Gourmet Cupcakes (Peanut Butter Cup and Cherry)

Yesterday I whipped up some reeses peanut butter cup and chocolate cherry gourmet cupcakes to take to family. I was inspired to make these cupcakes from an idea I saw in a book at the store. I didn't purchase the book because I knew if I did, there would be a problem. However, I skimmed through it and got some ideas. Who knew that making gourmet cupcakes could be so easy. To make these, follow these steps:

1 box of cake mix of your choice
Follow cake mix directions
1 can of pie mix filling/topping of your choice (I used cherry)
1-2 packages of reeses peanut butter cups

For Chocolate Frosting:
1 c. of heavy cream
6-9 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 T. powdered sugar
(If you don't want chocolate frosting, use heavy cream, sugar and extract and food coloring of your choice to substitute or use a cream cheese frosting.

Pour chocolate chips in bowl. In sauce pan, allow cream of heat on medium high. Once it boils, place over chocolate chips and either whip with mixer or use whire whisk. Cover and let set in fridge for about 30 min. Take out of fridge and whip again, and allow to chill once again for another 30 min. Take out final time and mix well and then spread over cooled cupcakes.

For Cupcakes (Prepare while frosting is chilling)

Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake tin with paper cups. Place each cup 1/2-3/4 full of cake batter. On top of the cake batter, place your choice of either 1 reeses peanut butter cup or a spoonful of pie filling fruit of your choice. Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean in center. Fruit and reeses cups should have fallen to center of cupcake once done. This gives a nice filling for each cupcake. You can also top the frosted cupcakes with more fruit as I did. Enjoy!!

Homemade Hummus

I first discovered Hummus when I lived in the bay area. Everyone out there ate hummus it seemed. I found myself always buying it and eating it all the time. I learned that Hummus dates back to ancient Egypt where the garbonzo bean was eaten often. Today, many Europeans enjoy hummus frequently. I made up this great hummus last night to go with our hotdog roast outside. It came out great.

Hummus

1 can garbonzo beans (chickpeas, as I like to call them)
1 garlic clove sliced in half
2 T. olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. oragano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
Combine all into blender or food processor and puree until smooth and dip like. Enjoy with chips, tortillas or crackers.

St. Patrick's Day Meal

So, it's a tradition to eat certain things on St. Patrick's day, so I made up this fabulous meal with the idea I got on another food blog. I really wanted something with cabbage and potatoes and some meat. However, I did change the recipe to add other ingrediants. Overall, I give this meal a high five. Try it!

St. Patrick's Day Meal (cabbage and hotdogs)

1 medium sized cabbage chopped
1/2-1 c. olive oil
1 medium sized apple, chopped or cubed
1 large potato or 2 small, chopped or cubed
2 chopped hotdogs (I used smoked turkey hogdogs)
1 T. butter
1/2 tsp. salt (or sea salt)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 T. flour
1 tsp. sugar
4 T. white vinegar

In a sautee pan, add olive oil, cabbage, apples and potatoes. Allow to cook on medium high heat, then turn down to medium low heat once cabbage,potatoes and apples become tender. Add butter and allow to cook on medium to low heat. Next, in small bowl, combine flour, sugar and vinegar and stir well. Add the vinegar mixture to cabbage and then add salt and pepper. Mix well and continue to stir. Let simmer until all are tender and ready to eat. While simmering, roast hotdogs on medium-high heat on stove, or you can add hot-dogs to mixture while simmering (whatever you like) Serve with mashed potatoes for a traditional St. Patrick's Day feast! Also good with couscous or rice.

The Best Chicken Enchiladas

These enchiladas were made with a little creativity. They turned out very good.

The Best Chicken Enchiladas

Filling:

2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2-1 c. chopped scallions
1/2 c. chopped olives
1 small can of green chili peppers
Stir well until combined
*1/4-1/2 c. cooked corn
corn was cooked in crockpot with chicken

Chicken
2 large chicken breasts
About 1/4 of a package of taco seasoning
2 c. water
1 T. red chili sauce
1/2 c. onions
1/2 of a chopped jalepeno peppper
Cook in crockpot on desired high or low setting.

Tortillas
20-30 corn tortillas depending on how much filling you use in each tortilla
Microwave about 4 tortillas at a time for 20 sec. Once tortillas are soft, you are ready to use them.

Toppings
1 can of herdez green salsa
1 package of grated mozerilla cheese

Once chicken is done, drain fat and then spoon out chicken and mixture. Shred the chicken and add chicken and mixture to filling. Mix well. Grease a 13 x 9 pan and start filling each tortilla with the mixture. Roll tortilla up with mixture tightly and then place on pan. Once finished rolling each tortilla up, spread desired amount of herdez salsa over tortillas, add more chicken filling and then the grated mozerilla cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with rice of your choice.

Lemony Lemon Bars

I have always loved lemon bars. They are great anytime of the year. Here is a quick recipe from a friend of mine. (I added shredded lemon peel to the recipe to give it more lemon flavor)

Lemon Bars
For the crust add:
1 c. butter
2 c. flour
2 c. powdered sugar
Mix together well, and then spread on a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes.

For lemon mixture
Combine:
2 c. sugar
4 beaten small eggs or 3 large eggs
6 T. lemon juice
Add:
4 T. sifted flour and 1 tsp. baking powder to mixture. Mix all together and then
spread over baked crust and bake for an additional 25 minutes or so until golden on top. Bake at 350. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

Banana Pudding Bread

This bread turned out extremely great. The pudding adds extra moistness to the bread and the tastes of banana, vanilla pudding, brown sugar and cinnamon combined, give this bread extra great flavor. My adorable other half made this fabulous bread. He makes great breads and he knows just what spices to add. He totally made up this bread and we both thought banana pudding bread suited it best.

Banana Pudding Bread

1 1/2 wheat flour
1 c. white flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. brown sugar
2 T. cinnamon
Combine all these together, then add in seperate bowl:
3-5 bananas mushed or 1 1/2 c.
1 box of vanilla pudding (follow directions on pudding package)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
add these with dry and mix until muffin consistancy. Spray bread pan and bake at 350 for about 50 to 60 minutes. Test middle with toothpick to see if done.

The ULTIMATE Pan Style Pizza Crust

Folks, I just made the best pizza crust I have ever made. My husband of course gave me all the tips on how to do it. If you like your crust thick, soft, and ultimately the best, try this pizza crust recipe.

Pan Style Pizza Crust

1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 T. active dry yeast
1 T. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
*2 cups whole wheat flour
*1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

* If you want just the regular white flour dough, just substitute the whole wheat flour for white flour.
Directions
1.In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast and let stand for about 10 minutes.
2.Next, add the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour.
3. Add remaining 1/2 c. flour on a hard surface and knead dough over flour until all flour is combined. Dough should be very pliable at this point.
4. Grease a medium sized bowl and form dough into ball and place in bowl.
5. Cover bowl and let rise for a couple hours.
6. Punch dough down once risen and grease a pizza pan.
7. Roll dough on pizza pan and place a large plate in center of dough. This keeps the dough shape and gives you the thick, soft crust around the pizza once baked.
8. Place dough in fridge for another couple hours, be sure it's covered.
9. pre-heat oven to 350, once temp. is at 350, coat pizza dough in olive oil and place pizza dough in oven for about 5 minutes.
10. Take dough out of oven and smooth pizza sauce or speghetti sauce over pizza. Top with shredded mozerilla cheese and the other topping of your choice. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until center is done and crust golden. Here are the toppings we added:
1. Turkey pepperoni, tomatos, olives, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions.