Pear and Blue Cheese Pizza

I've been meaning to blog this recipe for a while now. My obsession with this pizza began on Christmas Eve when my family went to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, the Cheesecake Factory, my aunt decided to order the Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Pizzette from the small dish menu as her entree and let me have a bite. From that bite I was smitten. I knew I had to have more and find a way to make it at home and make it healthier since I know the one at Cheesecake Factory is probably loaded with calories and fat and I could lighten it up quite a bit at home. First things first, we begin with a homemade whole wheat crust. I use my breadmachine to make the pizza dough, I'll include my recipe for that in the case you may have a breadmachine, if you don't any pizza dough will do, but a thin dough seems to be the winner with this pizza or pizzette. I decided to keep it small, using my smallest cookie sheet as the baking pan, the sheet measures 13 1/4" L x 9 1/4" W x .625" D, it's the perfect size for two people or makes two meals for one it seems.

Pear and Blue Cheese Pizza (Hot Housewife Original, adapted from Cheesecake Factory menu item)

Ingredients:
1/2 of 1.5 lb whole wheat pizza dough recipe (see below) or any pizza dough of your choosing that will fit in pan

3/4 cup Italian Style Six Cheese Blend Shredded Cheese, Divided
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 D'anjou pear, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
1 tsp olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
2.Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface to desired thickness, I prefer it thin and with my dough recipe and this amount to fit in the pan, the dough ends up being fairly thin.
3. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Shape dough into pan.
5. Drizzle and then brush the EVOO on the dough.
6. Peel and mince garlic and then spread on dough.
7. Sprinkle half the Italian cheese on dough.
8. Arrange sliced pears on pizza.
9. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles on top of pizza and especially on top of pear slices.
10. Sprinkle remaining half of Italian cheese on top of pizza.
11. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
12. Cut and enjoy.

I cut into 8 slices and each slice is roughly 95 calories, 3.5 g fat, 12.5 g carbs, 1.7 g fiber, and 3.5 g protein using the whole wheat dough recipe below.

Breadmachine 100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (1.5 lb):
Add to machine in order listed
1 cup water (80-90 degrees F)
3/4 tsp honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 tsp yeast

Set breadmachine to pizza dough cycle and 1.5 lb loaf size and let it do it's thing. When it's done, for the pizza recipe above you will only need half, so divide the dough in half (I use my food scale to ensure I make my dough balls equal halves by weight) and then use half and tightly wrap the other half in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer Ziploc bag and freeze for another time.

 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Something about Fall just screams all things pumpkin. A few weeks ago, my friend Maria pointed me in the direction of this recipe for pumpkin cream cheese muffins with a streusel topping. I decided these would make an awesome Halloween treat  for the Hubs' office. These were awesome and a definite hit at the office! Many thanks to Maria for the recipe!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (adapted allrecipes.com)

Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Streusel Topping
4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar (I used 2 1/2 TBSP packed brown sugar)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped pecans

Muffin Batter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin (I used a whole 15 oz can of pumpkin puree)
1/3 cup olive oil (I used 1/4 cup canola oil)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (my own addition)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (my own addition)
1/4 tsp ground ginger (my own addition)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 24 muffin cups, or use paper liners.
2. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.
3. For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
4. For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.
5. Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.
6. Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
   
   

 

Cheddar-Crusted Apple Pie

I love the combination of apples and cheese. I know it's odd, but anyone who's been to Vermont will tell you, the only way to eat apple pie is to finish it off with a slice of cheddar. I also adore the Melting Pot, and what's my favorite thing at MP? If you guessed the cheese fondue and Granny Smith apples, you would be correct! I am just obsessed with the sweet and salty combo. A Vermonter friend of mine mentioned the other day that she was making apple pie with a cheddar crust, intrigued, I decided to Google for recipes and found one from Cooking Light that I decided to try last night in addition to a menu completely comprised of items from this month's issue of the magazine. The taste of the pie was a little different, but still delicious.

Cheddar-Crusted Apple Pie (adapted from Cooking Light)
Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Ingredients 

Crust:

2 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour, divided
3/4  cup  (3 ounces) extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar)
1/2  cup  ice water
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/4  cup  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
 

Filling:
10  cup  very thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 2 3/4 pounds) (I used 5 large apples)
2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
1/3  cup  packed brown sugar
1/4  cup  granulated sugar
1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1/4  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
1/4  teaspoon  ground ginger
Dash of salt
Cooking spray
1  large egg white, lightly beaten

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.
To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 tablespoon flour and cheese in a small bowl; toss well. Place mixture in freezer for 10 minutes.
Combine 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup ice water in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until well blended to form a slurry. Combine 1 3/4 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cheese mixture. Add slurry; toss with a fork. Sprinkle surface with up to 1 tablespoon ice water, tossing with a fork until moist and crumbly (do not form a ball). Mixture will seem slightly dry. Dough was very, very dry at this point, I added about 1 TBSP more ice water to at least get the flour to stick to be able to complete the next step.
Divide dough in half. Gently press each half into a 4-inch circle on 2 sheets of overlapping heavy-duty plastic wrap; cover with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll each dough half, still covered, into a 12-inch circle. Chill 30 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed.
To prepare filling, combine apple and lemon juice in a large bowl. Combine 3 tablespoons flour, brown sugar, and next 5 ingredients (brown sugar through dash of salt) in a small bowl. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over apples; toss well to coat.
To assemble pie, remove top sheets of plastic wrap from 1 dough circle; fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 10-inch deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray, letting dough extend over edge of plate. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Spoon filling into crust. Brush edges of crust lightly with water. Remove top sheets of plastic wrap from remaining dough circle; place, plastic wrap side up, on apple mixture. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Press edges of dough together; fold edges under, and flute. Cut 3 (1-inch) slits in top of pastry using a sharp knife.
Combine egg white and 1 tablespoon water; brush over top and edges of pie. Place pie on a baking sheet; bake at 400° for 45 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

I love cupcakes, you all should know that by now, but seriously, I adore them. My newest addiction has been making "filled" cupcakes, something with a little surprise inside that you don't see coming from the outside. When I saw a recipe for Guinness and Bailey's aka Irish Car Bomb cupcakes I knew I had to make them! Perfect treat for the hubs' office, because after all, what is better than sharing little cups of deliciousness?

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (source: Annie's Eats)
Yield: 24 cupcakes
 
Ingredients:
For the Guinness chocolate cupcakes:
1 cup stout (Guinness)
16 tbsp. unsalted butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
For the Bailey’s ganache filling:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. Bailey’s Irish cream
For the Bailey’s buttercream frosting:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4-8 tbsp. Bailey’s Irish cream

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  Combine the stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.  Add the stout-butter mixture and beat just to combine.  Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed just until incorporated.  Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 to ¾ full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the ganache filling, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering, then pour it over the chocolate.  Let sit for one minute and then whisk until smooth.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a double boiler or give it a very short burst in the microwave (15-20 seconds).  Add the butter and Bailey’s and stir until combined.
Set aside to let the ganache cool until it is thick enough to be piped.  (You can use the refrigerator to speed the cooling process, but be sure to stir every 10 minutes or so to ensure even cooling.)  Meanwhile, cut out a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method (a small paring knife works best for this).  Once the ganache has reached the correct consistency, transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe it into the cupcakes.
To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Gradually add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.  Mix in the Bailey’s until smooth.  Add more if necessary until the frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading.  Frost the cupcakes as desired. And if you have extra ganache, pipe across the top of cupcakes as extra garnish.

Cupcake Bites and Cake Balls

With Valentine's Day upon us, I had decided last week I would make Tony's office a nice little treat. I had planned on making these goodies on Thursday for him to take in on Friday, but I was snowed in today (and yesterday too for that matter) and was starting to go a little stir crazy and bored, and seriously itching for a run. So I decided to pass the day by making these early, since I will hopefully be running the rest of the week and therefore be busy. These little babies are super cute, but they took me all day, and I do mean all day, I began by making my cake at 11 am, I ended up finishing up and cleaning up the kitchen at 7 pm. Granted I did take a couple breaks here and there, but nothing substantial.

I followed Bakerella's directions, except I made the same yellow cake I made a couple weeks ago and my usual Wilton buttercream as my cake ball base. It made way more than 50 balls, it made about double that! I got my mold at Michael's, the basic peanut butter cup candy mold, it cost about $2. I used plain old Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips to fill the molds, red candy melts as the top, and Sweethearts conversation hearts, white chocolate chips, and some red and white sprinkles to decorate them.

Take your cake after it has completely cooled and crumble in a large bowl, texture should be fine and fluffy. Add in frosting and mix. I tried to do it with a large wooden spoon, but it just wasn't working, so I just dug in and mixed with my hands. After it was all mixed, I began rolling into quarter sized balls. Place balls on parchment covered cookie sheet. Pop in freezer for a couple minutes.

After they have firmed up a bit, get out the candy mold and melt your chocolate in the microwave according to package directions, mine said 6 oz of chocolate chips for 1 minute at 100% and then in 15 seconds increments if needed. I filled a disposable pastry bag with my melted chocolate and piped it into the mold. Right after you fill the mold, press a cake ball into it until the chocolate comes up around the side of the ball. As so:

 

Then place in freezer for about 5 minutes to allow chocolate to harden. Pop out of mold. Get candy melts melted according to package directions and then dip cake ball portion in the candy melt and decorate while the candy is still wet. Place back in fridge to set. 

Since I ran out of most of the red candy melts, and didn't feel like going through the arduous process of filling the molds and waiting for them to harden, I decided to use the remaining cake balls to make just that, cake balls! Much like the ones I made in September I again followed Bakerella and just dipped these babies into some melted chocolate, again just using my Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips, rolled them around in the melted goodness and then placed them back in the fridge. I also decided to make some white chocolate covered ones. For them I used Toll House white morsels, nuked them in the microwave for 1 minute at 70% power along with 1 TBSP Crisco. I used some of the remaining white chocolate to drizzle with my spoon on the finished cake balls. 

 

 

YUM!!!

Easy Spinach Dip

I love spinach, and I love cheese. So anything involving these two things is a no brainer in my book. A few years ago my old work used to do potlucks quite often, and so during one of these events I decided I would bring in spinach dip, never having made it before. After some googling I found a super easy recipe, and have made it all the time since then. It is my go to recipe to bring to events and parties. So when we were invited over to our friends Dave and Susan's for the Superbowl, I knew that I would bring my spinach dip. It's easy and delicious! I hope you enjoy it as much as I and about everyone that has ever tasted this cheesey spinach amazingness seems to!

Easy Spinach Dip:
Ingredients:
1 16 oz tub of sour cream (I used Walmart brand Fat Free) *sidenote Daisy sour cream does not seem to hold up well in this recipe, but it's the only brand that I have ever used that didn't work, all others seem to work just fine, in all fat levels...
1 10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach
1 bag (2 cups) of any cheese you like (I used 6 cheese Italian blend)
1 envelope of Lipton Garlic and Herb soup mix (if you can find it, but if you can't it works fine without it)

Directions:
On a large pot on the stove over high heat, heat tub of sour cream and throw in frozen block of spinach. Stir around until block of spinach has thawed and broken all apart and mixed with the sour cream. It should take about 5 minutes or so. After spinach and sour cream have mixed, lower heat to low and add in envelope of soup mix and bag of cheese, stir until all cheese melts. Remove from heat. Let cool for a minute or two. Serve warm, either in hollowed out bread bowl or in a container with tortilla chips to dip. Enjoy!

Bananas Foster

My husband loves bananas, I on the other hand, am not a fan. I hate the smell, I hate the texture, I just can't eat them. The only bananas I will eat are the fried ones at Texas de Brazil, ones that are super sweet and covered in powdered sugar, and only when I am eating massive amounts of delicious beef. Anyway, I digress. So, the other night Tony asked me if I would make him bananas foster, which happens to be one of his favorite desserts. So after some googling of recipes I was ready to go. It was actually really easy and even this banana hater had to admit, it tasted pretty darn good!

Easy Bananas Foster (from recipezaar.com)
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 bananas, sliced
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch salt
2 scoops ice cream (vanilla or something more exotic like praline or wattleseed) We used Cake Batter 

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add sliced bananas and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Lower heat and continue cooking, stirring constantly for 2 more minutes.
5. Serve over a scoops of ice cream. 
6. Note: 1 oz of booze may be added during the last 2 minutes of cooking (Rum works well), add with the pan off of the heat- Beware of flaming. (We added in 1 oz Tortuga Gold rum at step 4 and it didn't flame)

My Third Pretty Cake: Roses and Sweet Peas

This was the final week of Course 1, tear, but don't fret, I've already signed up for Course 2 which begins February 11th! This week we learned how to make Wilton roses and sweet peas, along with bows, leaves and vines. I am pleased to say, I think this was my best cake yet! I decided to make a yellow cake from scratch and filled it with the same cream cheese frosting I used last week with the red velvet because I had a ton left over in a Tupperware in the fridge and it was just so darn tempting that I kept digging into it at random times during the week, so I needed to use it up so I would stop eating it all. The cake I am sad to report was not as moist and delicious as I thought it would be. I was really disappointed. I mean it still tasted good, but not as good as let's say Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden is. I got the recipe from Smittenkitchen.com. Here it is:

Yellow Cake From Scratch (from smittenkitchen.com)
Ingredients:
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken (I used my trick from last week, 2 TBSP lemon juice and just under 2 cups skim milk)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.) I sprayed mine with Pam for Baking and didn't use the parchment.
 
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour. Then frost.

And now the good stuff! Enjoy! 

Second Pretty Cake

This week was week 3 of Wilton Course 1, this week we learned figure piping and drop flowers and the shell border. I decided this week that I wanted to make a red velvet cake from scratch with a cream cheese filling. I wanted to frost the cake in the cream cheese frosting too, but it ended up way too thin to hold up to the decorating I knew I would be doing, so I ended up making a regular batch of the Wilton buttercream to frost the outside of the cake with like usual. I had never made a red velvet cake before, and found it surprisingly easy to make and it came out wonderful!

 

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Filling (from cdkitchen.com)

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I subbed 1 TBSP lemon juice and just under 1 cup of skim milk (put the lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup and then add the milk until it gets to the 1 cup line) and let it set out for about 5-10 minutes before it was ready)
2 ounces red food coloring (2 full bottles of red food coloring)
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened (I used 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, I used Crisco)
1 pound box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans (I used Pam for Baking, makes it a lot easier!). In a medium bowl or on a piece of waxed paper, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk. Beat in food coloring and vinegar, then add vanilla. Spread the batter evenly in the pans. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla Use frosting to fill and ice cake (or just fill like I did).

It was so delicious, at least the one small slice I had was delicious! And it must have been considering Tony brought me home an empty carrier after taking it to work on Friday! And now, without further ado, is my newest creation:

 

My first Pretty Cake!

I have been wanting to take the Wilton Cake Decorating Courses at Michael's for a while now, in fact I signed up in November, but the class got canceled, well it finally had enough people signed up that it began January 7th. The first week is basically just an intro, and then actual baking and decorating begins the second week. So last night was my first night getting to decorate my delicious chocolate cake. I have taken to making cakes from scratch lately instead of from a box, this time I decided to go with the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake from the back of my Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder box. The cake tasted delicious and was quite moist. Decorating it was definitely fun, I still need to work on frosting the cake without getting crumbs in the frosting, and perfecting the consistency of the icing. But I am so looking forward to next week's class and the following three courses!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 3/4 cups plus 3 Tbsp Cake Flour)
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost. 10-12 servings.

Baked Lemon Chicken Pasta

I've been wanting to try this recipe since I saw it on a blog I follow, Cooking With LT, well with some adjustments, I finally decided to take the plunge this week. I guess originally it was a Pioneer Woman recipe, but I omitted quite a bit to make my own little spin on it. The recipe that follows is what I used, if you'd like the full one, check out Pioneer Woman or Cooking with LT.

Ingredients:
1 lb box spaghetti (I used a box of whole wheat thin spaghetti, 13.25 oz)
1 lemon juiced and zested
1 chicken breast, shredded
2 cups (16 oz) fat free sour cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp olive oil
Grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put pasta in a large pot and boil, cook until al dente and drain. Put butter and olive oil in a skillet on the stove over low heat. Cook until butter melts, then add in garlic and lemon juice and turn off burner. Add in lemon zest and sour cream and stir. Add in shredded chicken. Then pour sauce over pasta and then transfer to an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook uncovered and additional 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over dish, top generously with parmesan cheese, then give lemon a final squeeze and serve. Enjoy!

Hubby and I definitely enjoyed this dish! It was a nice break from the usual alfredo we like to eat, and in fact it was pretty similar to an alfredo texture, but with a lemon flavor. I loved it! We will definitely be having this again.

Vanilla Rum Cake, From Scratch

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I made another rum cake for Christmas. Differing from the chocolate rum cake I made a few months ago, this one I decided to make without a boxed cake mix. I found the recipe here and just had to try it! It was absolutely delicious! This time I didn't overcook the syrup and it soaked into the cake perfectly! It was definitely a treat and it will definitely be made again, hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant-future.

Almost Tortuga Rum Cake (from recipezaar.com)

Basic Cake Mix

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into bits
3 tablespoons oil (I used Canola)

For the Cake

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I omitted) 
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum) (I used Tortuga Gold Rum)
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rum soaking Glaze

1/2 cup butter (do not substitute)
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum) (Again I used Tortuga Gold Rum)

Directions

1. Basic Cake Mix: In a large mixing bowl, combine basic cake mix ingredients.
2. On low speed combine ingredients until the mix is the consistency of fine gravel, and all particles are about the same size.
3. This mix may be contained and stored for up to 3 months in the refrigerator, or used right away like I did. 

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Spray a large Bundt pan (12 cup) with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on the bottom. (I skipped this step).
   
4. Place Basic Cake Mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, rum, oil, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and combine on medium speed with electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, scrape down the bowl halfway through.
5. Batter should be very smooth.
6. Pour into Bundt pan.
7. Bake for about 55 minutes- until fully golden and tester comes out clean and cake springs back.
8. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack while making the soaking glaze.

Rum Soaking Glaze:.

1. Combine butter, water and sugar in a small saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil carefully as mixture boils over very easily.
3. Reduce to a simmer and cook until sugar is dissolved and syrup is well combined and a little thicker.
4. Remove from the heat and add the rum, mix to combine.
5. While cake is still cooling, pour some of the hot syrup on top of the cake, allowing it time to soak in (this may take a few minutes as there will be a lot of syrup) continue to add syrup until all of the syrup is added.

Allow cake to cool completely in pan before turning out onto serving platter. This cake is delicate, so once it is turned out, it can not be moved around easily. Can be eaten when fully cool, but even better the next day!

 

 

Tony's Graduation and Christmas #1

Whew! It has been a busy few weeks!! My wonderful husband has finally finished his M.P.A. (Master's in Public Administration), so with graduation being December 19th and the in laws coming for this momentous occasion, we decided to combine it and celebrate an early Christmas with them! It was so great to see them since we don't get to see them very often. And of course, there was a ton of food and cooking to be done! I made the 13.2 lb turkey I won at last month's Turkey Trot. I made it the usual way my family makes turkey, covered it in poultry seasoning, added 1 12 oz bottle of Corona in the pan as well as 1 12 oz can of chicken broth, 1 stick of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Then covered it all with foil and let it cook at 325 for 4 hours. After it was done, I took the foil off and brushed on some melted butter and let it brown about 10 more minutes. The rest of the trimmings were mostly from cans, except my mashed potatoes, those were homemade. We stuffed ourselves Friday night and then settled in for presents and cake and eggnog! Tony's parent's gave us the cutest ornament for our tree that they got a local craft fair, I LOVE it!!

Then it was time for cake and eggnog. Tony, being the guest of honor, got to pick what kind of cake he wanted me to make him. Of course, he picked chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. Normally, I make cakes with a box mix, but this time I decided to try something new and went ahead and made the whole thing from scratch! I pulled out my Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics  and got to work on the Moist Devil's Food Cake.

Here's our graduate with the cake, I piped on the words using leftover blue frosting from the cookies:

And then it was eggnog time! My family always makes homemade eggnog every year, except we always put the bourbon in the nog when making it, but Tony's parents don't drink, so I made it without and just let those that wanted to add liquor to add it themselves.

Eggnog:

6 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 cups bourbon

1 quart whole milk

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1. Separate eggs, beat yolks until creamy (I put them in my Kitchen Aid on 6 for about 3 minutes). Add sugar, mix to creamy, another 3-5 minutes. Add bourbon, mix until sugar dissolves; then let the mixture sit in a large bowl.

2. Beat egg whites until thick. I used my Kitchen Aid and beat on 8 for about 3-5 minutes, basically until the egg whites form peaks. Fold egg whites into the other mixture. Add milk, just pour the whole quart in.

3. Beat heavy cream until thick, the thickness of the cream will determine the thickness of the nog, so do this to your liking, I like mine kind of thick, so I beat the cream until it made whipped cream and the peaks stood on their own when the beater was removed. Pour the cream into the nog. Gently stir.

4. Half the mixture into 2 bowls, freeze one and refrigerate the other. The next day mix the two together and grate some nutmeg over it, or be lazy like me and just sprinkle some already ground nutmeg in there to your liking.

I skipped adding the bourbon since as I said before my in laws don't drink, but it still came out delicious, the only thing was the half in the freezer froze over without the liquor in there, so I had to let it sit out for about an hour for it to thaw out to be able to mix the two together.

So, the next morning was hubby's graduation, so we got all dressed up and headed on downtown. It was a little nippy out, about 30 degrees or so, but colder with the wind chill, so walking downtown was not too enjoyable, but luckily we cut through the Peabody and took this awesome photo in front of their huge Christmas tree!

Finally some pics of the graduate!

 

Then it was off to the Pig 'N' Whistle for some authentic Tennessee BBQ and a nice relaxing afternoon evening. The in laws are now gone, but we had a great visit with them! We can't wait to see them again in June for Pat and Heather's wedding (Tony's brother and his fiancee)! Now I just need to get ready for Aunt Tara's arrival on Wednesday and a nice low key Christmas! Merry Christmas to all of you and I wish you all the best in the 2010!!

Christmas Baking Extravaganza!!

Right after we returned from Vegas I had to kick it into high gear! Christmas is fast approaching and I needed to start getting ready and getting my treat buckets mailed out. Plus, my in laws were set to arrive Thursday Dec 17, with Tony's Master's graduation on Sat Dec 19, so I really needed to get everything done! So I began baking Monday night and finished Wednesday night. I began with 5 dozen sugar cookies. The recipe is as follows, and is the same recipe for the reindeer cookies, I will talk about further down, the additional ingredients for them are listed in parenthesis.

Basic sugar cookie dough (taken from Publix Family Style Magazine, Winter 2008):
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour

Additional ingredients for reindeer cookies:
(1/4 unsweetned cocoa powder)
(128 tiny pretzel twists)
(128 semi sweet or milk chocolate chips)
(64 red M&M candies)

1. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer  on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda and salt and beat until combined.

2. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as possible with the electric mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

3. Divide dough in half and chill for 2 hours. I went ahead and wrapped each dough ball in some saran wrap and chilled it overnight.

To make the cut out cookies use additional flour to sprinkle on surface, sprinkle additional flour on dough and roll out using rolling pin to about 1/4 in thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Cool on cooling racks.

Then I made the glaze, which I apply to the cooled cookies with a paint brush.

Frosting Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl mix ingredients, adding more milk or water as necessary until desired consistency is reached.

Makes about 1 3/4 cups

Tuesday I then piped on the designs. I used a different frosting recipe, because I felt the glaze was too watery and not holding up so well when it was being piped, so the decorating icing is as follows.

Sugar cookie frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup shortening
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon almond extract
food coloring (optional)

1. In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar, shortening, water, and almond extract. Add food coloring if desired.
2. Spread frosting on cookies and, if desired, top with sprinkles.

So after the sugar cookies were made, now it was time for reindeer cookies!! These are seriously the cutest things I have ever seen! I just had to make them. They came from the same Publix magazine, at step 2 in the basic sugar cookie recipe you add in 1/4 cup coca powder with the flour. Divide the dough in half and chill for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Shape each half of dough into an 8 inch square. I wasn't quite sure how to do this, so I sprayed down the inside on my 8 x 8 Pyrex dish with some Pam and pressed the dough into in to get the square shape and then flipped it out onto the counter. Cut each square into 16 2-inch squares. Halve each square diagonally to make a triangle. I went ahead and used my handy bash 'n' chop blade thingy to cut the dough.

 

Then place the triangles 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, I put parchment down on all my cookie sheets when baking so I can easily transition between batches without the cookies sticking to the bottom of the pan. For each reindeer, place 2 tiny pretzel twists just under the long edge of the triangle for antlers. Place a red M&M in the point opposite the antlers for the nose. Add semi sweet or milk chocolate chips for the eyes. Bake about 8 minutes or until set. Remove and cool on wire racks. Makes 64 cookies.

Before going in the oven:

After:

I then moved on to avalanche brownies! See, I told you there was a lot of baking! The avalanche brownies were probably the easiest thing I made, so simple and so yummy!!

Avalanche Brownies (from Woman's Day Holiday Cookies):

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

8 peppermint candy canes, crushed (I used 16 mini candy canes)

1 10 oz bag mini marshmallows

1 12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips, melted.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, butter, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir until smooth. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, then stir in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

4. While brownies are still hot, sprinkle the top half of the crushed candy canes, followed by the marshmallows and the remaining crushed candy canes. Drizzle with melted chocolate chips. Cool. Cut with a sharp knife.

Okay, one more recipe and then I'll show you the treat buckets! Finally, I decided to make some gingerbread men. I have never made gingerbread in my life, but I got a super cute new gingerbread boy cookie cutter, so I just had to try it out!

McCormick Gingerbread Men:

3 cups flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

Frosting Glaze recipe from above, and red and green M&Ms.

1. Mix flour, finger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. Beat butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

2. Roll out dough to 1/4 in thickness on a lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with a cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

3. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 8-10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool on cookie sheets 1-2 minutes. Remove to wire cooling racks; cool completely. Decorate as desired.

I piped on the faces using the frosting glaze recipe from above, and then made buttons out of the M&Ms.

Finally, it was time to assemble the treat buckets! Whew! I am tired and if you made it this far, bravo to you!! So I saw this adorable idea in the Woman's Day Holiday Cookies magazine, that I just had to try. Basically you buy an empty, brand new silver gallon paint bucket, and then cover it with holiday themed scrap paper, cut out the holes for the handles on the sides using a craft knife, and then cut out the paper in a circle to cover the lid. I used double stick tape to stick it all on. Then filled the buckets with parchment paper and the treats, tied a ribbon around it and put a gift tag on it, and they were ready to be mailed off to the family! Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of them completely done with the ribbons and tags, but I was pressed for time...