Long Overdue

I have not posted or added anything to my page in a LONG time.  Well thanks to the football season starting, that will be changing soon.  I just updated the look of my site and will start posting after next weekend.  Hopefully my recipes will be more focused on baking this time around.

I look forward to sharing everything with you.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Due to the fact that I could eat mushrooms everyday, I am shocked that it took me so long to make stuffed mushrooms.  This was my first attempt ever and they were DELICIOUS!  I changed the recipe I found and added one of the other favorite ingredients, bacon.  I had always thought that stuffed mushrooms were really time consuming and hard to make. Boy was I wrong.  It ended up taking about 30 minutes after cutting everything up and pulling out the food processor.  The work was well worth it.  I halved the recipe I found and still had a bunch of filling left over.

Ingredients:
20 mushrooms, about 2 inches in diameter
1/2 onion chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 sliced of crispy bacon, chopped
3 slice white bread
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper


Remove stem from mushrooms and finely chop, set aside.  Put cubed bread slices into food processor and chop into bread crumbs.  Add in olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Place in a baking pan and spread out.  Bake at 350 for about 6 minutes, allowing bread to dry out.  While bread is baking, saute chopped mushroom stems in butter for about 5 minutes.  Add in onion, bacon, garlic, oregano and remainder of salt & pepper.  Cook until onion is translucent and remove from heat.  Let the mixture cool and then add in bread crumbs, cheese and parsley.  

Place the mushroom caps stem side down in another baking dish.  Bake at 350 for around 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms start to loose water.  Remove from the oven and then stuff with mixture.  Bake at 350 for about 10 more minutes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Original Recipe found here.

Its been awhile since I have posted, for that I apologize!  Things have been busy and I have not had to time to edit photos and write up postings!  Here are the cupcakes I made for Valentines Day! (Yes, even though I haven't been posting, I am still cooking all the time!!)  To be honest, I haven't yet tried the cupcakes in their entirety.  I had some of the cake without the frosting. Tomorrow I will be taking them to work and I'll let you know how many minuted go by before they are all gone! =)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring (if using the liquid, if not 1 tablespoon will be fine!)

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 cup muffin pans with cupcake papers.  You will get 2 batches out of this recipe.  You can also use as a cake recipe.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a mixer.  The recipe suggested a hand-held, but I used my stand mixer.  Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting. 

Frost with cream cheese frosting recipe, found here.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Original recipe found here.

This was a very each cream cheese frosting recipe.  The downside to it, which is good for the red velvet cupcakes, is that the cream cheese flavor really stood out.  I like my frosting to have more a vanilla taste, but overall the pairing of the two turned out.  The red velvet cupcake recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Mad Housewife

This is my last post for the night.  I have been debating whether or not I should share a wine suggestion.  This one is too good not too.  So it's not like a I know a lot about wine, smells, flavors, etc.  I just know what I like, and what I don't like.  My wine palette has grown a lot, and changed as well.  Just when I thought I never wanted to have another glass of Merlot wine (way too sweet for me), I came across this bottle.  Its very full bodied and has a great taste.  If you like wine, give it a try.  Let me know what you think.  I have been picking it up at Fred Meyers, its been on sale for around $7 a bottle for the last month.  I know - its a cheaper wine, but its GREAT.  Try it!

Here is a link to their site.  The bottles are cute.  I know, you should never judge wine or a book by the cover.  Well I do it anyways.  It works for me. =)

Salmon Pasta

This is a recipe I threw together a long time ago. Every time I make it, something varies.  Add whatever vegetables you want.  Right now I love artichoke hearts, so the below could not go without.  I usually add tomato and green onion, opposed to the artichoke hearts and asparagus.


Ingredients:
2 fillets of smoked salmon (I am fortunate enough to have fresh from my dad)
2 cups sour cream
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup butter
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and cut in half
1/2 cup asparagus, cut into small pieces
1 bunch green onion


Let the butter melt over medium heat, add in garlic, and salt.  Saute until you start to smell the garlic.  Add in the sour cream and place a lid over the pan.  Let the sour cream and butter cook down together.  If needed, add a  little bit of milk.  This should take about 15 to 20 minutes of simmering.  Make sure you taste it at this point and the sour cream taste has weakened.  Once it has simmered, add in ingredients.  Let everything simmer for about 10 minutes to heat thoroughly.  Make sure you keep the salmon in chunks.  You do not want to break up the pieces beyond bite size. 


Serve over fettuccine noodles cooked according to packaged directions.  Garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Pita Chicken

I got this recipe from my sister awhile ago.  I like making this because its easy, and when I almost to the bottom of the bag of Stacy's Pita chips, I can use them for something!  It's kind of similar to the crunchy bake chicken recipe, but there is a different flavor.  Try using the flavored pita chips as well, Parmesan Garlic would be delicious!


Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups crushed pita chips (you want the pieces small, but not like bread crumbs)
2 eggs
salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts, pounded out 


Preheat oven to 350.  Combine pita chips with salt and pepper in a bowl.  Beat eggs in separate bowl.  Pound the chicken breasts out to about 1/2 in thickness.  Coat in egg and then with pita chips.  Place in a sprayed glass pan for baking.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the pita chips begin to brown.

Orzo Pasta

Orzo pasta is one my new favorite side dishes.  You are able to add anything you want really; cheeses, vegetable, etc. So this isn't really a recipe but a suggestion for mixing up your meals.  Its a nice break from the usual rice, potatoes, or pasta.  When cooking your Orzo, opposed to using just water for cooking, replace half the amount of water with chicken broth.  When the Orzo is almost done, add in the vegetables to allow them to heat thoroughly.

In the above picture, I had mixed artichoke hearts, green olives and spinach.  I would also suggest bacon.  Bacon makes everything taste great.   

Peanut Brittle

This peanut brittle recipe is from my friends mom.  When I first met my friend, around 5 or 6 years ago, her mom gave my family her peanut brittle, and we have been hooked ever since.  This year she gave me the recipe and I just gave it a try.  This was a lot easier to make than expected (the hardest part is stirring).

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

16 oz bag raw peanuts (make sure you get raw!)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cook sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt over medium-high heat in a 3 quart sauce pan.  Stir continuously until you reach 275 degrees on a candy thermometer.  At 275, add in peanuts and continue to stir to 295 degrees.  Remove from heat and add in baking soda.  Pour on 2 cookie sheets, I used parchment paper to cover mine.  Break up when cools.

Over all, it took me about 20 minutes and a little bit of help from my husband.  I would suggest an extra pair of hands, to help with the stirring and thermometer.

Mexican Polenta Pie

This dish was a lot different than anything I would normally make, but I am continuing to branch out.  I hadn't had polenta in awhile, and last time I cooked with polenta, it did not turn out well.  This was supposed to be a polenta type mexican lasagna, but instead tasted more like chili and polenta.  I loved it and will make again.  I would suggest making it a day ahead and just popping in the oven.  Its a very easy week night meal.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green sweet pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound uncooked ground turkey or beef

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14-1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup bottled salsa

2 16-ounce tubes refrigerated cooked polenta

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 cup chopped fresh tomato

1/4 cup snipped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a skillet cook onion, garlic and sweet pepper in 1 tablespoon oil until tender.  Add turkey, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne; cook until browned through.  Add beans, undrained canned tomatoes, and salsa. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer gently, uncovered, 15 minutes.

Cut up one tube of polenta into small cubes.  Grease bottom of a 9 x 13" pan and line with cubes of polenta and press down to evenly cover.  Sprinlkle with 1 cup of cheese.  Top with bean and meat mixture.  Slice remainder of polenta.  Arrange sliced polenta over meat.  Top with remaining cheese and fresh tomatoes.  Bake for 35 minutes, or until bubbling.  Top with cilantro and sour cream if desired.

Nutty French Toast

Okay, Christmas time has been hectic.  I have a lot of posts to put up and they will follow in the next few weeks.  Sorry for the lack of posts!!

This is a recipe that came from my mother in law.  I made some changes to the recipe to adapt to the Holiday Season.  The recipe calls for cinnamon bread, but I used white.  I would suggest the cinnamon bread, it makes the dish taste more like cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients:

2 Loaves of Cinnabon Bread (if you can't find it you can use 2 Cinnamon Raisin or just plain white bread), cubed

8 Eggs

1 Cup Half n Half  (or you can use Egg Nog)

1 Cup Whole Milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla  (if using white bread add 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg & 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon)

 

Grease a 9 x 13 pan and fill with bread cubes. Mix the eggs, half n half, milk, vanilla and spices.  Pour over the bread cubes, cover and refrigerate overnight.  Before baking spread with topping mix.

 

Topping Mix:

3/4 Cup melted Butter

1 1/3 Cups Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons Dark Corn Syrup ( I only had light, it worked out fine)

1 1/3 cups  chopped Pecans

 

Bake at 350 for around 50 minutes.  If the top gets too brown before done, cover with foil.

Spritz Cookies

 This is a cookie that my family has made every year at Christmas for as long as I can remember.  It is one of my favorites, especially when they are frozen!  One thing that is needed to make these cookies is a cookie press.  The one below is similar to mine.  Keep in mind that these cookies aren't only for Christmas!  There are other shapes that come with the cookie press, making these great for anytime of the year.  Another thing that people do with this dough is add food coloring.  I prefer the sprinkles to the food color, but go ahead and try whatever!


Ingredients:
1 pound butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
5 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.  Fold in flour.  Let the dough chill for a little while.  When ready, put into cookie press and press onto a cookie sheet.  If desired, add colored sugar to the cookies and bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes, or until firm to touch.  Be careful, these will brown up very quickly.  Watch them closely while in the oven.

White Chocolate Chex Mix

This recipe came from my mother in law, and has been very popular with everyone I have given it to!  I make it around Christmas time, but feel free to use the various colored M&M's at different times of the year to change it up.  You could even try coloring the white chocolate to give it a little more of a color match to the holiday/occasion you are making it for.  I like this chex mix because there is no baking involved and it is very simple.  My only suggestions is to add all of your ingredients to the bowl, minus the M&M's.  Add those in after mixing around a little bit, to give the white chocolate a chance to cool down.  Otherwise your M&M's will melt, making a big mess.

Ingredients:
3 cups corn chex
3 cups cheerios
2 cups M&M's
1 1/2 cups peanuts
1 1/2 cups pretzels (I don't add pretzels, but they are in the original recipe)
2 packages white chocolate chips ( I add the whole 2 packages to coat the mixture a little more heavily)
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine cereal, peanuts and pretzels in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, add in chocolate chips and oil. Lay out a couple pieces of wax paper to pour mixture onto after combined. Heat the chocolate chips in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and stir.  Continue to melt in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted.    Pour over cereal mixture and fold, try not to crush up the cereal.  After in has been stirred a couple of time and is cooled down, add in the M&M's.  Continue to mix until evenly coated with white chocolate.  Dump the mixture onto the wax paper and spread out to make a layer. Let this cool.  Once the mixture has cooled, break into pieces and store.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Wow, this pie was SO good.  I got the recipe from my mother in law, and had to make one change.  I was just going over the ingredients and realized I made 2 changes.  Whoops, I added way too much chocolate, no wonder I liked it so much!  I ended up using half dark corn syrup and half light.  This is because I ran out of dark and was too lazy to make another trip to the grocery store over the weekend.

I do not really like pecans, but made this pie for my husband.  I had a bite when it came out of the oven and it was amazing!  Even if you don't like pecans, give this a try.  The only way you won't like it, is if you don't like chocolate.  The recipe below is the recipe I ended up using for my pie!

Ingredients:

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup corn syrup

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 cups whole pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Make one pie crust, recipe found here, and line a pie dish.  (I added a tablespoon of sugar to my pie crust, I had read somewhere to do this when using the dough for pies.  It will sweeten it up a little bit.)  Add bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the bottom of pie dish.  Combine eggs, sugar, corn syrups, vanilla, and butter.  Mix well.  Add in flour and then pecans.  Add mixture to pie dish, on top of chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until a knife comes out clean.  When there was about 20 minutes left, I brushed my crust with an egg white mixed with a little bit of water to help brown the crust a little more.

White Chicken Chili

I made this chili the other night, looking for something easy.  It is the best white chicken chili I have ever had and extremely easy to make.  This is an awesome recipe for a cold day.  For those of you who don't like spicy food, try making this chili.  It is not spicy at all, we added Tabasco to our bowls to spice it up.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced into small pieces

1/4 cup lime juice

2 cans Northern Beans

1/2 can green enchilada sauce

1 can chicken broth

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 onion, sauteed

salt and pepper

avocado

cheese

sour cream

Combine all ingredients over low heat in a crock pot.  Let simmer for around 8 hours.  Serve with sour cream, chopped cilantro, cheese, and avocado.