Traditional Marshmallow Squares

Ingredients:
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
40 large marshmallows
5 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
1/2 cup mini m&ms (optional—but i don’t know why you wouldn’t want them)

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. (Or Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with heavy foil, allowing the ends to extend 2-3 inches over the pan for handles. and grease the foil).
2. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat and quickly add cereal, stirring until all pieces are coated (i added the m&ms after i was sure the cereal was coated)
3. Pour mixture into prepared pan and press evenly with the back of a spoon. Cool and cut into squares.

*Notes:
What can i say, these are easy and fun. SO easy and fun that the making of this recipe was spontaneous.

End of the Month Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup quick oatmeal
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream together sugars and shortening. Add water, egg and vanilla.
3. Mix dry ingredients and then mix in oatmeal and chips. drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet [or parchment paper…which is wonderful because you don’t have to grease it] and bake for 10-12 minutes.

*Notes:
These are Jake’s favorite cookies…and i know why. They’re awfully delicious. [awful as in it’s simply awful how your pant size is going to grow because you won’t be able to stop eating them] 

1-2-3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bonbons For Kids

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 creamy peanut butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup crisp rice cereal
10 oz milk chocolate, melted, for coating

Directions:

1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the mixture begins to come together. Beat on high speed until it reaches a dough-like consistency, with no crumbs. If it’s too sticky, add a bit more confectioners’ sugar; if it’s too dry, add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. (It’s better to avoid adding the milk, as the rice cereal will begin to lose its crunch after several hours due to the added moisture.) Add the rice cereal and mix until combined.
2. Form the mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls and line them up on a parchment paper. Using two forks, dip the balls one at a time into the melted chocolate, turn to coat, allowing the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Place the coated candies back onto the parchment paper. Try to wait until the chocolate has set before you eat them. To speed things up, you can put the bonbons in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, but no longer than that. The condensation can ruin the chocolate.
   *When making the milk chocolate for the coating, be careful not to overheat the chocolate or it will be ruined. Chop the chocolate and microwave for 2 minutes., stopping to stir every 30 seconds. If it feels very warm, but you can see pieces of chocolate, just keep stirring. It may take a good few minutes.

*Notes:
These are super gooey and delicious! they totally make up for the complete failure of the almond crisps. One thing i would suggest is adding more cereal—at least 2 cups. it would make them more solid.

Almond Crisps

Ingredients:
2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp finely ground blanched almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp
1 tbsp all-purpose

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a 10-inch skillet. Cover over low heat, stirring constantly until butter is melted and mix is blended.
2. Keep skilled warm over very low heat. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of mix 2 inches apart onto a greased baking pan. *Only cook 4 cookies at a time*
3. Bake in preheated oven (350) for 5 minutes or until golden. Use spatula to loosen and turn cookies over; roll each one around the handle of a wooden spoon. If cookies become too firm to roll, reheat in oven for a minute to soften. Cool rolled cookies on wire racks. Repeat until batter is used. grease baking sheet each time. Store in air-tight container.

*Notes:
If you think the cookie sheet looks bare it’s because i completely botched this recipe. they kept either being so over-cooked that they broke apart or so under-cooked they were just mush. i think one thing that might have contributed was that i blanched and ground the almonds today so they were still wet-ish. So i think you should blanch the almonds at least the night before (better even a few days before) to really let them dry before grinding them that way they aren’t mushy. anyway, i tried a couple of the broken pieces and they were ok but all i could really taste was frustration….hahaha

Grade for execution of recipe: F

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Before i do anything, i would just like to say that i am a baker at heart. Even when i make dinner, it’s something that gets baked. haha, anyway…

Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil (or butter)
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
3 cups diced, cooked chicken
2 (14.5 oz) cans green beans, dried and rinsed
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 (4 oz) jar pimentos
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (6 oz) box long-grain wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Heat oil or butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients to bowl and mix together until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until bubbly. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

*Notes:
so—apparently—even if you live in Hawaii, the water chestnuts will be in the “Asian Food” aisle. (i wasn’t even aware we had one of those here…) I couldn’t find the rice they were talking about so i just used long-grain Jasmine rice (it’s one of my favorite rices so why not?) Make sure you’ve cooked the chicken and rice before you start everything else. Also, Jake and I were talking about it and we think that it might be good if we replaced the water chestnuts with a potato, added more cheese, left the pimentos out (i can’t tell what they taste like, i think they might just be there for color) and maybe try kidney beans or corn instead of green beans. it’s a brand new casserole. hehehe.

Honey Taffy

Ingredients:
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup honey
1 tbsp butter
1/8 tsp salt

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring and cook until mix reaches soft crack stage (270 degrees F on candy thermometer)
2. Pour mixture onto a cool buttered surface (i just buttered and refrigerated my cake pan).
3. Allow mixture to cool slightly (enough so it can be handled comfortable).
4. Pull taffy into ropes. Break ropes into pieces about 2 inches long. Wrap each piece of candy in waxed paper and twist the ends. if desired, wrap colored tissue waxed paper.

Cookie Cutter Ginger Crisps

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks); softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
2/3 cup light corn syrup
4 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Beat butter and sugars together, using a mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in molasses and corn syrup until well combined. Add in the remained ingredients and stir until smooth dough forms.
3. Chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to less than 1/8-inch thick.
4. Cut with floured cutters. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 8 minutes.

*Notes:
Even those these are crisps, Jake and I like softer cookies, so I rolled them into little balls and then squashed them. These are pretty good. They taste kind of like the clove cookies but the texture is smoother because of the molasses and the corn syrup. anyway, these are pretty good

Christmas Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup butter; softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp grated dried lemon peel [i used fresh and it was fine]
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Icing:
2 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
5 tbsp milk
red and green paste food-coloring
Dragees to decorate [those little silver bars]

Directions:

Cookies:

1. Cream butter, sugar and lemon peel in a large bowl until fluffy. Stir in flour; knead until a soft ball forms. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 300. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a tree-shaped cookie cutter to cut dough. Transfer cookies to a greased baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cookies are light brown. Cool on rack.

Icing:

1. Mix confectioner’s sugar and milk together in a medium bowl. Devide icing into 3 small bowls. Tint 1 bowl red and 1 green and leave the other white. Pour icing over cookies, smooth with spatula, decorate with dragees. Allow icing to harden. Store in an air-tight container.

*Notes:
i made half of the icing recipe, so i used 1 cup and 2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar. and 2 1/2 tbsp of milk. anyway, they’re pretty good cookies. i made mine orange because it’s June not December. Anyway so i didn’t use a cookie cutter either because of time.

Cornflake Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup Light Corn Syrup
1 1/2 Peanut Butter
1 cup Sugar [i used 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar cause i didn’t have any sugar]
5 cups Corn Flakes [as you can see from the picture, i didn’t have cornflakes either so i used cheerios!]
*plus i added about 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips]

Directions:

1. Bring syrup to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Pour over cornflakes [or cheerios]  and stir until well coated [i let it cool a little but and then added the chocolate chips].
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.

*Notes:
If you put the chocolate cups in too soon they melt. Some of mine still melted and they had been in the freezer before i put them in.

Spicy Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
2 large potatoes, diced
1 medium stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 cans (28-oz each) imported pear-shaped tomatoes, drained and chopped [i used cans of regular whole tomatoes]
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 cups of beef broth
1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1 cup seasoned croutons
1/2 tsp white pepper [if you don’t have it that’s fine. mine turned out great and we didn’t have any]

Directions:

1. Heat butter in 4-quart Dutch oven [or really really big pot] over medium-high heat. Sauté potatoes, celery, onion, chili and tomatoes in butter.
2. Sprinkle flour over vegetables; stir well. Remove from heat. Stir in beef broth and whipping cream into vegetables.
3. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Carefully pour about half of the soup into the food processor or blender; cover and process until smooth. Repeat with remaining soup. Top each serving with croutons and white pepper.

*Notes:
It says it makes about 4 servings, so when i made it i doubled the recipe. Can i just say that this soup is pretty phenomenal!? the only thing i didn’t like was just the prep time lol. i have to warn you the texture is kind of funny. it’s creamy but it’s a little—not chunky, but—i guess the best way to describe it is that it’s like a smoothie. where it’s creamy but there are some really small chunks…anyway, it’s awfully good. [it’s not super spicy].

Cinnamon-Banana Bread

Ingredients:
Bread:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, divided
2 ripe bananas, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped pecans [i didn’t have any so i used chocolate chips]
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Frosting:
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened.

Directions:

Bread:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Add bananas and pecans, stirring until well coated. Cool to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl, cream remaining butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. In another bowl sift together the next 4 ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Stir in banana mix. divide batter evenly between 2 greased 3 1/2 x 6 3/4 inch loaf pans. Bake 45-50 minutes, cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

1. Combine cream cheese and sugar in medium bowl. Using medium speed of electric mixer until smooth. Drizzle frosting over bread. Store in airtight container.

*Notes:
if you’re going to put chocolate chips in instead of pecans mix them in after cause if you mix them in when you’re supposed to put in the pecans then they melt and the bread feels gooey even after it’s cooked.

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:
2 lbs haricots verts (French thin green beans)
2 large red onions, finely diced
8 tbsp (1/2 cup or one stick) butter, unsalted
2 (10-oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
3 tomatoes, seeded & diced
4 cans French-fried onions [i thought this was a lot so i only used 1 6oz-can]
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Blanch the haricots verts in hot water for about 3-5 minutes, remove from the heat and shock in iced water. Drain and set aside to cool
2. Preheat oven to 325. In a large skillet sauté the chopped onion in the butter. Then add the cooled beans and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the canned mushroom soup and mix well.
3. Transfer to a buttered casserole dish and top with the diced tomato, French-friend onions and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes.

*Notes:
Overall, it was pretty good. the bad part was that it was awful onion-y i think next time i’m going to use half the amount of onion, i’ll add some chopped chicken, only 2 tomatoes next time and maybe one more of those cans of French-fried onions. there were also smaller cans (like 2oz i think) and i think i’d just add one of those.

p.s. i made this last night for dinner. i’m only posting it today cause i didn’t have time to last night :)

Heart Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter; softened
1/2 cup ground toasted pecans
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, blending well. Wrap dough in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. preheat oven to 350. On a lightly flavored surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
3. Using a 1-inch wide heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out dough. Transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

*Notes:
Well, the only heart-shaped cookie i had was the one in the picture. Unfortunately, I don’t own any heart-shaped cookie cutters  so i have a couple snowmen, and reindeer, but the rest are just circles cause it was easier to make them that way. haha. they’re pretty good.

Primo Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients:
Brownies:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup toffee baking bits
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 tbsp whipping cream
4 squares (1 oz each) white chocolate chopped [i used 2/3 cups of white chocolate chips]
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Directions:
Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8-inch square baking pan. [i don’t have a 8 inch pan so i used my 13x9-inch and baked it at 325 degrees since the brownies will be thinner]. Place brown sugar, butter and vanilla in bowl of electric stand mixer. Turn to medium and beat until smooth. Add egg; beat until fluffy. Stir in flour, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice*, baking powder and salt. [*the book says that if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice—which i don’t—you can use 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 tsp each of ground allspice and nutmeg. i didn’t have allspice either so i just added everything else. it still tastes fine] Fold in toffee bits. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
2. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
3. Prepare white chocolate cream cheese frosting. frost brownies and cut into squares.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Heat cream in small saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling; remove from heat. Add white chocolate; stir until completely melted. Cool slightly.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar in bowl of electric stand mixer at medium 1 minute or until fluffy. Beat in chocolate mixture until smooth. [feel free to taste as you’re mixing it. lol]

*Notes:
These are delightful! Jake says that they shouldn’t be allowed to be called brownies since they’re not brown; he said they should be called redheads or maybe even blondies hahaha. =]

Soft Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 pkg dry yeast (2.5 tsp)
1 tbsp granulated sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Coarsely ground Kosher or sea salt

Directions:

1. Combine water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Allow to stand until yeast is dissolved & begins to foam (5 minutes, roughly) [mine actually never started to foam, it barely bubbled.]
3. Stir in flour and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Roll each piece into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 20-inch long rope and form a pretzel.
5. Place on a lightly greased sheet. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 425. Brush pretzels with egg and sprinkle salt. [i didn’t put salt on mine]. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove pretzel from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. [Since i didn’t put the salt on, after i took them out of the oven i waited about 3 minutes and then i put a little butter on them and sprinkled some sugar and cinnamon over them].

*Notes:
These are yummy. I had to ask Jake what pretzels looked like cause i kept messing up the shape. lol. Thank goodness for husbands!

Stuffed French Toast

Ingredients:
Bread:
12 1/2-inch thick slices of white sandwich bread
Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Custard:
8 large eggs
3 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. First, select the pan you want to use, one that fits the size of your bread slices. We used a 12x12x2 inch sticky bun pan [i used a 9x13x2 glass pan. i didn’t have anything else]. Cut some of the slices to fit the pan.
2. The point is trying to leave the bread as intact as possible, as lifting out and serving whole pieces is nicer than dealing with smaller pieces.
3. Lightly grease the pan with butter.
4. In a small bowl beat the cream cheese until soft, then blend in the remaining filling ingredients. Spread 6 slices of bread with the filling top them with remaining 6 slices. Lay these ‘sandwiches’ in the pans, cutting to fit as needed.
5. In a medium sized bowl, blend together the custard ingredients and pour the custard mixture over the bread in the pan. Let sit for 30 minutes, so the bread can soak up the custard.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle freshly grounded nutmeg a top French toast.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn pieces over and bake for another 20 minutes until bread is puffy and brown.

*Notes:
don’t pour All the custard on the bread, it makes them soggy and they don’t feel cooked even after they are. Overall, the French toast turned out quite well. Make sure you let it cool a little bit because the filling will be super hot right out of the oven (duh—right? haha).

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, cream together oil and sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin and water. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt nutmeg [yeah, i did a double take to the ingredients list too. so i added about 1/2 tsp of nutmeg], and vanilla.
4. Stir to blend, then mix chips in. Spoon the batter into an already greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour.

*Notes:
So, i never really realized how much 2 2/3 cups sugar is until i saw it all in the bowl….it’s a lot of sugar. it’s kind of funny because i was pretty stoked [if you don’t live near a surfing community stoked just means excited] that it didn’t have any butter. hahaha. Anyway, it tastes great. if i were you i’d leave the bread in the pan after it’s done for a little while.

Clove Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

1. Stir butter and sugar together; add vanilla.
2. Beat in egg until mix is smooth. Stir in flour and cloves together, blend with butter mixture.
3. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
5. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheets.

*Notes:
The first batch burnt. I only baked them for 8 minutes. My wonderful husband says the cookies remind him of Christmas. I agree, the whole house smells like Christmas.

Marmalade Cheese Tarts

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup orange marmalade
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, flour and cheese. Knead until well blended; wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
3. Cut out dough using a 2-inch round cookie cutter [i just used a glass]. Place about 1/2 tsp marmalade in center of each circle of dough.
4. Fold dough in half and seal edges by pressing with a fork. Transfer tarts to ungreased baking sheets and brush tops with egg.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes or until tarts are set and lightly browned. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

*Notes:
The recipe says it yields about 5 dozen, i only got about 18 or so. but i didn’t have a proper rolling pin either. Oh i also would not recommend leaving the dough in for longer than an hour. I left it in for like 3 and it was literally a rock when i got it out—after thawing a little it was fine; maybe that’s how it was after one hour, i dunno. These are really tasty but they’re really flakey and make you want a glass of water after hahaha. The dough is kind of frustrating to work with because it keeps falling apart—can you blame it? it’s cheese, butter and flour! Oh, and one tid-bit of good news: i didn’t burn a single one! Yay oven for not being psychotic today!

p.s. about the Carrot-Apple Cupcakes: Make only half of the frosting recipe. After frosting all my cupcakes i had a lot of frosting left over.

Carrot-Apple Cupcakes (Gluten-Free)

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 (15-oz) pkg. gluten-free yellow cake mix
1/4 cup rice flour
1 cup shredded carrot
1 medium apple, finely chopped
1/3 cup softened butter
3 eggs
2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
Frosting:
3 cups sugar
6 oz. light cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. butter, softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line 18 cupcake cups with paper liners; set aside [i managed to get 24 cupcakes out of the recipe and my first 12 were still pretty big so i think i might have been able to extend that to at least 30 cupcakes]. In a large bowl, combine cake mix [i couldn’t find gluten-free cake mix so i used regular mix but it gives you an extra 3 oz], flour, carrot and apple; mix well. Add butter, 2/3 cup water, eggs, and vanilla. Using an electric hand mixer, beat 1 minute or until well-blended. Spoon batter evenly into cupcake cups [at first i was doing about 1/3 c of batter per cupcake but that was way too much so i just used about half of that and those turned out more reasonably sized].
2. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
3. Meanwhile, for the frosting, place sugar in a blender; blend to the consistency of powdered sugar [i wouldn’t recommend blending all 3 cups of sugar at the same time; i started to smell smoke from my blender…lol. i’m pretty sure you could use powdered sugar if you wanted cause if your blended can’t do the job, your frosting ends up kind of grainy—it still tastes fine, it’s just got a funny consistency]. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter and blended sugar [i added about 1/4 tsp of vanilla also]. Using an electric hand mixer, beat until light and fluffy. Spread frosting on top of each cupcake.

*Notes:
For spreading the frosting, i would recommend just putting it in a baggy and piping it on top. Also, who knew there was gluten-free vanilla?! haha. go figure. I found the frosting really sweet—not as sweet as i thought but it can get a little overwhelming (unless you’re 6). the picture is of my first cupcake [that i had the sense to eat before frosting the rest of them]. it was way too much frosting, so on the rest of them i put about half [are you noticing a pattern here, cause i kind of am]. Anyway one thing that’s really cool about this recipe is that when you’re eating the cupcakes, every now and then you get a little chunk of apple that just explodes on your tastebuds….needless to say, these were delicious.

Florentine Lasagna

Ingredients:
8 oz (1/2 pkg) Golden Grain/Mission Lasagna
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded fresh spinach leaves
2 eggs; lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper (optional)
1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cook and drain pasta according to package directions
3. In a bowl: combine ricotta, spinach, eggs, garlic powder, and salt & pepper to taste.
4. Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
5. Layer with 3 lasagna pieces, half the ricotta mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup sauce.
6. Repeat layers once.
7. Top with remaining lasagna, sauce and mozzarella.
8. Bake (uncovered) in oven for 35-40 minutes.

*Notes: So being as brilliant as I am, i read mozzarella for parmesan and decided to compromise with parmesan and Colby-jack. I also used Arrabbiata sauce [it’s still spaghetti sauce but it’s its own flavor. we got it at safeway]. It’s got a good kick and a little heat.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Place peanut butter and butter in bowl of electric stand mixer [this comes out of a kitchenaid cookbook so it assumes you’ve got an awesome kitchenaid. if you don’t like i don’t, a regular bowl and regular electric mixer work just fine ]. Turn to medium and beat until mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Add sugars, egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to medium-low and beat about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl.
2. Turn mixer to low. Gradually add all remaining ingredients to sugar mixture and mix about 30 seconds. Turn to medium-low and mix about 30 seconds.
3. Toll dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press flat with fork in crisscross patter to 1/4-inch thickness [ok, so I don’t know about you, but apparently my forks Love peanut butter; the stupid cookies kept coming off the sheet and sticking to my fork…any tips about that? eventually i was more see-sawy with the fork—like that makes any sense at all].
4. Bake at 375 until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

*Notes:

so i have a majorly retarded oven—if you decide to keep reading this blog you’ll hear lots and lots about my retarded oven—and it likes to burn things. so i had it set to 375 and about 5 minutes in changed it to 350. Also i only put the first batch in for like 8 minutes [i forgot to set my phone for them and took them out because they were smelling good. usually the smelling good comes right before the smelling burnt] but the second batch i set my phone for and left in for the full 10 minutes and they burnt. Also i switched racks halfway through. If you have a normal oven you might not need to go through all the hassle.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups Rolled Oats (not quick-cooking)
1/2 Cup All-purpose flour
1/2 Cup Whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Tahini (ground sesame seeds) [i used peanut butter]
4 tbsp Cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cups Granulated sugar or 1/3 cup splenda
2/3 cups Packed light brown sugar
1 Large egg
1 Large egg white
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chip
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds)

Directions:
1. Position racks in the upper & lower thirds of the oven; preheat 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk oats, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour [i didn’t have any wheat flour so i just used a cup of white flour], cinnamon, baking soda & salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini/ peanut butter and butter in a large bowl until blended into a paste [if you used peanut butter just beat until you can’t see the butter any more]. Add granulated sugar [or splenda] and brown sugar; continue beating until well combined—the mix will still be grainy.
3. Beat in egg, the egg white, then vanilla. Stir in the oat mix with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and almonds [or walnuts, i don’t like walnuts].
4. With damp hands, roll 1 tbsp of batter into a ball; place it on a prepared baking sheet and flatten until squat, but don’t let the sides crack. Continue with remaining batter, spacing flatten balls 2 inches apart.
5. Bake the cookies until golden brow, 16 min. switch pans back to front and from top to bottom half way through.
6. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Let pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch.

*Notes:
make sure you use wax paper, foil burns. i’m not sure if it was that i substituted anything that made the first batch burn. anyway they were only in for 8 minutes and … 
<  they looked like this. i prefer using almonds instead of walnuts because walnuts taste funny and you always get those little skins stuck in your throat; who wants to choke on walnut skin after eating a wonderful cookie?
On a whole the cookies turned out pretty good.

Captain Crunch

now i know cereal doesn't count as cooking but i was just having some and giggling to myself. Jake calls it my perpetual cereal bowl. let's just say i eat a lot of cereal. :) anyway, i just figured it was fitting to add it to my list of things i'm able to make successfully. :)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups captain crunch cereal
1 cup milk [we usually buy 2%]

directions:
add together and enjoy

Sweet Bread Wreath

Ingredients:
2 pkg. active dry yeast (5 tsp)
1 1/2 cup warm water
3 3/4-4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar + 1/4 cup sugar (separated)
2 eggs, beaten (although I only needed one)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground anise
1/4 tsp freshly grounded nutmeg

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in half of the flour, the oil, salt and sugar(1/2 tsp). Stir in remaining half of the flour to make dough easy to handle. turn dough onto lightly floured surface; kneed about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place for 20 minutes. [I made the dough and then I had to go to class, so I did this then I refrigerated for approximately 4 hours, but you can refrigerate for up to about 48 hours if you need to,but it recommends not longer than 48 hours.] Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet [I used our round pizza pan]. Divide dough into thirds. roll each third into a rope about 26 inches long. Braid ropes gently and loosely; pinch ends together. shape braid into a wreath on the cookie sheet. Let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it's doubled in size. Brush wreath with egg. Mix sugar (1/4 c), cinnamon, anise and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Sprinkle on wreath [I did so generously. It added a crispy-ness to the crust]. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

*Funny story: So, because we live in Hawaii, I couldn't find ground Anise; I found Anise seeds (which smell fantastic, by the way). Anyway, I put about a teaspoon and a half into a little baggie and then I put that baggie in another baggie and then I sat on my floor and hammered away at it. It worked just fine. :)

Pilot :)

So this blog is to be my online cookbook...we'll see how this goes. :)