April Birthday Lunch

Our April birthday lunch at work was for a 5oth birthday, so I wanted to do something fun. I probably got a little carried away, but I had a lot of fun making everything.


Dirt Cake

I had to rub it in a little bit that this was a milestone birthday. Although I had to be careful since I have my own milestone birthday in October and paybacks are hell. This cake was really rich, but in my mind you can't go wrong with pudding and cookies.

1 - 20 oz pkg Oreos

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

8 0z cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioner's sugar

3 1/2 cup milk

2 packages chocolate pudding

8 oz whipped topping, thawed

clean flower pot

gummy worms

Crush the oreos in a large plastic bag using a rolling pin. Cream together butter, cream cheese & confectioner's sugar. In another bowl, cream together milk, pudding & whipped topping. Combine the 2 mixtures and mix well (need a very large bowl).

Use a clean flower pot as the container. Fill pot with alternating layers of cookie crumbs & pudding mixture, beginning and ending with cookie crumbs. Place a few gummy worms throughout and on top for decorations. Keep refrigerated.

Notes: I used fat free milk, fat free whipped topping and low fat cream cheese and you couldn't tell the difference from using regular ingredients.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

My friend Sara sent me this recipe and told me I had to try it. I was skeptical at first because I really don't care for cheesecake at all. However, the ingredients to this sounded good, so I decided to give it a try. I think I have found a new favorite dessert because it was SO good. Almost everyone at the luncheon asked me for the recipe and everyone loved it. It was really easy to make too.

3 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 (8 oz) pkgs. refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Honey and/or almonds

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and the vanilla in a bowl until smooth; set aside. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each sheet into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one sheet into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.

Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the cheesecake. Stir together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Either sprinkle the top of the cheesecake with almonds or drizzle with honey.

Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Superman Cake Pops

The birthday person is a Superman fanatic so I was trying to find a way to incorporate this into a dessert or cake. And no, the Superman toy we stole from his office and put in green jello, aka kryptonite, does not count. ;) I saw this idea on http://www.bakerella.com/ and still had cake balls left in my freezer from Easter, so I decided to take on the challenge. For instructions on how to make the cake balls, see my previous entry from Easter.

I made the superman logo by printing out the picture from my computer and covering it with wax paper and then tracing it in royal icing. You have to let these dry for a day or two before you can handle them.

To turn the cake balls into cake pops you dip a sucker stick in a little bit of chocolate and then stick it in the cake ball. Place in freezer until set .

Dip the cake in chocolate and then place the sucker stick in a piece of styrofoam so the chocolate can set. Quickly and gently place the superman logo in place before the chocolate sets. When you are finished place back in fridge until completely set. It's best to only take a few out of the freezer at a time to dip otherwise they will start to thaw and fall apart in the chocolate.

I individually wrapped each one, so that it would look more like a sucker. I got the little bags at Michaels and the sucker sticks at Fischers, but I think both stores sell both items.

Easter

French Toast Casserole

I made brunch for my parents and Scott and I on Easter Sunday. My mom had foot surgery a few days before, so I needed something that I could cook at their house and not make a huge mess. At first I wasn't sure how this would go over because my dad hates casseroles, but I think he ate 5 pieces. Sometimes I think he doubts my cooking abilities, but I am pretty sure he liked this one. ;) I served this with hashbrowns, fresh pineapple and a Butter Braid.


1 loaf French bread
8 eggs
3 cups milk
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Cinnamon to sprinkle
Butter

Spray 9x13 pan with Pam - cut bread about 1½” thick and lay in pan. Mix eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and a little cinnamon in a bowl. Pour mixture over bread and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, put a pat of butter on each slice of bread and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Note: Don't cut the bread too thick or it will take forever to cook. Make sure you cook it long enough since it has so many eggs. Better to cook a little longer to be on the safe side.


Easter Goodies

I took a candy class right before Easter and got a lot of good ideas.

I made everything on this plate, except the edible Easter grass (which is disgusting, by the way, tastes like paper).

Cake balls and chocolate covered marshmallows. (See instructions below for cake balls.)

Solid, flat white chocolate bunnies. The detail was done with a toothpick.

Little eggs are filled with caramel and big eggs filled with rice krispies.

Solid 3D bunnies

3D lamb cake decorated with rosettes and my leftover flowers from my course 2 final cake. He turned out so cute that no one wanted to cut him.

Cake Balls

I stumbled upon a recipe for these right before Christmas and decided to give them a try and they were a huge hit with everyone. The week before Easter I had a cake completely fall apart on me and I hated to throw it away so it sounded like a perfect excuse for another batch of cake balls. I have seen several variations on how to make these, but this is how I do it:

Bake a cake, 9x13 works best and it probably works with any flavor cake, but I have only tried white. Let the cake cool and then crumble it into tiny pieces. Mix in a can of frosting, again you can probably use any flavor but I have only tried vanilla. Put the cake in the refrigrator for about 30 minutes to make it easier to work with then shape into balls. I use my cookie scoop to get the right size and then roll in my hands. Put the balls in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Melt chocolate, I use candy coating wafers (from Michaels or candy supply store) and dip balls in chocolate. Retrieve the ball from the chocolate with a fork, lightly tap fork on the side of the bowl and gently scrape the fork on the edge of the bowl to remove excess chocolate and then put on wax paper to set. If you want to put sprinkles on top you have to work quickly because the frozen cake makes the chocolate set very fast. Put the cake balls back in the fridge or freezer until completely set. It is best to only work with a few at a time so that the cake does not thaw before you dip it.

Notes: You can keep the cake balls in the freezer for weeks before dipping them, so you don't have to use the whole batch for 1 occasion (it makes a ton). I keep my chocolate on top of my pancake griddle (set to warm) to keep the chocolate melted while I am working with it. It will stay melted all day long, but make sure it does not get too hot and burn. I also add paramount crystals to my chocolate to thin it out. You can buy these at any candy supply store. You use about 1 tbsp to each pound of chocolate. Basically you want your chocolate to smoothly run off your spoon. If you have never been to Fischers Cake & Candy in Florrisant, it is a wonderful place!

For more details on this check out http://www.bakerella.com/. I LOVE this website, she has a lot of great ideas and she gives step by step instructions with pictures. I wish I would have found this site before I made them for the first time!

Cake Decorating - Course 2

Course 2 was about flowers, flowers and more flowers with a few borders thrown in. We learned the rose bud, victorian rose, violet, apple blossom, daffodil, pansy, primrose, mum and daisy. We also started working with royal icing. I am excited about the royal icing for cookies and some cake decorations, but I made all these flowers out of buttercream.

These were all the flowers we needed for our final cake in course 2:

The white plastic pieces that the flowers are sitting on are called flower formers. You put the flowers in them when they are wet so that when they dry they have a more natural curved look.

The basket weave was surprisingly easy and it looks really cool when it's done. The bluebird was made out of royal icing.

Mexican Night

I have been hooked on quesadillas lately. I have tried ordering them a few different restaurants, but it seems like they always surprise me with onions or the chicken is weird, so I think it's better to just make them at home. This recipe came from pillsbury.com and it's very tasty.

Fiesta Chicken Quesadilla



4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup thin red bell pepper strips
1/4 cup thin green bell pepper strips
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese (2 oz)
1 tablespoon sliced green onion (1 medium)
1/2 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa

Heat oven to 450°F. Line 15x10x1-inch pan with foil. Spray both sides of each tortilla lightly with cooking spray. Place 2 tortillas on foil-lined pan. Sprinkle each with half of the chicken, bell pepper strips, cheese and green onion. Top with remaining 2 tortillas.

Bake 3 to 5 minutes or until light brown and crisp. Cut into wedges; serve with salsa.

Notes: I changed up the recipe a little bit and omitted the green peppers and I subbed taco sauce for the salsa and put the taco sauce in the quesadilla. It also tastes much better if you omit the cooking spray and just cook the quesadilla in a skillet on the stove. The oven turns the top tortilla shell very hard.

New Recipes

Homestyle Chicken

Yes, you guessed it, it's another chicken recipe! My mom had clipped this recipe from somewhere and I saw it sitting at her house one day and decided to copy it. It was super easy to make and could pass as a healthy version of fried chicken. Next time I make it I will use the chicken breast tenderloins so they are more like chicken strips. The breading is really thin, so there didn't seem to be enough breading for a thick chicken breast.

1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt

1/2 tsp Lawry's Garlic Pepper (I couldn't find Lawry's, but found a McCorrmick one)

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast (I would use the tenderloins instead)

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp oil

Spray foil lined 15x10x1 baking pan with cooking spray (coat it good!). Mix flour & seasonings in shallow dish. Moisten chicken with milk & coat evenly with flour mixture. Place chicken in pan and drizzle with oil. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 min turning halfway through.

Pepperoni and Cheese Bread

I was hungry last Sunday and it was too late to eat a big lunch, but dinner was still several hours away. I remembered seeing this recipe on another blog and just happened to have all the ingredients on hand. For the bread I used the Pillsbury Italian Country bread (in a can). It was a little hard to roll out, so next time I might try just slicing the bread down the middle and stuffing it with the pepperoni and cheese.

1 roll refrigerated french bread dough OR 1 loaf frozen bread dough (thawed)
Pepperoni
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Egg wash (1 egg white, 2-3 tbs water)

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out bread dough and sprinkle with mozzerella and parmesean cheeses, place pepperoni (as much as desired) on top of the cheese. Carefully roll the bread dough into a cylinder shape. Pinch ends and top to seal. Brush top and sides of loaf with egg wash. If desired, top loaf with cheese, pepperoni, and/or Italian seasoning. Make a few diagonal slices in top of loaf for air to escape while cooking. Bake at 350 for ~20 min. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Take Two

I decided to try a couple of my previous recipes again to try to improve them.


Chicken Enchiladas

When I made the enchiladas a few weeks ago Scott and I both thought there was something missing. This time we made the Chicken Helper Cheesy Chicken Enchilada according to package directions with ground chicken. Then we rolled it up inside tortilla shells and placed in a 9x13 glass pan. Pour a can of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and then top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted. The rice in the Chicken Helper gave the enchiladas more substance and we both thought they were much better.



Soft Pretzels

I am determined to perfect the homemade soft pretzels. This time I still used the Trader Joe's pizza dough, but I brushed them with egg white before I put them in the oven and then again halfway through. I brushed them with a little butter right before they were done to give them more flavor. The egg white gave the outside the correct texture, but the dough is still not quite right. Next time I might try breadsticks, or something with a little lighter dough.

Chicken Tacos

Tacos are probably a pretty common meal in most households, but most people don't think to use ground chicken rather than ground beef. I have gotten many people hooked on ground chicken and it is so much easier than cooking chicken breasts and shredding or chopping it. When I first introduced the chicken tacos to Scott, he had me make them so often that Laura won't eat them any more, and it used to be one of her favorite meals.

The ground chicken is sold in 1lb packages in the meat department by the chicken and turkey. You cook it in a skillet, just as you would ground beef and then add a package of taco seasoning and the water called for on the seasoning package. Then make your tacos as desired.

I have heard that ground turkey tastes the same as ground chicken and is good in tacos too, but I have not tried it. Ground turkey is supposed to be healthier than the chicken also.