Buttercream Frosting

It's nearly Christmas! My favorite time of the year.
It hasn't snowed yet, though, and it's really starting to weird me out. I honestly can't remember a Christmas without snow, and it's looking like that is going to happen.
Since there is no snow on the ground, and it's not even freezing cold, I'm not really sure I believe Christmas is only 6 days away.

I thought, to get myself in the Christmas spirit I would make some Christmas-y cupcakes for my awesome co-workers. They like when I bake, and I like when people tell me how awesome my treats are. ;-)

So I thought while showing off pictures of my creations, I'd throw in a recipe for the buttercream I always make. It's pretty stellar if I do say so myself.

Firstly, the picture I posted to Facebook entitled "My Saturday Night".

Looks fun, doesn't it?? I had an awful day at work, and working on these calmed me right down!

First I made some Christmas trees

Then I made a few santa's and added some swirled red and green.

Adorable!

So, to make buttercream.

2 sticks of butter
1 cup shortening
1 bag powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk (usually don't use all of it)
1 tsp vanilla or any other flavor you want to use
1 tsp salt

Cream together butter and shortening until mixed, add in powdered sugar a little at a time, cream until blended. Add in vanilla and salt. Slowly add milk until you get the desired consistency.

Voila. Simple as that.
Go bake something.

Hot Pockets

I really like hot pockets.
However, I've always wished I could change the ingredients to what I like, add more, or just customize them.
Then I had a brilliant idea.
Yes, this occasionally happens to even me.

Yesterday we had a little party with some friends. It wasn't really a party. It was a "Let's eat a bunch of food and attempt to play a game while Averna screams" (It's ok, Averna, we still love you)

I whipped these up as an appetizer. Which, honestly, kind of ruined the main course as we were mostly too full from snacks to eat the awesome burritos we had made.

So anyways. The ingredients involved were chicken, sauce, and dough sheets. That's all.

I boiled chicken for the first time... which was weird. Then I shred it up, placed it in 2 bowls, and poured sauce on top.

 Then I opened the dough sheets, and cut them into 4 long pieces. Place chicken in the middle (I really wish I had more) and fold it up. Place it seem side down on a GREASED pan.

Finally, bake them, and enjoy. These are SO customizable. Next I think I'll make pizza ones, or chicken cordon bleu ones, OR ANYTHING.

Recipe

2 tubes of Pillsbury dough sheets
3 chicken breasts
Barbeque sauce
Spicy wing sauce

 Preheat oven to 350.
If you don't have any leftover chicken laying around, poach chicken on the stove by placing chicken in the bottom of a large saucepan and covering with water or chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down, cooking until white through, about 8 minutes.

Shred the cooked chicken and cover with the sauce in separate bowls. Open the tubes of dough sheets and cut each roll into 4 pieces. Place chicken in the center of each strip and fold the top and bottom over, press the edges to seal.

Place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until nice and golden brown.
Enjoy!

Pizza Pasta

Hey everybody!
I must first apologize for my absence. I've been so busy with work, and sleeping, I forget to take pictures when I cook. And a food blog without pictures of the food is NO FUN.
So while on a break at work one day I was flipping through the paper, and there was a flier for Fazolis.
The picture was of their baked pizza pasta. Just looking at it, I knew I could make it. Easy.

So I did!

It was awesome. Really filling, and it made a ton, so it would be great for a party.

Here are the ingredients:

Fry up the italian sausage. I always use hot, it's really not that hot.

Mix up the sauce, cheese, and a handful of pepperoni. Mix in the italian sausage.

Then mix in the spaghetti, and put it all into a casserole dish.

Bake it for about 20 minutes, take it out and place some more cheese and pepperoni on top, bake until the cheese has melted, about another 10 minutes.

And then voila! A beautiful dinner paired with some garlic bread!

Recipe

1 1/2 jars of pasta sauce, any kind you like
1 package of italian sausage
1 package of spaghetti or fettuccine noodles
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
15 pepperoni pieces


Preheat oven to 350

Make the pasta per the directions on the box, set aside.
Fry the italian sausage into little bits, drain and set aside.
Mix the spaghetti sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and 10 pepperonis in a bowl. Mix in italian sausage and then spaghetti.
Pour into a well greased casserole dish.
Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and cover with more cheese and remaining pepperoni. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.


Enjoy!

Fish Fingers and Custard

I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan.
Like
HUGE
I remember the first episode I watched. It was called Rise of the Cyberman. I fell in love with the chemistry between Rose and this skinny guy called the Doctor who had a stick that made weird noises and an odd blue box. 
After that, I watched the first episode... confused why some other guy was playing the Doctor, but I was hooked. Absolutely hooked.    I watched the first three seasons on Netflix within two weeks, and went as far as to buy season 4 on DVD because I could not wait a single second to see it. Jon and I spent that weekend in bed, on my laptop, watching every single episode.

When my beloved David Tennant left the show, I was heartbroken. This Matt Smith guy looked so WEIRD and UGLY and I was just not happy.

Until the very first episode.
Where I laughed SO much at the scene where he was trying to figure himself out. Honestly, much funnier than David Tennant's fight with Sycorax and he asks "What kind of man are you?" and DT responds "I don't knooowwaaa" (You know you read that in his voice. ;)


So, for reference, in case you are wondering what on earth I could possibly be talking about.










The scene, shows the new Doctor trying to figure out what sort of food he likes. It's hilarious.

When I saw that episode, I immediately started wondering, what on Earth would fish sticks and custard taste like?
Then promptly forgot. For a year and a half.

However, Saturday marks the start of the second part of season 6! and I had a simply brilliant idea to make them... a little more... dessert like.

I don't have very many pictures of this process, unfortunately. It was very involved and required a lot of attention, even though I had a helper, so we will go straight to the recipe!

For the custard, I found a recipe for Eggless Custard Buttercream frosting.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cup butter
1 tbsp vanilla
4 tbsp cornstarch
2/3 cup milk

Mix 1/4 cup milk and 4 tbsp cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a 2 quart sauce pan, mix the rest of the milk and the sugar. Stir until boiling, then add the cornstarch mix. Mix again until boiling, remove from heat, add the vanilla, and stir hard until it is smooth and glossy.
Let it cool completely. After completely cool, transfer to a bowl. Mix in soft butter slowly, mixing after each addition.

For the "Fish Sticks"
10 chocolate or vanilla wafer cookies
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups Special K  (crushed)

Spread the peanut butter over the wafer cookies and roll them in crushed special K.

See, how awesome is that!

Enjoy them while you watch the new episode!

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I really really like granola bars.
I have this habit of eating them in my car, and getting crumbs everywhere. So bad I can hardly get them up.
When I was stumbling the other day, I came across a recipe for homemade granola bars.
I, of course, became very excited.
Homemade means better ingredients, and I could play around with additions. These granola bars could easily be changed to any other combination of fruit or nuts instead of chocolate chips.

Here are some ingredients!

Looks pretty easy, doesn't it?
Yup, it totally is.

So then, we mixed all that up, and pressed it into a 9x13 pan. GREASED. Don't forget the grease. I always do... such a mess.

Pretty dang tasty when I had to lick my fingers a little bit. 

Then they were baked, but they pretty much looked the same after that as before. 

Here's a cut up one. Mmm

So then, if you would like to make these awesome bars, here's how! 

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toasted oat cereal rings
• 2/3 cup wheat germ

In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, peanut butter, corn syrup, applesauce and vanilla extract.
In another bowl, mix together the rolled oats, chocolate chips, oat cereal, and wheat germ.
Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture, mix until completely coated.
Press the mix into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for about 26 minutes at 350 degrees.



So, a sneak preview for tomorrow. Not the chicken enchiladas I mentioned the other day... no... something much more epic for my doctor who friends. Hint: it involves fish fingers and custard.

Busy Bee

Hey everyone!
I started my new job this week! Learning the ropes for the next 2-3 weeks to be a sales consultant at WG&R Furniture.
Let me know if you need a couch, bed, desk, or table. I'll hook you up.

So due to this, I've been a little busy and keep forgetting to take pictures of the foods I make! And a food blog with no pictures, is no fun!

However, this week, I will be attempting two new recipes.. homemade granola bars and chicken enchiladas!

Also- I'm asking for suggestions. What would you like me to experiment with? What's your favorite recipe I can try?

Oh, I almost forgot. Another reason I've been so busy... we have another fur baby!
His name is Caboose.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Monday was Jon and my 2 year wedding anniversary! We spent that day going to olive garden and seeing Harry Potter at the theater. Also doing lame things like cleaning our house.

The day before, on Sunday, we had a little anniversary party with our friends and family! That was a lot of fun. We went a park in Appleton, so the little kids could play. Everyone brought awesome food. I think a good time was had by all.
Here, see some photos!
A baby named Averna! 

 Pirate Penny and her first mate Parker

 Penny and her favorite aunty

 Jon and Justin. They are silly.

 Sarah and I.

 Mama!

 Sarah and the baby!

 Seth and the rock'n baby.

 Jon <3

 Us. :)

So yeah.
For this party, I wanted to make a cake. An epic cake.
It was my first time making a cake from scratch, and I had a lovely assistant!

Ok, so, firstly, ingredients! SO MANY!

Sarah did a lot of the work, and there aren't many pictures of the process. Woops.

Bakin'!

There were 3 cakes to start with (we changed the recipe a bit to get the extra batter. The recipe below will only make 2 cakes).. but one wasn't all the way cooked, so we ate that one, and had a 2 layer cake for the party.

Justin's piece at the party!

This recipe was borrowed from This Blog.

• 3/4 cup soft butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup white chocolate chips, melted and cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tea baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk (don’t mix with dry stuff)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs one at a time, making sure to mix thoroughly after each one.  After the eggs are added, mix in the vanilla and the melted chocolate.
Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. 
Add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with buttermilk until well combined. Divide batter evenly between two well greased and floured 9″ round cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 28-32 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes in pan before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the white chocolate buttercream frosting:
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
6 oz white chocolate chips melted and cooled
2 cups powdered sugar.
1/8 cup milk

Cream together butter an shortening. Add in melted chocolate and powdered sugar, and slowly add milk until the desired consistency.

For the Raspberry filling

Mix 3/4 cup raspberry preserves and 1/2 cup frosting in a bowl.

Spread the filling on top of cooled cake layer. Place the other layer on top of the filling and spread the rest of the white chocolate frosting over the cake.

Enjoy!

Chicken "Nuggets"

When my brother and I were kids, my mom made awesome food. (well, she still does!)
One of my favorites, was when she made chicken nuggets.  I think I remember how she made them. Something with Parmesan cheese and chicken... and then they were fried. I think that was all the ingredients she used, but I can't really remember. This was a long time ago!

For the past few nights, my brother has been staying over. His roommate was gone, and he gets lonely (awww..) so he stayed with Jon and I. He played a lot of video games with Jon, I played with them occasionally. Friday night, we needed dinner, but didn't know what we wanted.
Then I thought of moms chicken nuggets.

So Jesse and I set off to cook together. Lots of fun was had by all.
The recipe is simple, these are the ingredients

So we mixed up the breadcrumbs, the Parmesan, and the cayenne.

And I dunked them in eggs, rolled them in the breadcrumb mix, and Jesse fried them. Jon snuck this picture. I thought it was cute.

Fryin'

And done!

We had stuffing and corn with them. It was a fabulous dinner.


So recipe!

2 eggs
2 large chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Crack the eggs, scramble them up
Mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan and cayenne pepper on a plate. 
Cut the chicken into slightly bigger than bitesize chunks, dip into eggs and then roll in breadcrumb mix. Fry on stove, until cooked through.

There you go. Simple as that.

Tomorrow is Jon and my 2 year wedding anniversary! We had a little party with family and friends today. Sarah and I made something AMAZING with these ingredients, any guesses what it is?

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Remember that disaster of a no-bake thing I tried to make?
Well... not so much disaster as in, I thought it was awful, but other people ate it?
This will not be like that. It was beautiful. In color, in taste, in.. everything.
Did I mention I really love cheesecake?

Also, for the first time on Experiments in the Kitchen, I had a guest chef! Well, two of them! One of them was my favorite Jenn, and the other was her adorable little puppy dog!
We made cheesecake, and we made wraps and we watched Paul. Which is weird, because when we eat/make cheesecake, we watch Rent or color our hair.

But enough about that. I found this recipe from The Recipe Girl, after much googling for a good recipe. I had red velvet cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory once, but that was cake and cheesecake, I wanted only cheesecake.

SO! Ingredients!

There is only one bottle of red food coloring listed there. I actually used two. And it still wasn't as red as I would have liked.

And so Jenn made a crust out of 17 oreos, butter, and some more sugar. Because oreos don't have enough sugar.

While she did this, I made the cheesecake part

And someone took a picture of me cooking! It is very blurry, however.

And then it was baked, and frosted, and looked simply beautiful.

That picture does not do it justice. It was so awesome, you guys. It was the perfect blend of cheesecake and red velvet cake.

If you are feeling ambitious, and have 2 hours of free time, go ahead and try this one out!

CRUST:
17 oreo cookies, crushed finely
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 Tablespoon granulated white sugar
CHEESECAKE:
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
2 ounces red food coloring (two 1-ounce bottles)
FROSTING:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to  325
For the crust, crush up the cookies, and then mix in the butter and the sugar. Press into the bottom of a 10" springform pan. 

For the cheesecake:
Beat the cream cheese until nice and fluffy, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer until well blended. Pour the batter over the crust. 
Bake for 10 minutes at 325 and then lower the temperature to 300 and bake an additional 75 minutes, or until the center is firm. Let it sit in the oven for an addition 30 minutes, and then cool completely. I put mine in the fridge for about 3 hours and it was perfect. 
For the frosting, mix the shortening and butter until fluffy and then add in milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until fluffy. Spread over completely cooled cheesecake. 




Now most people would be going off about some sort of water bath... and honestly, I didn't have a big enough pan to do all of that. My cheesecake did crack, but only a bit, and the frosting covered it up. 


So in the end, it was beautiful and delicious.


And poor Toby was all tuckered out from all the cooking. 

Cheezits!

I am a snacker. I enjoy it far too much.
My husband is also a snacker. Well.. sometimes. He's a weird guy.
Anyway, he's been taking a few snacks with him to work recently, and I thought it would be nice if they were healthier snacks, instead of processed garbage.
Then I remembered I had once stumbled upon a recipe for home made cheezits!
I know, crazy, right!?

This is what we start with:

The stuff in the black bottle is cayenne pepper. Jon likes things really really spicy, so I used kind of a lot.
So then we mixed it all up. At this point, I was really wishing I had a food processor. I used a hand mixer.. and it just... was so annoying. (hint to everyone who loves me, my birthday is only 40 days away!)

After everything was mixed, it chilled in the fridge for about 2 hours, then I spread it out on a baking sheet and cut them up with a pizza cutter.

Baked them, and there you have it.

So the process goes like this

Ingredients
1 cup flour
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
4tbsp butter, cut into small pieces 
5 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350
Mix the flour, cheese, cayenne, butter and salt until the mix is crumbly. Do this in a food processor if you have one, or if not, you can use a blender... or a hand mixer.
Slowly add the water until the dough is moist. You may not use all the water.
Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.
Take out of fridge, place dough between two pieces of wax paper, and roll it thin. Carefully remove top layer of wax paper and use the pizza cutter to cut into 2" x 2" squares. Carefully place onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until crispy.
Enjoy!

Jesse tried to be my model, but you can't really see the cheezit in his hand.