins we did last year.

I think our pumpkins are simple and classic. Your basic jack-o-lantern. No fancy knives or scrapers to be found here!

Icing Cupcakes

2009-10-19T15:36:00.008-05:00

Little Rock's 16th annual Race for the Cure was this past weekend. Did you know Little Rock's RFTC is 4th largest in THE WORLD? Can you believe it? I can't. Over 45,000 people participated in the race this Saturday! It was so much fun!

So going with the pink theme, I made chocolate cupcakes with peppermint patties and pink buttercream icing. I am not the best at icing cupcakes, so I did a little research before starting this time. I found that most people (bloggers) use Wilton's 1M tip and after using it this weekend, I would have to agree. I will admit that my technique probably needs a little practice, but the icing tip is quite amazing.

Here's the recipe for the icing:
1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar (10x sifted)
1 tablespoons Wilton Meringue powder
1 dashes salt
1 1/2 cups white crisco
2 teaspoons Wilton no-color butter flavor
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
4 tablespoons water

Cream shortening, add butter flavor and vanilla and mix well. Add Meringue powder, sugar, and salt and gradually add water.

I put a peppermint patty in each cupcake before I baked them. The peppermint patty completely melted and dissolved, adding a slight mint flavor in the cake! Yummy!

Here's a great "How To" tutorial about icing cupcakes.

Peanut-Broccoli Stir-Fry Dinner

2009-10-15T10:28:00.005-05:00

I have been wanting to try this stir-fry meal from Southern Living's one-dish dinners and when trying to figure out what to prepare for dinner last night I remembered this dish.

I won't say it was the easiest, fastest meal to prepare, but it also wasn't the hardest. What was the most difficult was having to manage multiple things at one time. For example, the brown rice was cooking while the chicken was cooking and then I needed to wash and cut the vegetables and make the sauce. It's just a lot going on all at once, but it came together nicely.

The recipe calls for vegetable broth and this proved to be troublesome because Kroger does not carry vegetable broth (or if they do it was hidden). Luckily there is a Fresh Market close by that carries it. The recipe only calls for broccoli and carrots, but snow peas are delicious so we added those. With stir-fry, you can pretty much add any vegetables you like, the more the better. The recipe also used tofu, but we like chicken, so that is what we used.

Homemade Apple Pie

2009-10-13T15:30:00.011-05:00

This is the first homemade pie I have ever made! And I must admit that the anticipation was worse than actually making it. I was so scared I was going to mess up or that it would taste bad. I'm the kind of person that usually takes a pie out of a box and pops it in the oven. Never again! I'm a changed person!

Whenever I embarked on this pie adventure I did not know what I was getting myself into. The dough was definitely the hardest part. Not so much making the dough, but actually putting it in the bottom of the pie dish. As you can see in the below picture, part of the dough tore and I had to patch it with more dough. Totally fine, though, because no one could tell since it was on the bottom!
I used Alton Brown's recipe for the dough. However, his recipe gets too complicated so I stopped following it after leaving the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After that I just rolled the dough out (using lots of flour) and carefully placed it in the pie dish. Whenever it comes to Alton Brown I am a firm believer that there is no reason for all of those other shenanigans when I can accomplish the same thing in less steps and time.

I used Grandma Ople's Apple Pie recipe for the filling (she's not my Grandma, but she sure knows how to make an apple pie!). The only thing I did differently with this recipe is that I did not pour the sugar and butter mixture over the lattice. I poured it directly on the apples and then covered it. Before I go any further, I wanted to mention the cinnamon. I would only put cinnamon on the apples and in the mixture if you would like. Do not put it on the lattice, because it will appear burned after it bakes (I learned this the hard way from the cinnamon sugar pretzels.)

I know what you're thinking..."a lattice? really? on your first pie?" Believe me, I was scared too. But luckily I found this great video on Allrecipes.com that does step by step instructions on how to make a lattice. Plus after having such a hard time putting the pie crust in the bottom I was actually looking forward to trying something else for the top.

Yes yes, there are some places where I messed up (particularly on the lattice) but I'm already thinking of the next type of pie I should make. Any suggestions? Leave me a comment!

My Birthday Cake

2009-10-12T18:09:00.006-05:00

For my 24th birthday one of my best friends, Katie, made my birthday cake! This cake was beautiful! It is completely homemade - the cake, the icing, everything. The cake was four layers of chocolate with chocolate icing and a pint of Guinness in the cake!

We spent the weekend at my family's mountain house on Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas. As you can see, one of the activities was shooting clay pigeons. So much fun! Ben did a good job of planning activities! That's me shooting and probably missing the clay, however I will say that I hit my fair share.

This birthday was so much fun! I can't wait until my 25th birthday, dun dun dun! Mid-twenties!

Pumpkin Dip with Ginger Snaps

2009-10-09T11:02:00.012-05:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I Love Fall!

I know we've all had pumpkin dip with ginger snaps during the Fall months! Yummy! The recipe is so simple and perfect for this time of year that I could not pass it up. I found it by googling "fall appetizers", and let me tell you, there are tons of delicious dishes out there just waiting to be made!

This season I've been seeing a lot of hollowed-out pumpkins being used as bowls and I think that is too cute! Unfortunately, the pumpkins I had were too large, so I would have had to make like 5 pounds of dip (no thank you) so I settled for a regular bowl.

I love this recipe because it requires so few ingredients:

16 oz. of cream cheese
16 oz. powdered sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 tsp. nutmeg

4 tsp. cinnamon (adding more cinnamon is ok!)
serve with ginger snaps (round cookies or sticks)

Beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir in nutmeg, pumpkin puree, and cinnamon and Volia! So easy!

Football Brownies

2009-09-26T10:51:00.020-05:00

These brownies are perfect for any football occasion because you can customize them for whichever team you are cheering! Next time I think I'll make them specific for the razorbacks and write "Go Hogs" or maybe "Go Lynx" for my college's team (but let's be serious, when did I ever go to a Rhodes game?).

I made these brownies for the Arkansas v. Georgia game last Saturday (we won't talk about the score...depressing). I was going to make the Razorback cookies again, but on Wednesday decided I wanted to try something different. So I started my search for a football cookie cutter. I called two stores who both told me that they did not have football cookie cutters, but did have Easter egg cookie cutters. I have an Easter egg cookie cutter and knew that it DID NOT look like a football, so I said sorry I'll call somewhere else. I was about to give up hope when I called Vanness. I should have called this store in the first place because they always have what I need. Remember the fish cake I made for Ben's birthday? This is where I got the cake mold after searching and searching other stores.

These brownies are totally semi-homemade. Sandra Lee would be proud. I used box mix (dun dun dun). Two boxes of Duncan Hines to be exact. I was in a rush to buy the chocolate icing, so I grabbed a container only to later find out that what I thought said "Triple Fudge Chocolate" was actually "Triple Fudge Chocolate Chip", so those are not air bubbles in the icing, but chocolate chips! The white icing is also store bought. I will be honest, if I had unlimited amounts of time, then I would have made everything from scratch, but sometimes things just don't work out.

Since brownies tend to crumble when trying to ice them, I put the chocolate icing in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, then more or less poured the icing over the brownies and let it spill over the sides (yummy). I put the white icing in an icing bag and used a small-ish tip to make the stitch marks. These were a huge hit at the tailgate and I will definitely be making them again!

Oh and just for kicks...

This is an Easter egg. ------------------------ This is a football.*

Obviously not the same thing!

*http://www.candylandcrafts.com/images/2310-645footballcomfortgripcc.jpg

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Orange Salad

2009-09-23T19:43:00.006-05:00

Oh my goodness, this meal was so good! Ben might be the best griller I know. He always does a great grilled pork tenderloin, whether it's bacon-wrapped or has an orange juice-honey-butter glaze. However, this particular night we had pork with orange salad, steamed broccoli, and homemade cornbread.

Ben got the recipe from Food Network. Well, he actually stumbled upon it when we were trying to figure out what to cook on Labor Day. The original recipe did not call for a glaze, but Ben is a big fan of them and he usually makes them up on his own.

The orange juice-honey-butter glaze is Ben's secret recipe and because I'm a nice person, I'm going to share it with you, but shhhh don't tell him. The glaze is essential to keeping the pork moist and makes the outside taste delish. Combine freshly squeezed orange juice from 2 oranges, 3 tablespoons of butter, and 3-4 tablespoons of honey - but as I'm typing this Ben is telling me that it doesn't matter how much of each, just eyeball it. Abbie, if you're reading this I'm trying to get exact measurements for you because I know how much you like to have them :)

Back to the pork. Ben grilled the pork for 30 minutes total. After initially cooking the tenderloin all the way around, he started applying the glaze with a brush at 2-3 minute increments.

The recipe calls for an orange salad to eat with the pork. This salad complements Ben's glaze quite nicely. The salad is oranges, parsley, red onions, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. Very fresh.

This was my first time to make homemade cornbread (shocking, I know). But let me tell you, I will never be going back to the box mix (sorry Jiffy). Ben was also kind enough to tell me that Jiffy cornbread is "Northern" cornbread - uses sugar - whereas Southern cornbread does not. Well I can't make Northern cornbread being from the South and living in the South!

I hope everyone is so excited about the brownies that will be in my next post. But until then, I'll leave you with a hint about them: if you're a fan of football (not just Razorback football) then these will be a must-have for your next tailgate!

Homemade Pretzels

2009-09-17T18:55:00.012-05:00

mmmmm...I can just smell the homemade pretzels. Actually what I smell right now are freshly baked brownies (don't worry, you'll get a post about them this week). But very recently I did smell and taste fresh out-of-the-oven, homemade pretzels and let me tell you, they were delicious!

I am not the biggest fan of Alton Brown (sorry Ben and those of you who love him). While watching his show, "Good Eats", I have found myself saying,"come on, Alton, get on with it. Stop these silly side shows and show me how to cook!" Some people like that though. Nonetheless, he does know what he's talking about and he is a great cook! Ben and I got the recipe for the homemade pretzels from Alton and it is definitely one we will be using again.

Most of the ingredients are things that you'll already have, so no extra trip to the store!

1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 package active dry yeast

22 oz. all-purpose (about 4 1/2 cups)

2 oz. melted butter

vegetable oil, for pan

10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water

The above picture is Ben rolling out the dough. This is the hardest part, because the dough would not stay stretched out (too elastic). Ben started adding a little flour to it which seemed to work. It's supposed to be 24 inches long before you start twisting and it is easier to make the pretzel shape if you can get it that long. As you can tell, we didn't do any fancy twists in the middle, because we're just pretzel beginners (below picture). Next time, though!

We made salted pretzels and cinnamon/sugar pretzels. One tip would be to wait to put the cinnamon on until they are almost done baking, because the cinnamon did not have as much taste when we put it on before it went into the oven. Plus they look somewhat burned and that's just not very cute.

These are a great snack and if you're a fan of The Office you know that you can add just about any topping, just don't cut in line in front of Stanley.

Woo Pig Sooie!

2009-09-14T21:19:00.009-05:00

I finally think I've perfected red icing. It took years for me to figure out how to make the icing bright red, not pink. Luckily for you, I've come to share the secret.

I made these cookies for Arkansas' first football game against Missouri State. We beat them 48-10 - not too shabby. This weekend we take on the University of Georgia in Fayetteville and a big THANK YOU to Sarah for getting us tickets, so Ben and I will be there to cheer on the Hogs!

Like many times before, I used my favorite cookie and icing recipe from this blog post. After I cut the razorbacks out and put them on the cookie sheet, I stuck them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes before baking them. This way the dough can harden a little bit so the details of the cookies show up better. I cooked them for about 6 minutes each. As soon as their little snouts started to get brown I took them out.

As I mentioned in one of my first posts, I purchased the Razorback cookie cutter from Eggshells Kitchen Co. in Little Rock. They are handmade by a man in Arkansas (pretty neat). For all of the Arkansas Razorback fans out there that have been searching for razorback cookies cutters, you can order it from Eggshells online. Here's the direct website!

Ok ok ok, I promised the secret to real red icing, so here it is. After trying all sorts of red dye, I finally stumbled upon Wilton's icing gel. This works like magic! I can't wait to use it to make Christmas cookies! I just gradually added a little bit until I got the color I wanted, which was Razorback Red, of course.*

If anyone needs any Razorback cookies made for their tailgate, just let me know, because I love making these! I also have a football helmet cookie cutter which makes HUGE cookies!

*http://www.wilton.com/store/images/site_images/610-998_m2.jpg

Grilled Pizzas

2009-09-08T12:49:00.010-05:00

I feel like I should rename this the Ben and Jennifer cooking blog, because lately Ben has been cooking more than me! One of his most recent meals was grilled pizzas, grilled lettuce and homemade pita chips with hummus.

He got the pizza recipe from Men's Health. Here's the link. We made cheese only pizzas (for me) and cheese and onions pizzas (for those that like onions), both topped with fresh basil leaves. (Tip: do not put the basil on before putting the pizzas on the grill. Grilled basil tastes very different from fresh basil...and not in a good way.)

To make the grilled lettuce, slice a head of Romaine in half and drizzle a little olive oil on top. Add some kosher salt and ground pepper. Place these on the grill for 3-5 minutes (make sure you don't burn them!) Remove them from the grill and sprinkle with feta cheese and balsamic dressing. Ben also added cherry tomatoes and sliced onions to the lettuce before serving.

To make the homemade pita chips, Ben cut pita bread into triangles and brushed them with olive oil. You can add whatever spices you want (garlic or something spicier) and bake on 400 until slightly crispy (about 9 minutes).

Football Season

2009-09-02T15:53:00.008-05:00

When the crisp, cool fall air makes its way into the South, that means only one thing: (no, not my birthday, even though that is important and occurs in the fall)...FOOTBALL SEASON! College football is finally upon us, especially SEC football and especially especially Arkansas Razorback football!!!

Our first kickoff is this Saturday at 6pm. We play Missouri State (who?) at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock*. This game is one of two home games that the Razorbacks will play in LR, the other home games are played at Reynolds Stadium** in Fayetteville.

War Memorial Stadium

Donald W. Reynolds Stadium

Games at War Memorial are the best. Well, let me rephrase that. Tailgates at War Memorial are the best. Everyone gets up early and parks right on a golf course next to the stadium and tailgates all day. The one thing that's better than tailgating at War Memorial is beating LSU in the last 22 seconds of a game being played at War Memorial! WOOOO PIG SOOIE!

Of course, with any tailgate there's great food and that's what I'm here to talk about. I'm making my semi-famous Razorback sugar cookies :). You've seen them on the blog before, and you're going to see them again next week (hopefully new and improved)! I'll also post pictures of other foods perfect for tailgating.

*Thank you for excellent picture of War Memorial - http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1110/1154018517_e30b3d1a3b.jpg?v=0
** Thank you for the picture of Reynolds - http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/catImages/arkansas05sp-1.jpg