Happy Birthday James!!

Here are a few pictures of my darling husband's birthday cake! In case you didn't know - that's a Texas Tech double T and a World of Warcraft Horde symbol!

I made the decoration out of colorflow about a week before and let it dry completely before placing it on the cake.

The cake was James's personal favorite - white cake with cream cheese frosting.

The white cake recipe is VERY light and airy, as white cake should be!

This was my first attempt at cream cheese frosting for decorating, so I used the Wilton buttercream recipe and just substituted half of the shortening for cream cheese. It was much tastier than the regular wilton buttercream, but still held up really well for decorating.

White Cake

Adapted from allrecipes

2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Sift 2-3 cups of cake flour and THEN measure out your 2 3/4 cups. This is very important! Any time a recipe calls for sifted flour, make sure you sift and then measure. I got 2 3/4 cups out of about 2 cups of unsifted flour.

2. Sift together salt, baking powder, and cake flour three times. (Keep adding air baby!)

3. Cream butter with a mixer and gradually add 1 cup of sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in flour mixture and milk, alternating about 1/3 of each at a time until it is all incorporated and smooth. (Don't overbeat here, you'll stir up all the gluten and make it tough)

5. In a separate mixer bowl, whip egg whites until they reach stiff peaks. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.

6. Fold vanilla and egg whites into cake batter carefully. You want to salvage all that air you just beat into the egg whites.

7. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes for two round pans or one 9x13. (I used a 7x11 but did it in two layers).

Baby Scott and Baby Born!

Last night we had a couples shower for our friends:

Kyle and Cece...and baby boy!

Jake and Felecia...and baby boy? or baby girl? Jake told us last night he felt like the moment you have a baby is one of the few huge surprises God gives us, so they're waiting to find out the sex. I don't think I could ever have the willpower!

We're so blessed to have both couples in our bible study group and as friends. We can't wait to meet their new family members.

It was a dinner shower, and the menu was all italian, so I tackled another TWD recipe that I've been dying to try - tiramisu cake. It's basically a dense vanilla cake soaked with a coffee syrup, but the best part is the whipped marscapone filling and frosting. Oh. My. Goodness.

Not my most beautiful cake (the marscapone frosting was pretty thin and I couldn't get a great smooth finish like I can with a solid buttercream), but I was very happy with the taste. When the cake came out of the oven I was worried - it didn't rise much and it was pretty dense. But after soaking it with the coffee syrup and letting the whole thing hang out in the fridge overnight I was glad it was the perfect density to stand up to the coffee syrup and to compliment the light airy frosting/filling.

I won't type out the whole recipe because I followed most of the instructions pretty explicitly. I topped with a dusting of cocoa powder (only a few hours before serving) a handful of chocolate covered espresso beans, and two little white royal icing flowers I had saved from a previous project.

Wilton Flowers

I took Lessons 1-3 from Course 2 all in one day last Saturday, and yesterday I FINALLY got around to making a batch of royal icing at home to play around and make a bunch of flowers.

For the most part they turned out so cute! This was my first time to make royal icing. Make sure that everything that will touch the icing (mixing bowl, beater, spatulas, icing bags, tips, couplers) are all completely grease free. I've been warned that any spot of grease can turn the entire batch of icing into liquid. I didn't soak my tips in vinegar or anything, just washed them in hot soapy water using the tip brush to make sure they were clean all the way through the tip. I used new disposable bags, since I can never seem to get all the grease off of the permanent bags.

I split one batch of royal icing into 4 colors (pink, dark pink, yellow-orange, and white) and had plenty leftover after making a few of each flower.

Here come the flowers:

These are primroses:
The one on the left has the correct star center. The petals are basically 5 little hearts.

The pansy:

The daisy:

The violets (basically the same as apple blossoms, just a little smaller and one less petal)

The apple blossoms: We also learned mums, victorian roses, rosettes, and daffodils. I don't think I beat my royal icing quite long enough because it was a little thin and I couldn't get any of those stiffer flowers to turn out last night. I'll post pictures when I do another batch.

For the love of Triangles

Happy TAKS week!

My husband LOVES math. And more than math, he LOVES triangles. His students often have to defend me when he tells them that he loves math more than he loves his wife!

I sent him to school today with two cakes for his fellow teachers, so of course they had to be triangles!
The white cake is Dorie's Perfect Party Cake prepared the same way as my earlier post.
The chocolate is Bakerella's yellow cake with peanut butter filling and chocolate buttercream.

Things I learned on this cake:
-To make a triangle cake, you can use a shallow square cake pan, cut the cake into two triangles, and then stack them to make a 2 layer cake. My plan worked perfectly!
-Red icing takes a lot of food coloring! I used wilton's "No Taste Red" which lived up to its name. Definitely use it if you need a true red icing for a CHS or a Red Raider cake!
-I made all the bold lines with the basketweave tip, which I loved! they went on very smooth and neat and I love the thick bold lines.
-If you're making an oddly shaped cake, make sure your board is big enough! I had to drag a box out of the garage to cut up and cover for the boards.

Bonus cake to anyone who solves the equation! :)

Peanut Butter Cake

Last night was my final class from Wilton Course 1. We combined the final two classes, so we did figure piping, balls, shells, drop flowers, leaves, stems, and the famous Wilton rose! I'm sorry the lighting is AWFUL in these pictures!

I have had SO much fun taking these classes. If you've got a spare evening per week, I definitely recommend taking the plunge and taking the class. It's the best $17 (plus supplies....hehe!) that I've spent in a while. It would rate very well on James's infamous "fun:money ratio". (not to be confused with the fun:work ratio, also very important when deciding how to spend your free time).

James asked what my favorite part is: making the cake, making the icing, or decorating, and I couldn't pick! I have LOVED trying out flavor combinations and deciding what kind of cake/filling/icing to do. A pretty cake is worthless if it doesn't taste good! But I've also really loved learning the techniques.

Friday I start Course 2, which is mostly royal icing flowers. I can't wait!

This week my cake is a combination I made up. It's a peanut butter cake (which I didn't realize was so uncommon until I started researching for recipes!) with peanut butter filling and Wilton's chocolate buttercream frosting. I think if I made it again, I might try leaving out some of the butter. The cake was super greasy coming out of the pan, but serving it two days later it is still moist and is very tasty - but I think it's almost TOO moist, falling apart even.

Peanut Butter Cake

Recipe from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. (I used my one 8" deep wilton pan)

Combine 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/2 cup butter or margarine. Cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each one. Add cake mix alternately with the water. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 25 minutes or until cake tests done. Allow cakes to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Level cakes, fill, and frost.

Easy peanut butter Filling:

This is the peanut butter filling from the Million Dollar Cookies. I just made a big bowl of it, rolled it out into a circle on parchment, and placed in the middle of my cakes.

Mix 1/2 cup peanut butter with 1/2 cup powdered sugar until well combined. That's it! :)

Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

My cake class was cancelled for this week, but I had been reading reviews and blog posts all week for Dorie's Perfect Party cake (Both Totally Daring Bakers and Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenge groups did it in the last year and I've always wanted to try it!) So I decided to make it anyway, and just play around with my book and the techniques I already knew to practice.
I got the base of icing SO much smoother than the first time by using the papertowel (I used parchment paper) technique! http://www.monkeysee.com/play/988-cake-decorating-a-secret-to-smoothing-icing

The cake is a white cake with a light lemon flavor, and I filled it with homemade meyer lemon curd and blueberry preserves. It is SO good. I would make it again in a heartbeat. A lot of bloggers mentioned they had trouble with Dorie's cake rising. I didn't have that problem at all, and I:

a) Used Dorie's recommended Swan's Down cake flour

b) used all room temp ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, butter)

c) I baked in one 3" deep pan instead of 2 1" pans. My cake teacher recommended this, and I've loved that all my layers on my cakes have the exact same edge because they came off of one cake. And with the wilton leveler, leveling and cutting layers is a snap!

Here are the recipes copied and pasted for the lemon curd and cake. I used meyer lemon for both the zest in the cake and the juice & zest in the curd. Meyers are a cross between a mandarin orange and a lemon, so they're sweeter and you can actually even eat the rind!

Lemon Curd

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

DIRECTIONS
In the top of a double boiler, beat eggs and sugar. Stir in lemon juice, butter and lemon peel. Cook over simmering water for 15 minutes or until thickened.

Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

(Here is the full recipe. I made the cake part in my one pan, and then used wilton icing and filled with the curd & preserves so I didn't make her buttercream. But I wanted you t have all of her instructions, she's so thorough!)

Perfect Party Cake
From Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”
Makes 12 to 14 servings

For the Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves, stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make The Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

To Make the Buttercream: Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or other large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. During this time, the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny, smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.
To Assemble the Cake: Using a sharp, serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with the third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream left over). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving: The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but it’s best to let it set for a couple of hours in a cool room. Serve it at room temperature with anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing: The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to 2 days.

Cake Time!

Last night was my second cake class, but the first time to really get my hands dirty!

I was so excited when I got a coupon for 30% off total purchase, so I went to Michaels and got all of my cake loot! I even got this super cute bag (that's supposed to be for scrapbooking) to keep it all in!I went over to Natalie's house (we're taking the class together!) on Sunday night and we made, thinned, and colored all of our icing and filled and iced the base of our cakes. We had a great time, but it was definitely harder than we thought!

Last night we learned stars, dots, printing, piping gel, and basic cake covering techniques.

Cake wrecks here I come!! :)

This is my first ever cake, so don't be too hard on me! I did a dot border on the bottom and the top and then printed my name with a star outline, and then did a heart (which I used a cookie cutter to imprint and then trace) and then filled it with stars.

I did a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake with a fudge filling and it was pretty good! I just had a piece for breakfast :)

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter on Sunday!
Both sides of the family came over and we had a brunch in the afternoon. I had so much fun planning and cooking it! I really love that both of our families live close and we can have everyone come over for lunch. We missed my brother (in CO) and my sister (in Germany) so we'll have to do it again when they are in town!

Here is the table setting, pretty simple but I just loved how those cheap little grocery store daisies looked when I cut them short and put them in short water glasses.


Here is the spread! We had:

-Fresh Berries
-Veggie Tray
-Bacon Cheddar Frittatta
-Spinach Quiche
-Ham and bacon
-Roasted Asparagus
-3 crostinis: Chicken, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and Caprese
-Crescent rolls
-Baked Potato Salad
-Garden Salad
-And of course cupcake bites!

Thanks to my mom for the yummy quiche (with homemade pie crust!) and the gorgeous salad.
And thanks to my mother in law for supplying all the drinks! She even brought diet cherry seven up which is my FAVORITE! :)
Hope everyone else had a great Easter as well! The Lord has blessed us in so many ways, and I think looking at that giant table of food and then looking around and seeing how great my husband and our families are really made me feel that. Most of all, He blessed us with salvation, and that's what Easter is really all about. So Thank You Jesus, for being the Lamb, for giving more than we could ever fathom giving, so we could have everything. We aren't worthy, but you were. Amen! :)

Up next...cake-a-palooza!

Wilton Course 1, Class 1

Last night I started my first Wilton cake decorating course!

I've planned to do this forever, my mom even took these classes when we were little and she made the most amazing, beautiful birthday cakes for us. I'm taking it with my friend Natalie, and I've already learned a lot even though we didn't even touch a cake last night!

On night one we went through the basics of decorating, supplies, etc. Our teacher is this fabulously eccentric woman who has been decorating for years.

I bought the book & basic supply kit before we started the class. It includes a couple of bags, all the tips needed for the class, a spatula, brush, couplers, and a practice board.

I also bought a can of merengue powder to make icing and some colors that I used last week on my cupcake bites.

The extras that I'm going to purchase for the class (but aren't things you HAVE to purchase)

-a 3 inch deep round cake pan. I've always used 2 1nch deep pans, but our teacher recommended this one, and it's fairly inexpensive, especially with a coupon!

-a cake leveler. Less than $5, and I'm OVER using a serrated knife

-cardboard cake circles to transport my cakes

-a cake carrier. I have to bring my cakes to work with me, and I think this is a worthwhile investment!

-extra bags and couplers. The kit comes with 2 of each, but since I want like 4 colors of icing for my first cake, I'm going to grab a few more.

Next week, I vow to post pictures of my cake no matter how terrible it looks!

I love that I have an excuse to make an entire cake, so I'm thinking of exciting cake+filling combos.

I'm thinking either lemon cake w/fruit filling or chocolate cake with a mocha filling.

Cupcake Bites

(I apologize in advance for the photos. I didn't have my camera so I took these with my phone!)

I've wanted to make these for a while, but until I saw them in person I didn't know I would absolute die and go to cute heaven. Even James (who rolls his eyes at my ooohing and ahhing over tiny little things!) thought they were pretty much the cutest thing ever! And they taste GREAT! I used white cake, white cream cheese frosting, and white chocolate bark w/gel food coloring.

I've read about cake balls and cake pops a la bakerella for a while, and then Pioneer Woman laid out some great instructions. I tried both methods, but the mold method by far worked better, and looked so darn cute with the perfectly molded little ridges.

One tip - use the candy bark or candy melts. I used semi sweet chocolate chips for part of it and it was super soft. Even in the molds, when I had to hold the chocolate bottom to dip the top it started to smear in my hands.

I'm not even going to post a recipe, but here are links:

The FABULOUS Bakerella

The FABULOUS Pioneer Woman

Fresh Corn Risotto

Hello strangers!
I am SO ready for summer food. Tomatos with fresh basil, strawberries, summer corn on the grill, yum!
I broke down and bought some fresh corn this past week even though I could tell by the color of the stalks that it's not REALLY summer yet. I was looking for something a little different to serve with braised bbq ribs, and this was really good! The creamy texture of the corn is a stark contrast the pop of the corn kernels as you eat it. And, let's face it, I've never met a risotto I didn't like!

By the way, if you're not into corn, stop where I added it and you have a basic risotto recipe below that you can add anything to!





Summer Corn Risotto
Recipe by me!

-1 cup arborio rice (short, fat rice. I can usually find it at nicer grocery stores in the bulk section. It's getting easier to find as risotto gets more popular)
-1/2 cup white wine, warmed up in the microwave or saucepan (if you want to leave this out just use an extra 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Risotto is 3:1 liquid:rice ratio)
-2 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
-1 cup corn kernels cut from fresh corn ears (or canned if you must!)
-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-1 clove garlic, minced

1. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a deep, heavy pot. Add garlic and rice and stir to coat. Cook over medium heat until garlic is fragrant and rice kernels start to appear transparent.
2. Pour chicken stock into a separate saucepan and heat until simmering. You'll want to keep it at a simmer during this whole process.
3. When rice is transparent, add warmed wine and stir until simmering. Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. To test, pull your spoon through the center of the rice, if a lot of liquid floods into the valley you made, keep stirring. If you're still seeing the bottom of the pot because the liquid and rice are sticking where they were pushed, it's time to add more liquid.
4. Add 1/2 cup of simmering broth to the simmering rice. Stir and heat until the liquid starts to look absorbed. (and no- you don't have to "Stir constantly" like people who want you to be afraid of cooking risotto will tell you. Stir it pretty frequently, but if you take your spoon out and go check on something else it's not going to fall apart!)
5. Do the pull test again, and when most of the liquid is absorbed, add another 1/2 cup of chicken stock. You're going to repeat this process until rice is cooked to al dente. When you think you're adding your final 1/2 cup of chicken stock, add the corn with it to heat it through.
6. To know when it's done, taste a little. It should be soft, but not mushy. I usually don't use all 3 cups of liquid, but it can depend on the weather, the rice, the heat level, a million things!
7. When rice is finished, add cheese, taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

This makes a lot. If I'm making it for the two of us as a side dish, I cut this recipe in half.

Cheesy Quinoa

For Christmas, my awesome older sister (the "German Sister" as we call her, since she lives abroad and is married to German citizen) came to visit. She brought me an assortment of grains - polenta, amaranth, quinoa, and another one with a German name, which I think is something like millet.

I've started experimenting with them, but as James is very hesitant even about rice, I have to be strategic.

I've never eaten quinoa (keen-wah, not kwin-no-uh as I previously called it), but I decided to throw caution to the wind and make up a recipe as I went along. I wasn't being super risky, because basically I decided to make macaroni and cheese with quinoa instead of noodles. I don't claim this recipe to be part of a 2009 extreme body makeover weight watcher diet. But it does have more fiber and protein than velveeta shells and cheese, and James ATE IT. He actually asked me what it was, said he loved it, and got a second helping.

So you see the strategy? When I introduced him to fish, I started with potato chip crusted fish, then to a cheesy parmesan tilapia, then finally to seasoned grilled salmon. If I had tried the salmon first he never would have tasted it. And now he loves it and requests it. So I started him on a cheesy gooey buttery grain dish. We'll evolve from there. I served this with sauteed chicken tenders and green beans.

About the Cheese Sauce:

Mac and Cheese is something I struggled with for a long time with. For whatever reason, I was very roux challenged. I have to credit this article from the nest with saving me from my grainy mac and cheese days. I still use lowfat milk with no trouble, but letting the bechamel cool before adding cheese, and using a mixture of cheeses (I like gruyere - not great flavor in my opinion, but melts beautifully- and sharp cheddar - not a great melter, but so much flavor!), and heating the milk before adding has made me a Mornay sauce queen!

Cheesy Quinoa

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1 cup milk

3 oz gruyere, shredded

3 oz cheddar, shredded

cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Rinse the quinoa a few times to wash away any residue from the bitter outer layer. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa and let it simmer, covered, for about 10-15 minutes until it is fluffy and the liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, make your sauce.

2.Heat your milk in either a saucepan or the microwave. You want it warmed up, but not boiling.

3. Melt butter in a large saucepan (You're going to have to whisk up a storm, so it needs to have high sides if you're a mess like me!)over medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until smooth. Continue to cook and whisk the roux until it darkens slightly (takes 5 minutes or more) from a buttery yellow to a caramel tan. The roux needs to cook slightly to cook out some of that raw flour flavor.

4. Add the milk slowly, whisking as you go to distribute the fat throughout the liquid. Bring to a boil and cook and whisk until it thickens. Turn off the heat, and let it sit for a minute or two, stirring a few times.

5. Add the gruyere and stir until it melts in. Then add the cheddar. It should melt, but if some of it doesn't, it will melt when added to the hot quinoa. Stir in a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

6. Stir the sauce into the quinoa, and taste. I added a little salt and pepper at this point, but taste yours first, because the salt levels in cheeses and chicken broth vary, and you don't want to overdo it.

This recipe made probably 4 large side dish portions.

Pumpkin Bread

On Christmas day, I walked into the kitchen to find this:

My sweet husband made me breakfast! Best egg sandwich I ever had, he's been hiding his cooking skills from me for all these years. From now on, he makes the mac and cheese in the house! :)

My friend Natalie bought me a really great silicone baking mold for Christmas, and I had to use it for Christmas day. Believe it or not - this is the only thing I cooked for any of our Christmas celebrations! I love the pans, and the pmpkin bread turned out really good!

Pumpkin Bread

From Allrecipes

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Downeast-Maine-Pumpkin-Bread/Detail.aspx

Shrimp Enchiladas

Happy New Year!
Somewhere around Christmas I lost my camera cord...so I've got a camera full of recipes I want to share from the holidays, but I'm determined to find that cord first! My guess would be that the cats have found it and buried it in a couch cushion somewhere :)

I promised my sister and a friend of James's that I would get them my recipe for shrimp enchiladas, which I forgot to take a picture of, so here you go! This is one of my favorite recipes to make for company. It has so much flavor, and the shrimp are a nice change from your standard enchiladas.


Shrimp Enchiladas
Adapted from Annies Eats

Shrimp Enchiladas
Ingredients:
1/2 cup bell pepper, diced (I prefer to use red, orange or yellow...but green's cheaper!)
1/2 cup shallots (regular onion will work, I love the flavor of shallots though)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp. butter, divided
1 pinch oregano
1 pinch black pepper
A dash of cayenne pepper
1 pinch smoked spanish paprika
1 cup cream
1 ½ tsp. all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

milk
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup tomatoes, diced
6 flour tortillas

Directions:

Sauce:
Melt 2 tbsp. of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Reserve a few tablespoons of bell pepper for topping enchiladas. Add remaining peppers, garlic and ¼ cup of shallots to the skillet and sauté until crisp-tender. Add oregano, salt, cayenne powder, black pepper, and flour; blend well. Cook the butter in the flour for a few minutes until it starts to darken some in color. Add cream. Lower heat to medium and cook until slightly thickened. Add 1 cup shredded cheese and stir until melted. It will be very thick at this point. Set aside.

Shrimp:
In a skillet, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter. Add shrimp and remaining ¼ cup onion to the skillet and sauté shrimp until pink. Season the shrimp with salt and paprika. Remove shrimp from pan with a slotted spoon and chop; return to the skillet. Add 1/2 cup of the cheese sauce.

To build the enchiladas: (this gets messy!)
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease an 8×8” baking dish.
Mix remaining cheese sauce with some milk (I eyeball this, probably somewhere from a few Tbs to 1/4 cup) to thin to a pourable sauce consistency.
Dip a tortilla into the sauce, flip to coat completely. Spoon some of the shrimp mixture onto the tortilla. Roll up tightly and place in the baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
Top with remaining sauce, remaining cheese, and sprinkle remaining bell peppers and tomatos.
Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Serve with additional diced bell peppers and tomatos.

Pumpkin Dip

It hit me this morning as I was filling my ceramic pumpkin with pumpkiny, fluffy, goodness (for James's end-of-semester-teacher-potluck) that I have never blogged one of my most frequently used fall recipes. And fall is over!

I have taken this pumpkin dip to a lot of potlucks and here's what I've learned. Find yourself a pumpkin serving dish. Or a pumpkin plate, or put a plastic pumpkin on the plate next to the bowl. Just identify it in SOME way. Because it's orange, and I've found that people are slightly scared of unidentified orange food. So I gave in and bought this pumpkin to avoid James having to stuff an bites of this stuff into everyone's mouths at a party to force them to try it.

If they try it, they'll love it! It tastes like the good part of the pumpkin pie. I usually serve it with either cinnamon graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or my personal favorite - apple slices. Yummy yum! And it couldn't be more simple for last-minute potluck appetizers!

Pumpkin Dip

Recipe from Allrecipes

1 (16 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip!)
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I use about a tsp of cinnamon, then a pinch of cloves, nutmeg, and ginger)

In a large bowl, mix together instant vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Fold in the thawed frozen whipped topping. Chill in the refrigerator until serving.

I like to let it sit overnight, which gives time for the pudding mix to fully dissolve, otherwise it can be slightly grainy.

C is for Cookies!

Yesterday was the 2nd annual champagne & cookie swap Christmas afternoon with a group of my girlfriends and we had it at my house. My husband and coworkers were very happy about all the goodies I collected!

I love Michaels with all my heart :) I got these adorable chinese takeout containers and tied mini cookie cutters to each one for the girls to take their cookies home in!
To go with the cookies I made a couple of appetizers that taste much better than they look. (Uglyfoodblogger, are you still around? I think this may make the cut!) But they tasted so good, the girls still ate them all up! Recipes are below for BBQ pulled pork bites and pesto/sundried tomato spread.
BBQ Pulled Pork Bites

Recipe by me :) Made this one up.

1 1-2 lb pork tenderloin (or 1/2 whole pork loin, or 2lb pork butt or shoulder roast)
1 bottle of your fave bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's original for me!)
1 cup water
2 packages of pillsbury crescent roll creations (the big flat sheet of crescent rolls)
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1-2 cups shredded cheese

For pulled pork: (this is the recipe I use to make pulled pork for sandwiches too)
Place pork in crockpot (all in one piece).
Pour 1/2-1 cup bbq suace on top, enough to cover the top of it. Pour 1 cup of wateraround the sides of the roast.
Put the lid on and cook all day on low or 4-5 hours on high.
Take pork out, and shred with two forks (it should be pretty tender and fall apart easily).
For these appetizers, I first cut the tenderloin into 1-2 inch slices, and shredded each slice to make sure the pork shreds weren't too big for the appetizers.
Mix with another 1/2-1 cup bbq sauce until it is the consistency you want.

For appetizers:
Preheat oven to 350
Roll out crescent dough sheets onto 2 cookie sheets.
Mince 1 clove of garlic and put it in a small bowl with 2 tbs of EVOO. Microwave for 30 seconds. Brush the oil and garlic onto the crescent sheets.
Bake in the 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until it starts to turn golden. Remove from the oven, and switch to your broiler.
Sprinkle cheese on each crescent sheet, all the way to the edges.
Place under broiler for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts (it won't take long! Keep an eye on it!)
Cut each sheet into 2" squares.
Place about 1 Tbs of hot pulled pork on each piece.

I'm thinking it would look better with some scallions or chives snipped on top.

Pesto/Sundried Tomato spread

Recipe - if you can even call this a recipe - is by me. Got the idea from a storebought spread I had at a church party.

Ingredients

2 oz of cream cheese (I buy 8 oz, cut it in half, then cut that piece in half like I'm opening a hamburger roll or something)

2 tablespoons of prepared pesto (my favorite is the refrigerated butoni brand)

3-4 chopped sundried tomatos (the ones in a jar, packed in oil)

Directions

Take the tomatos out of the jar and drain them for a few minutes on a paper towel to get rid of some of the oil.

Mince the tomatos into small pieces.

Spread cream cheese onto serving plate (I just place the little 2x3x1/2" pice that I cut from the block onto the plate).

Spread pesto on top of cream cheese.

Place tomatos on top of pesto.

Serve with crackers and a cheese knife to spread.

This is a perfect last minute appetizer, the jarred pesto and tomatos last forever unopened in the pantry. We always have some of the refrigerated stuff on hand for quick dinners.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Reilly and Lilah

Thanksgiving Menu

After many drafts, I think I've finally got the menu set for Thanksgiving. This year, we are attending a lunch thanksgiving and then I'm cooking a dinner Thanksgiving! Should be a very busy day, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'll take as many pictures as I can remember to take and hopefully post more recipes this year!




Thanksgiving 2008 Dinner Menu



Appetizers
-Parmesan Pinwheels
-Deviled Eggs (Behlen tradition!)
-Veggie tray

Dinner
-Brined Oven Roasted Turkey Breast (same recipe as last year, but I'm going to attempt Spatchcocking this year! I'll try to provide pictures of the hilarity)
-Traditional Dressing
-Creamy Herb Mashed Potatos
-Sweet Potato Souffle (seriously. best. ever. sweet potatos.)
-Pioneer Woman's Fresh Corn with Wild Rice (Made a test run this weekend. Tasted good, but was....strange. Not going to risk it on TG.)
-Roasted Cauliflower and Green Beans
-Cranberry Applesauce
-Challah (Jewish Egg Bread. Judy Bread. Perfection)


Desserts
-Apple Pie
-Furr's German Chocolate Pie. (My husband would MUTINY if my Mother in Law didn't bring this. Seriously. I think he might just walk out on the whole thing. I made him one from scratch once, and it was close, but no Furr's. Sigh.)

Kitty time!

Okay, so it's not food related, but I just couldn't resist! Meet our new babies! The black kitten is a little girl named Lilah. The grey tabby is her brother, who James has yet to choose a name for. I'm guessing it will be some variation of Texas Tech Red Raider Graham Harrell Michael Crabtree Wes Welker.

They came to us from the Lewisville Humane Society last night. If you're looking for a rescue, I highly recommend working with HSL. They have a few extra steps in the rescue process, but they are VERY thorough and make sure that you and your new pets have the best chance of staying together forever.

They adjusted really well last night, immediately used their litter box, ate their dinner, scratched the scratching post, and snuggled in their beds. They have their own bedroom for now so they don't get into too much trouble while we're at work. Tonight we may let them explore the rest of the house!

Bruschetta Orzo Salad

I made this a few weeks ago for a dinner party. It was my first time to use orzo! I don't recommend making new recipes for dinner parties, but I was bound and determined to use the orzo in my pantry, and the flavors went well with the rest of my dinner so I went for it!

It turned out great, the flavors were good, the texture was great, and it was something different than the same old same old. I recently asked James to plant fresh basil over my grave the day I die. I would put it in EVERYTHING if he'd let me!

I'll warn you - the orzo should probably be done the day before, it took a while to cool. (I hate it when I get into a recipe the night I want to eat it and realize it's going to take days!)

Bruschetta Orzo Salad

recipe by: me! Made this one up from scratch

-1 cup of orzo
-1 cup cherry or grape tomatos

-2 large garlic cloves
-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
-1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs olive oil
-1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
-1/4 cup chopped shallots (or onions)
-1/4 cup of crumbled feta

1. Cook and drain the orzo according to package directions. Toss with the 2 Tbs of olive oil and let it cool completely.
2. Heat up remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Toss in shallots and let them cook for a couple of minutes until softened and translucent. Toss in garlic and let it soften and flavor the oils, it will only take 30 seconds to a minute. Don't brown or burn the garlic!
3. Whisk balsamic vinegar into the oil, shallots, and garlic, and let the dressing cool completely.
4. Cut tomatos in half (If using roma tomatos, remove the guts, and dice the firm flesh)
5. Mix the cooled orzo, cooled dressing, tomatos, and feta cheese, breaking up the orzo with a fork. (all the steps to this point can be done the night before. Add the basil just before serving)
6. Chiffonade the basil by rolling up the leaves and slicing with a knife. Stir the basil into the salad.
7. Top with additional feta cheese and serve cold.