What Should I Make Next??

I saw this idea on another blog that I follow, and I thought that I would see if everyone likes it. Here are a few recipes I've been eyeballing. So vote if there is one you would like to see :)

poll by twiigs.com

Patriotic Apple Pie

When I think of classic All-American desserts, pie always comes to mind. Especially apple pie! So I thought it only befitting to make one with a patriotic these for the 4th of July!

This is actually the first pie I have ever made, so there was a lot of things I've learned. Like for instance, pie crust is extremely temperamental! At first I wanted to have a fully crusted top with three star shapes cut out, but we ran into problems :/ So I decided it would be easier to just cut out a bunch of stars and arrange them on the pie.

Since this is my first pie, I didn't want to make it too complicated. Not to mention, I had some left over apple pie filling, so I just concentrated on the crust. Which, in my opinion, is what makes or brakes the pie anyways. This pie crust recipe is one that my mom collected a long time ago. She makes it for all of her pies and it is super light and flaky. And super amazing! In the above picture I didn't actually have a chance to let the pie cool all the way, cause people were already cutting into it, so I had like 2 seconds to put it on a plate with my still not quite frozen ice cream. If you let the pie cool completely, the filling won't spill out like this. Tastes good either way though ;) I posted the homemade ice cream recipe also. The pie and ice cream are super yummy together! Great apart too, but I can't completely enjoy any pie or cobbler without a scoop of ice cream. Plus this Royal Homemade Ice Cream is the best ice cream I have ever tried! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cake flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons chilled butter
• 4 tablespoons chilled Morrell lard
• 3 to 4 tablespoons very cold water
• 1 to 2 20 ounce cans of apple pie filling
• 2 eggs

Sift both flours into a food processor. Add the sugar and salt. Cut butter into cubes and add it and Morrell lard to processor. Process until mixture is almost completely incorporated. While processor is on, add 3 tablespoons very cold water. Add 1 tablespoon more if mixture is too dry. (To make water cold enough, place water and ice in a cup to chilled. Then take out quantity of water needed.)

Role out crust, place in pie tin, and freeze for 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and add filling. Role out remaining crust and add to the top. In a small bowl beat 1 whole egg and one egg yolk. Brush egg over the top crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Royal Homemade Ice Cream

My mom used to make this for us when I was little, and it is one thing I remember from a very young age. Actually, it's one of the first things I remember her making us. This homemade ice cream is like no ice cream I've ever had. Nothing else even comes close!! It's so creamy and delectable. It is just simply amazing! If you don't like cinnamon, or you are just looking for vanilla, then take out the cinnamon and up the vanilla extract from 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to 1 tablespoon vanilla. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 pint half and half (2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pint whipping cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Scald the half and half and ground cinnamon in a sauce pan on medium heat, do not boil. In a bowl, whip the egg and sugar until creamy and pale yellow. Add half and half, beat 1 more minute. Stir in whipping cream, vanilla, and salt. Pour in ice cream container and freeze.

Fireworks Cupcake Towers

The 4th of July is a holiday that is actually very near and dear to my heart, not only because it celebrates our Nation's independence, but also because I have such treasured memories from this holiday. As a kid my parents would always take us to a little town named SpringerVille. I love the 4th of July's here! We actually still go every year, and not a whole lot has changed since I was a kid. They still have a parade that goes down the same streets. Followed by a small rodeo, where we always get cherry snow cones. The whole environment is just down home goodness! Not to mention, my family is kind of the trouble makers of everything. So we get to have our fun, and then go home, not worried about seeing these people on a daily basis :) Actually one year when I was about 13 we brought these huge super soakers to the parade and soaked everyone! People riding on floats. People in cars with their windows down. It was bad!! Super funny! But from that point on water guns have been banned from the parade :/ Last year there was a bunch of scout kids selling marshmallow guns trying to rase some money. I knew we were in trouble when my mom bought 4 of them. Or was it 6? All I know is they were meant for the kids, but it didn't take long for the adults in my family to confiscate them for their own enjoyment. These guns are basically a blow gun, except instead of shooting a dart, you blow out marshmallows. We were there for over an hour after the parade was over trying to shoot marshmallows into open windows of the cars driving by. Good times :) We will be heading up for sure this year as well, and luckily my mom has kept the marshmallow guns!! Long story short, this is one of my favorite holidays. So when I saw these cupcakes I thought, "Yes!! Prefect!" So cute! So patriotic!! The recipe is pretty straight forward. It's just a yellow cupcake with buttercream frosting. Nothing really original or different about them. I was thinking that a filling would be good, but for now we'll just keep the cupcake part of these simple since the decorations are more demanding. Also, if you don't want to make yellow cupcakes from scratch, then just substitute for a box. I made the red chocolate star on top using a chocolate star mold I found from Joann's for $2. Then I just got the red melting chocolate wafers and piped it inside the mold. If you want an example you can click here to view how I did this on another recipe. Enjoy!!

Yellow Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper baking cup in each of 18 regular-size muffin cups and mini paper baking cup in each of 18 mini muffin cups. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl occasionally. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each additions. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture, about 1/3 of mixture at a time, and milk about 1/2 at a time, beating just until blended. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake regular cupcakes 18 to 25 minutes, mini cupcakes 12 to 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans; place on cooling racks to cool.

Meanwhile, make Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extact (use clear vanilla for the frosting to be white and not cream)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk

In large bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla and 3 tablespoons of the milk. Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar.

Place 1 1/2 cups frosting in decorating bag fitted with small round tip (#22). Frost each cupcake (regular and mini) with scant tablespoon frosting, making various length streamers. Divide remaining frosting between two bowls; tint frosting in one bowl red and the other blue (To avoid icing from becoming more runny use gel food coloring, also called icing colors. You can get them at any craft store).

Remove paper liners from mini cupcakes, if desired. Place 1 mini cupcake on top of each regular cupcake. Pipe blue and red frostings around base of mini cupcakes (on regular cupcakes) and on top of mini cupcakes, making various length streamers. Use any remaining white frosting to fill in streamers between red and blue ones. Decorate with candy decors, as desired.

Recipe from The Big Book of Cupcakes

Nutty Vanilla Ice Cream Shooters

I got the nicest e-mail from a follower the other day. Among conversations she recommended this Rice Chex Dessert. I renamed it cause the name "Rice Chex Dessert" fell a little flat for how yummy this was. This dessert is an assortment of textures and flavors, and put all together is amazing. It's sweet and creamy from the vanilla ice cream, salty and crunchy from the cereal mixture, and so yummy! I was actually pleasantly surprised how good it was, so thank you Julie for sending me the recipe.

I didn't really follow the directions cause I was feeling inventive, again. But I placed the original instructions on the recipe so you can choose either way to do it. To be honest, you could take the Chex mixture and just put it on top of a couple scoops of ice cream and it would still be amazing. But what I did is I just applied the same concept in a smaller scale for the glasses. Place about a tablespoon of cereal mixture on the bottom of the glass and lightly press down. Pour some thawed ice cream on top of bottom layer and place another tablespoon of cereal mixture. Lightly press down then add more ice cream till cup is almost full. Top with a little more cereal mixture and freeze. If you want to make the version at the very bottom of the post, line a bowl with plastic rap. Add the cereal mixture. Press down. Add ice cream. Then what I did was I froze the ice cream for about an hour till it was firm but not super hard. Then add another layer of the cereal mix. Press it down then finish freezing. When ready to un-mold, put the bowl in warm water for a couple of minutes and it should come out relatively easy. So yummy and super easy! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 3 cups crushed Rice Chex cereal (measure after crushing)
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups finely chopped cashews
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups angel flake coconut
• 1/2 gallon good quality vanilla ice cream, softened so it's spreadable (don't use French Vanilla, it's not good in this recipe)

Place the Rice Chex cereal into a ziplock bag and crush using a rolling pin. Your just wanting to get rid of the big pieces, but don't make it super fine cause you still want that crunch. Combine all ingredients but ice cream in a bowl. Butter a glass casserole dish (9x13 or 10x15). Take half the cereal mixture and put in the dish, press down. Spread the entire half gallon of ice cream on top of cereal. Place remaining half of cereal mixture on top of ice cream and press it down.

Place in freezer until mix has frozen. Remove from freezer 5 minutes before serving.

Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

This recipe is so amazingly delicious!! One of my absolute favorites! I don't know if anyone has ever had this at TGI Fridays, but this recipe taste exactly like the original. It takes a little bit of time with the marinade and everything, but it's so worth it, however I wouldn't recommend this recipe to anyone who doesn't like balsamic vinegar. Although you could add less of the glaze too so it didn't taste so strongly like the vinegar. Also I followed the directions a little differently. It didn't make sense to make the Balsamic Glaze and the Bruschetta Marinara first, and then to have to make the marinade for the chicken then wait an hour doing nothing. So I first make the marinade for the chicken, and got it soaking, then made the glaze and marinara. That way I was occupied while I waited for the chicken to marinade. Seriously so yummy!! Enjoy!


Estimated Cooking Time: About 1 hour and 45 minutes. 1 hour is needed to marinade the chicken.


Ingredients
Balsamic Glaze

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Bruschetta Marinara

• 2 cups diced tomatoes (about 4 medium tomatoes)
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 1/4 olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Chicken Marinade

• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

• 1 pound skinless chicken breasts (about 3 breasts)
• Olive oil
• Ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound uncooked angel hair pasta (1/2 of a box)

For Finishing The Dish

• 8 teaspoons olive oil
• 8 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
• 4 teaspoons minced parsley

Make the balsamic glaze by combining the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, molasses, and salt in a small saucepan. Place over medium/low heat and heat the mixture until bubbling, then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.

Make the bruschetta marinara by combining the tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, olive oil, white vinegar, garlic, pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.

Marinate the chicken by combining the water, salt, paprika, and liquid smoke in a medium bowl. Pound the chicken breasts until about 3/4 inch thick, then add to the marinade, cover, and chill for exactly 1 hour.

Preheat a grill to high heat. When the chicken has marinated, remove the breast from the brine, rinse each under cold water, and blot dry. Rub each breast with oil and sprinkle with a little ground black pepper. Grill the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until chicken is cooked.

Break the pasta in half and cook it for 4 minutes in a large saucepan of boiling water. Strain.

To prepare each serving, preheat a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan and one quarter of the cooked angel hair pasta. Add 1/2 cup of the bruschetta marinara and 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese and toss with tongs until hot. Turn out the pasta onto the center of a plate and drizzle with balsamic glaze. Slice the chicken breasts and arrange one quarter of the chicken around the pasta, then sprinkle 1 teaspoon of minced parsley. Repeat for the remaining servings.

Serves 4.

Recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3

Houli Fruit Fizz

I've actually been taking a little vacation from cooking. That's so bad! For the last 3 days my family has been eating take out or cereal. But I needed a little break to re-charge my battery. Plus I was avoiding the grocery store, so I didn't actually have much to cook with. I actually made it to the grocery store yesterday though, so after my little break I'm totally excited and looking forward to my menu for this week!! Should be filled with tons of yummy food ;) But I wanted to quickly post this recipe that I tried a couple of weeks ago. This drink turned out pretty yummy. I would substitute the cranberry juice for like a raspberry cranberry juice to soften the taste of the cranberries just a little. I was also thinking as I was drinking this that it would be so amazing as a float instead of just a drink. I mean as a fruity drink it's good, but if you added a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream to the mix I think it would make this amazing. If you do decide to make into a float, remove the ice from the recipe. Enjoy!!


Ingredients

• 1 12-ounce can cold Sprite
• 1/2 cup cold pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup cold orange juice
• 1 cup cold cranberry juice

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher and pour into two glasses over ice. Be sure all of the ingredients are cold when combined.

Recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes

Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

The last week or so of my life has been pretty interesting. I had one of those moments where either, you were just going to crawl up in a ball and cry, or laugh historically at the hand life has dealt you. You mom's out there that have kids out of school on summer brake right now know what I'm talking about. It had been a really long day of cleaning up one mess right after the other, and after all morning of working, my house still looked like a reck. On top of having to listen to the constant fighting of the 7 and 5 year olds that aren't used to being around each other all day. Then my hubby tells me that his crew at work had been asking when I was going to send treats again. At this point I was glad to have an excuse to make desserts, and happy to have somewhere to send them, and I guess the day hadn't completely wiped me out cause I was feeling pretty inventive. I had some left over Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and some Mint Oreo Fudge Cookies, so I figured, let's make some stuffed cookies. I love anything with a surprise in the center. It's like dessert on steroids in my opinion. So, totally motivated I start making my chocolate cookie dough to rap around my left over goodies.

Everything was going good, put the cookies in the oven to bake, and then the cookie dough totally flattens out. As I'm standing there thinking, "ok how can I fix these to make them look pretty," my husband walks up, starts to giggle and says, "They look like brown eggs." The expression, "Don't poke the bear," came to mind and if looks could kill mine probably would have. Pour guy gave me the "ok then, I'm just going to walk away now" look and exited. As I turned back around to look back at my cookies and brainstorm some more, I just had to laugh. They totally did look like brown, sunny side up eggs. So above is my sunny side up chocolate cookie with the peanut butter cup center.

I found that it was so much better to chop up the Oreos or Reese's and put the chunks in the center of the cookie dough instead of whole. Then rap the cookie dough around the filling, kind of like what I did with the Coconut Dream Stuffed Cookies. I should of taken a picture, but there is a picture on the Coconut Dream Stuffed Cookies if you click on the link. Basically make a little bowl out of your cookie dough and then place your cookie or candy bits in the center. Then just pinch the top closed and role in your hands to make round and even out any thin spots in the dough. Make sure your hands are coated with flour to keep the dough from sticking. Enjoy!!

Estimated Cooking Time: About 1 hour and 25 minutes


Ingredients

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes, chopped

In a large bowl, add the butter and sugar and cream together with a hand mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and continue mixing until incorporated. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take one heaping cookie scoop of dough and form into a small bowl. Add the chopped sweets or candy of choice. Close opening up dough around center and roll in hands. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool for a couple minutes before removing to wire rack. Makes about 36 cookies.

Altered recipe from foodnetwork.com

Mongolian Beef

I made this last night for dinner and was surprised how quick and easy it was. Not to mention super yummy. I tend to like my oriental food a little more spicy, but this was a really good change. I actually should have doubled, or maybe even tripled, this recipe cause everyone wanted more. I only made one serving because my kids are kind of finicky about dishes like this. Usually they wont eat anything other then the rice, but for once my kids were asking for seconds. Even my husband was bummed out that their wasn't any leftovers. So yummy! A definite must try recipe!! (Recipe makes enough for about 2 people, and I served it over rice which wasn't in the recipe. So, if you want to serve with rice, start cooking the rice first thing and then start on the sauce.)


Estimated Cooking Time: About 30 minutes


Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 pound flank steak
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 large green onions

Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Don't get the oil too hot or you'll get a major spatter when adding the other liquids. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4-inch thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty-five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.

Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around so that it cooks evenly. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon or a spider to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

Recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I made these so long ago and have just never posted them, but with it being June, and a huge month when people are getting married and having anniversaries, I figures now would be a good time to get this out of my archives. I always make these for me and my hubby to have on our anniversary, and I think that most people buy theirs cause they think they are complicated. But other then taking a little bit of time, they are so super easy. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 16 ounces milk chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 pound fresh strawberries with leaves
• toothpicks
• 1 1/2 cups white chocolate (optional)

Insert toothpicks into the tops of the strawberries. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and shortening, stirring occasionally until smooth. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Hold by the toothpick and dip strawberries into the chocolate mixture. Set strawberry onto parchment paper and remove toothpick. Refrigerate until chocolate sets.

In a double boiler melt the white chocolate and let cool slightly. When cool enough to handle place melted chocolate into either a disposable piping back or zip lock bag. With scissors, clip a little piece of the corner of the bag. (Be careful how much you clip away. You can always clip off more of the bag if you want a thicker stream of chocolate.)

Apply light pressure to bag and slowly drizzle over chocolate.

Allow chocolate to set either at room temperature or in the refrigerator and serve.

Recipe altered from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I saw these a couple of weeks ago and just knew I had to try them, so I ended up making them for my son's 7th birthday party. They turned out so yummy! It's kind of heavier then a normal cupcake, but that's only because a lot of the cupcake is made up of a cookie dough center (picture below).

But I gotta say, this cupcake does taste like a chocolate chip cookie, and the Brown Sugar Frosting is amazing! Usually my favorite part of making the cookies is munching on the butter, sugar and vanilla part of the cookie dough right before you add the eggs. This is exactly what the frosting tastes like. Then the cupcake is super moist, a little heavy, but still full of tons of flavor. There were a couple things I did differently then the recipe. I only had to cook my cupcakes for 17 minutes, instead of the 20-22 minutes. Any longer then that and they would have burned, so just keep that in mind when you bake them. Also, I only refrigerated the cookie dough for a couple of hours and they froze pretty quickly. So I'd give them at least 2 hours in the freezer, but you don't need to put them in overnight if you don't have time. Just make sure the dough is good and frozen. Another thing I changed is, in the original recipe from The Spiffy Cookie, she actually made home made mini chocolate chip cookies to go on top, and I didn't. Mostly because these cupcakes are a lot of prep anyways with the cookie dough, the cupcakes and frosting, so I didn't want to make a batch of cookies on top of that. As an alternative, I just got Mini Chips Ahoy Cookies and used that as decoration instead. Faster and trust me, these cupcakes have enough going on that if you decide not to make your own mini cookies it's not gonna be missed. If you decide you want to though, click here to get the cookie recipe. Overall, super yummy dessert! If you like chocolate chip cookies then you will love these cupcakes!!

Cookie Dough Stuffing

Ingredients

• 2 sticks softened, unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Combine the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a cookie scoop, shape the dough into balls (golf ball sized). Freeze on a parchment lined baking sheet overnight.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 batch egg-less chocolate chip cookie dough, rolled and frozen
• 1 batch brown sugar frosting
• Mini chocolate chip cookies, for garnish
• Mini Semisweet chocolate chips, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Scoop into cupcake papers about half to three-quarters full. Drop one frozen scoop of cookie dough into each cupcake. Do not press the dough down at all. Bake for 20-22 minutes until edges start to turn golden. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frost cooled cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting, and top with a cookie and mini chocolate chips.

Brown Sugar Frosting

Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the butter and brown in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the salt, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined. (Quick tip: I only needed to add 1 tablespoon of milk to bring the frosting to piping consistency, so I would add one tablespoon of milk and then proceed to add the second tablespoon slowly as needed.)

Recipe from The Spiffy Cookie

Jack Daniel's Glazed Ribs

First, Bravo to you Mr. Wilbur!! (author of Top Secret Restaurant Recipes) I don't know if anyone has checked out these books. I was super spectacle about these recipes being as good as the originals, but this copy-cat recipe blew my socks off! If I wasn't the one that made it, I wouldn't have believed it didn't come from TGI Friday's. If you haven't tried this recipe either at the Friday's restaurant or through this recipe you are missing out. And since Father's Day is in a week I thought I would post something that would be an awesome meal to celebrate! I don't know about your man, but mine is all about meat, so what better to make then ribs. For me, I'm super picky when it comes to ribs. This recipe gave the meat a super yummy flavor, and the glaze is amazing. The only thing I didn't like is that the meat didn't fall off the bone. Which in my opinion, if they don't fall off the bone they aren't true barbecue ribs, but these were super good for home made ribs. And my hubby loved them. Definitely an awesome dinner recipe!!

Quick Tip: If you are like me, you're gonna make the glaze at the same time you are cooking the ribs. So when I was roasting the garlic for the Jack Daniel's glaze I just threw it in with the ribs for just over an hour since your baking at 300 degrees with the ribs instead of 325 by itself (like 10 to 15 minutes longer).

Estimated Cooking Time: About 3 hours

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

• 2 full racks baby back ribs
• 1/2 cup Jack Daniel's glaze cone

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Combine all seasonings in a small bowl.

Sprinkle on both sides of each rack of ribs. Place the ribs on a baking sheet and bake for 2 1/2 hours (for easier clean up, cover caking sheet with tin foil). Preheat the barbecue grill (or an indoor grill pan) to high heat.

Grill the ribs for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until grill marks form. Immediately after removing the ribs from the grill, brush with Jack Daniel's glaze and serve with extra glaze on the side.

Jack Daniel's Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 head of garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 cup pineapples juice 
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/3 cups dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons minced white onion
• 1 tablespoon Jack Daniel's whiskey
• 1 tablespoon crushed pineapple
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cute about 1/2 inch off of the head of garlic. Cut the roots so that the garlic will sit flat. Remove the excess papery skin from the garlic, but leave enough so that the cloves stay together. Put the garlic into a small casserole dish or baking pan, drizzle the olive oil over it, and cover it with a lid or foil. Bake for 1 hour. Remove the garlic from the oven and let it cool until you can handle it.

Combine the water, pineapple juice, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and place over medium/high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil, then reduce the heat until the mixture is just simmering.

Squeeze the sides of the head of garlic until pastry roasted garlic is squeezed out. Measure 2 teaspoons into the saucepan and whisk to combine. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and stir. Let the mixture simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by about half and is thick and syrupy. Make sure it doesn't boil over. Makes about 1 to 2 cups of glaze.

If desired, strain chunks out of glaze for a smoother consistency.

Recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I've actually never tried coffee cake of any sort before. If I ever have the option I always end up getting a scone or pancakes or something else, but I had a friend looking for a good coffee cake recipe that had cinnamon, sugar, and walnuts, so I ended up finding this. It's from Cooking Light, so first of all it's low calorie, which I liked, and second it tastes amazing!! You would never guess it was low calorie, and this recipe was really good cause this wasn't too sweet but just sweet enough. And since this was only like 260 calories per slice I think it is a definite must try recipe! Enjoy :)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (about 2.5 ounces), divided
• cooking spray
• 4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
• 1 ounce whole-wheat flour (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (8-ounce) carton light sour cream (such as daisy)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread oats in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes or until oats are barely fragrant and light brown.

Coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray; set aside. Reserve 1/4 cup oats; set aside. Place remaining oats in a food processor; process 4 seconds or until finely ground. Weigh or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine processed oats, flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/3 cup butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. (Batter will be slightly lumpy because of oats.) Spoon batter into prepared pan; spread evenly.

Combine remaining 1/4 cup oats, remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, nuts, and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until well blended. Sprinkle top of batter evenly with nut mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 38 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, top is golden, and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. cool cake in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 piece).

Recipe from Cooking Light Comfort Food

Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcakes

We've had a lot of birthday around here the last couple of weeks. Both of my boys have early summer birthdays so between family parties and friend parities, I've been making a lot of cupcakes, and I still have to make one more batch of cupcakes for Sunday. I've been eyeballing a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake recipe for a while now, so I'm planning on making those. Then we will move on from cupcakes to something else. Maybe pies. I've never made my own pie before, and have always wanted to. So that will probably be in the works soon.

But anyways, back to these cupcakes. I was in charge of playing hostess for my husband's dad, which means cooking dinner and then providing something for dessert that we could use to sing Happy Birthday to both boys. Since making a whole cake wasn't ideal, and I was also in charge of dinner I figured lets make some cupcakes from a box. But then I feel bad, cause that's no fun either. Then I saw this recipe!! It adds a fun twist to boxed cake while still keeping things easy. You add a spoonful of hot fudge ice cream topping on the batter before you bake the cupcakes, so the fudge stays gooey in the cupcake which made these cupcakes tasty and interestingly different and so so yummy!! The only thing I wasn't the hugest fan of was the frosting. If you like shortening based frosting, then disregard this opinion, but I really don't care for shortening, unless it's in something that needs to be like and flaky. So if I were to make this recipe again, I would make the Float Frosting that goes with the Root Beer Float Cupcakes. It's butter based, which I prefer the flavor to shortening based frostings, and it implements vanilla ice cream into the frosting, so I think it would go really well with the fudge cupcakes. I would highly recommend switching out the frosting and I think that these cupcakes would be a thousand times better. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 1 2-layer-size package chocolate cake mix
• 1 12-ounce jar hot fudge ice cream topping
• 1 recipe Creamy White Frosting or 1 to 2 16-ounce cans creamy white frosting
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
• 1 teaspoon shortening
• Chopped nuts
• 1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries with stems, well drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line twenty-four 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set aside. Prepare cake batter according to package directions.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Use the back of a spoon to smooth out batter in cups. Place a scant tablespoon room temperature ice cream topping on the top center of each cupcake.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched (While baking prepare Creamy White Frosting). Cool cupcakes in muffin cups on wire racks for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from muffin cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

Spread some of the frosting over each cupcake. Place the remaining frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

In a small saucepan melt the chocolate pieces and shortening over low heat; cool slightly. Spoon melted chocolate into a small heavy resealable plastic bag. Seal bag; snip off a small piece from one corner. Drizzle chocolate on top of frosted cupcakes.

Sprinkle cupcakes with nuts. Pipe the remaining frosting on top of cupcakes. Place a cherry on top of each cupcake. Makes 24 (2 1/2-inch) cupcakes.

*Test Kitchen Tip: If desired, use Smucker's magic shell instead of melting the semisweet chocolate pieces and shortening.

Creamy White Frosting

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 pound powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk

In a large mixing bowl beat shortening, vanilla, and almond extract with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar. Gradually add enough of the remaining milk to make frosting spreading consistency. Makes about 3 cups.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cupcakes Magazine

Smoked Sausage Rigatoni Bake

My kids have been having swim lessons every morning, so it's been tricky to find the time to post right before I leave. But I wanted to quickly post another dinner recipe, especially since this is such a yummy and easy meal!! You just cook the noodles, cut up the sausage, throw it all together in a casserole dish and bake it. Super simple and super delicious!! Enjoy :) (Makes enough for about 4 adults)

Estimated Cooking Time: About 50 minutes.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (3 cups) uncooked dried rigatoni pasta
• 1 (14- to 16-ounce) package cooked smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 (14- to 15-oune) jar pizza sauce*
• 1/4 cup whipping cream**
• 1 (2.25-ounce) can (1/2 cup) sliced ripe olives, drained
• 4 ounces (1 cup) Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

*Substitute 1 1/2 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce.

**Substitute 3 tablespoons milk and 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions (Tip: Pasta shapes can be substituted as long as you choose another that is similar in shape and size. Mostaccioli, penne or ziti are great substitutes for rigatoni. Because pasta will continue to cook when used in baked recipes, cook it the minimum amount of time listed on the package). Drain; set aside.

Combine all ingredients except cheese in greased 3 quart casserole. Cover; bake for 30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese. Continue baking, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until rigatoni mixture is heated through and cheese is melted.

Recipe from Land O' Lakes Recipe Collection Baking and More

Over 100 Posts!!!

I can't believe it!! This post will be post 102 for my blog. For those of you reading this with blogs, especially if you've had a blog for years, you probably completely outpost me. But I had to stop and celebrate this little mile marker for me. Actually, when I first saw that my posts had hit over a hundred yesterday, I had to double check it and make sure it was correct. All I could think was, either that number is wrong or man that went by fast!! But as I was going back through my posts, I have to say these 100 posts have been a huge learning experience for me. I came into this not knowing a thing about photography, but just that I liked to cook and wanted to share all the recipes I was making. Lets just say my first pictures were pretty bad. If you want an example, here you go...

Here is one of my favorite resent pictures. (Cherry Almond Vanilla Cupcakes)

And here is one of the first recipes I posted only a few short months ago. (Cherry Scones)

Yeah, like I said, I knew nothing about photography and was using my little digital camera which didn't give me a whole lot to work with either. I still feel like I have tons to learn when it comes to photographing and staging my dishes, but it's been fun to see progress in my work. I'm tempted to go back and make some of my stuff over again just so I can reshoot the finished product, but we'll see. I like the saying keep moving forward, so I might just move on and keep posting new things.

I thought it would also be fun to post my favorite recipes that I have tried along the way. So this will be the top 20 things I would absolutely recommend you try if you are going to make anything from my blog, and my favorites out of the almost 100 recipes that I've posted. So here they are. First the savory dishes.

      

Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Feta Bruschetta

Lasagna Deliziosa

Meatball Sub Casserole

Chicken Tandoori

Sausage and Pepper Skewers

K, now for my favorite thing to make and certainly my favorite thing to eat :) The desserts!!!

Mint Chocolate Delights

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

5 Extract Pound Cake

Island Bananas Foster Cupcakes

Chocolate Hazelnut Macaroons

Layered Lemon Pie

Oreo Truffles

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Cheesecake Cookie Cups

Death By Oreo Cupcakes

Bavarian Apple Torte

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Chocolate Orange Cake

I actually think there are 21 recipes here instead of 20, but who's counting right! I couldn't deside which one to throw out so I went 1 over, but these are my absolute favorite "to die for" recipes.

Hope you all have had as much fun with all the recipes posted as I have. Have a great week and thanks for reading :)