Super Simple Turkey Club Wrap

So I quickly wanted to share this super simple but super delicious recipe.

Ingredients

Burrito size tortillas

Mayo or Miracle Whip

Deli style thin sliced turkey lunch meat (I used Oscar Meyer Delifresh Smoked Turkey)

Shredded Cheese of your choice

Bacon (I used the microwave kind)

Lettuce and other veggies of your choice (optional)

Take a tortilla and lay it out flat. Spread mayo and ranch dressing over the tortilla. Sprinkle shredded cheese all over tortilla. Place one or two layers of the turkey on top of the cheese. Take two pieces of bacon and break them in half. Place them onto of the layers of turkey; parallel to the edge you will be rolling the wrap - it will roll much easier this way. 

Add lettuce and other veggies to your preference.

Roll the wrap up tightly; gently to keep toppings inside wrap. Enjoy!

I think this wrap would be great as a Chicken Caesar Wrap also. Make the same as above but substitute chicken for the turkey and Caesar dressing for the ranch!

Strawberry Shortcake Snake

So this recipe popped up on my FB from Monoprix - so unless you are a French junkie like me you have no idea what this is. They are a French retail chain combining grocery items with hardware, clothing, and household items. Like Wal-Mart but better!! Check out their website here :)  http://www.monoprix.fr/

I have not tried this recipe yet - but it looks delicious and I hope to try it soon!
Please check out the link at the bottom of the page for the recipe - it is in English!

Ce dessert fond sous toutes les langues, même les fourchues ! http://bit.ly/NG2Zsr

This dessert melts under all languages, even the forked! http://bit.LY/NG2Zsr (Translated by Bing) 

Strawberry Shortcake Snake

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/strawberry-shortcake-snake-714506/

Ultimate Brownies

So I have no idea where this recipe came from - it has been all over Pinterest and FB and it is so delicious I must share it with the world (well the small world that reads my blog.) Most of you have probably seen this recipe already but for those of you that haven't, here it is!

I never really seen an official name for this recipe either so I have dubbed it "Ultimate Brownies."

Preheat oven to 350; press 1 or 1.5 squares of break-apart refrigerated cookie dough into the bottom of each well (I used a cupcake pan). Place Reese cup upside down on top of cookie dough. Top with prepared box brownie mix, filling 3/4 full. Bake for 18 -20 minutes.

Make sure you spray your pan well with cooking spray or use cupcake liners :)

Super simple, super delicious!

You can also try this which Rolos or other chocolate candy in the middle - or an Oreo. 

Here is picture from FB/Pinterest post.

Fiesta? I would rather Siesta!

So I know that it has been forever since I have been on here. We bought the house and have spent most of the past year remodeling and so much has been happening. So tonight I am going to "quick-post" some of the most exciting things that I have cooked this year...and a few that I would like to try in the near future :)

First I will start with Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes. So my bosses birthday was earlier this year and the theme for the potluck \was FIESTA. I typically bring my signature chocolate cupcakes with PB icing as that is Sherry's favorite but I wanted to go along with the theme and spice things up a little bit. So I did what all masterchef's do...turned to Google!! Of course googling Mexican desserts delivers the typical flan, churros, and fried ice cream. So I googled Mexican cupcakes (I mean cupcakes are my thing) and I stumbled across one of the greatest cupcakes I have ever tasted. And I have tasted a lot of cupcakes :)

First lets talk about the flavor behind the cupcake: the drink - Mexican Hot Chocolate. This is also known as Mayan Hot Chocolate. It was a thick chocolate drink (dating back to 460-480 AD) originally served cold. It was made from grinding cocoa beans into a thick paste and mixing with water, cornmeal, and chili peppers. Sounds appealing doesn't it?! It was considered a luxury drink and eventually came to Europe and then to America. You can still find this drink but over time it has been thinned like the hot chocolate that we drink today and is mixed with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. It you haven't ever had this drink, I highly recommend you try it or better yep - make your own! (Didn't know you were in for a history lesson did you - it's like sneaking vegetables in the the kids pasta!!)

So now we take this wonderful combination of flavors and turn them into a cupcake; chocolate, cinnamon and cayenne. 

Cupcakes:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want them to be)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups water 

3 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp apple cider or white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all dry ingredients, then add in all liquids. Mix together gently - a few lumps are ok. Pour into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting: (this frosting is amazing!)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

Blend the cinnamon into the powdered sugar.
Add the shortening, butter, vanilla, and milk; beat until fluffy, around 5 minutes.
Frost cooled cupcakes generously.

This recipe made me nervous because you never know how new recipes will turn out and how people are going to react to chili peppers in their dessert; but I definitely give this recipe "2 spatulas up." And will be making this recipe again soon :)

For the original version (which is Vegan :) notice there are no eggs in the recipe) please click the following link: http://writemeg.com/2011/03/24/mexican-chocolate-cupcakes-can-you-handle-the-heat/

Is it a fruit? Or is it a vegetable?

Last week I made a batch of sugar loaded cupcakes, so this week I decided to make something slightly more healthy, so I decided on Zucchini muffins. So my motto of the week has been, "Well it has to be somewhat healthy, it has a vegetable in it!" But now that I think about it, is zucchini a fruit or a vegetable? While you ponder that or google it, here is the recipe...

Zucchini Bread [makes 2 loaves or approx. 3 dozen small muffins]

3 eggs

7 oz oil [slightly less than one cup]

2 1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cup zucchini

1 cup chopped pecan [optional]

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for approx 1 hour for loaves and 45 minutes for muffins, depending on the size of the muffins.

This recipe came out of the book On Baking: A textbook of baking and pastry fundamentals [2nd Edition].

I hope that everyone enjoys some wonderful healthy vegetable/fruit muffins :]

Muffin Pyramid [Yes they have Halloween wrappers! That's all I had!]

I made this for you...

 

Jelly+Fish

 

[[[this is dedicated to my beautiful, intelligent, humorous, but sometimes mean sister heather. i love you!]]] 

 

 

This past weekend Matt and I went to spend the weekend at Mom & Dad's. On Saturday morning, Mom asked us what we wanted for breakfast. Now, typically Dad would make his famous pancakes, however he had ran out of the baking mix he uses as base for his batter. [Of course, it then became a debate, if Dad had not told Mom and let them run out of mix or if Dad had told Mom and she had forgotten to buy it. Lol. Another unsolved mystery.] However, I told them that I could make pancakes or waffles from scratch if they had the ingredients. So I went upstairs to Heather's room and asked her which she would like, because I know she is a picky eater and I wanted to make something she would like. She told me that she wanted waffles, who knew those waffles would almost be the start of WW3.

So I went down stairs and got out my favorite cookbook of Mom's. Her Better Homes & Garden's cookbook. I'm not sure what edition it is, but it's been around since I was a kid so I am assuming it is from the early 1980's. Mom got me the 15th edition for Christmas this year, but of course, it has been updated so it did not have the same recipe in it. So I did my best to look it up online and here is basically the same recipe from the 1962 edition.

Waffles

[from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1962 edition]
Makes about 8 waffles.



1 3/4 cup flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 beaten egg yolks

1 1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

2 stiff-beaten eggs

Stir together dry ingredients. Combine egg yolks and milk; stir into dry ingredients. Stir in oil. Fold in egg whites, leaving some fluff. Bake in waffle maker.

Now, in the recipe I had it did not tell you up front that you had to whip the eggs until stiff. So I was like oh this looks like a simple recipe. So I started the preparing the batter, then I got to the part about whipping the eggs and I got a little nervous. The only recipe I had, had to do this for was in college with a commercial mixer. Obviously, I now know that it's not really that difficult, just time consuming, but worth while.

Now that the waffles were done and I thought they looked delicious, I went to get Heather to eat. I called her and called her and called her and about 15 or so minutes later, she finally came down. The rest of us were sitting in the living room eating together, when I hear Heather say, "What is this? These are soggy, I'm not eating these." Excuse me? They were crispy 15 minutes ago when I told you they were done. They are waffles, they aren't going to stay perfectly crispy forever! Well of course, if you know me or my sister, you know that we can be a little high-strung and overly-emotional. So this minor issue about soggy waffles escalated into a fight about everything that had ever went wrong in either of our lives. I'm sure it was comical or just plain stupid and annoying to Mom and Dad and Matt, who sat there pretty much in silence while we screamed at each other for 20 or so minutes. 

Moral of the story is:

~Don't cry over soggy waffles,

~A soggy waffle is not worth fighting over,

~And baking powder that expired in 2008 works just fine.

Now for those of you who do not know who Julian Smith is you should definitely watch these videos and look up some of his other ones, so you can understand that epic hilarity of this situation through the eyes of Heather and I.

www.juliansmith.tv

Hot Kool-Aid - I Made This For You
http://www.juliansmith.tv/2009/07/hot-kool-aid/

I'm Trying to Cook Me - Parody by Julian's Mom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DMi_jUHjSc

All Time Favorite: Jelly Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iubJ-XSL9go

Waffles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj00ii1BLV8

Easy on the Cayenne Pepper

My husband likes tacos. Correction: he loves tacos. Every single time I ask him what he wants for dinner he says, without hesitation, you guessed it...tacos. I, however, am not a big fan of tacos. Unless it's Taco Bell, El Charro's, Mexican Villa, or Senor Peppers, I'm really not a fan. But being the good wife that I am, I still make them for him. So last time we went to the store, Matt decided to "compromise." He decided that this week we would have tostada bowls instead of just tacos. So tonight was tostada bowl night. And I decided that it I was going to have to make these, I might as well document it. So obviously the ingredients are simple:

tostada taco shell bowls
hamburger or chicken
shredded cheese
taco seasoning
refried beans
black beans
sour cream
tomatos
lettuce
plus or minus whatever you like

Now that seems short and sweet doesn't it? But I have a delicious recipe for homemade taco seasoning:


2 tsp chili powder
1.5 tsp paprika
1 tsp minced onion or onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt [I prefer Himalayan Pink Sea Salt]
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
dash of cayenne pepper to taste
dash of black pepper to taste


Mix together and use like normal taco seasoning. Makes approximately the same amount as 1 store bought packet.

Now, funny story about the first time I made this seasoning. Matt had been sick all week. He hadn't been eating much of anything. So I knew when he was feeling better when he asked me to make him tacos. However, when I went to the cabinet I realized that I did not have any taco seasoning. But Matt really wanted tacos, so I found a recipe for taco seasoning. I was going down my list, a little of this, a little of that. Mixed it all up and it looked great. So I added it to the meat and went to put the recipe into my recipe box. As I looked at it again, I stopped and read it again. I then realized that I had added too much cayenne pepper, way too much cayenne pepper. I had some how read the line above it, which was for 1/2 teaspoon. Plus on the original recipe, it said that this was for mild seasoning so if you like it spicier to add a little more. So I had put more than a half a tsp, where it called for a "dash." And cayenne pepper is not like oh I added to many onion flakes. So I tasted the meat and it felt like the tip of my tongue burst into flames. I warned Matt but he still wanted them, so I dished them up. He ate several and I'm sure his nasal passages were clear after that!

"After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps."  ~Miss Piggy

Until next time~Happy Cooking!