Broccoli Salad

1/2 pkg bacon, cooked until crispy, broken into small pieces

1 head broccoli, cut into small pieces

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Sauce

1/4 cup white sugar

2 Tbsp vinegar

1/2 cup mayonnaise

All the above measurements are a best guesstimate. I usually double everything and make a huge batch as it won't last long. Prep all your ingredients and mix together in a bowl. Whisk together the sauce ingredients and mix in salad. Best if you chill for a couple of hours. Enjoy!!

Puppy Chow

9 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Measure cereal into a large bowl and set aside. In microwaveable bowl microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on high for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into large ziploc bag and add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated. Spread onto wax paper until cool. Store in air tight container in refrigerator.

Marshmallow Fondant

Recipe from Fondant 101

Makes about 3 lbs of marshmallow fondant

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows 

2-5 tbsp water

2 lbs powdered sugar 

about 1/2 cup Crisco shortening, to grease hands and work surface

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt marshmallows and 2 tbsp of water in a microwave safe bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 second intervals (stir between intervals) for about 2-1/2 minutes until marshmallows are melted. Place 1 to 1-1/2 lbs of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

 

 

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms and in between fingers), then heavily grease the surface you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle. 

Start kneading like you would bread dough. It will be VERY sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and surface when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily or it is to dry, add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time). Continue to knead and add water until there are no bits of powder sugar visible. It usually takes about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing.

[NOTES: I added about 1-1/2 tbsp of water]

 

 

Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, double wrap with saran wrap and then put in ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Let rest overnight for best results.

Color with Wilton concentrated gel. Use a toothpick to poke coloring into the fondant. Knead with your hands until the color is dispersed evenly. Continue to add color and knead until you reach the desired shade you want.

source: www.iheartcuppycake.com

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water + 3/4 cup pink lemonade concentrate, thawed


White cake mix


3 egg whites


2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions:

To make cupcakes—
Preheat oven 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.In a stand mixer, add the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, water and pink lemonade concentrate. Mix on low for about 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed for 90 seconds (the batter will still be a bit lumpy; don’t overmix or they may be a little dry).

Fill the cupcake liners 1/2-2/3 full. Bake at 350 for about 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick registers “done” in the center cupcake. Cool completely on a baking rack before frosting cupcakes. Pair with lemon buttercream.

source: www.iheartcuppycakes.com

Cucumber Dill Rounds

1 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup mayo
2 to 3 tsp of a package of dry Italian salad dressing mix

Mix the above ingredients until smooth. Chill overnight.

Slice a baguette into bite-size rounds. Spread with cream cheese mixture. Top with a thin slice of cucumber and then sprinkle with dried dill weed if desired.
This makes enough for 2 baguettes.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

OREO COOKIES

3 pkgs Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Cake mix

6 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

Work together with your hands because it’s too heavy for a blender (but you could with a Bosch or Kitchenaid).  Roll into walnut size balls.  Do not press.  Bake at 375 for 10 – 12 mins.

When you take them out of the oven tap pan on the counter, this will flatten the cookies.  Put two cookies together with the following:

ICING

¼ cup margarine or butter                        

1 – 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

4 cups icing sugar                                     

tsp vanilla

Mix together.  Spread generously.

Chewy Caramel Corn

 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup butter
dash of salt
1-14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 t. vanilla
10 quarts of popped corn

Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and add milk. Cook, stirring frequently to a temperature of 225 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove from heat then stir in vanilla.

Pour slowly over popcorn, stirring until the caramel is evenly distributed throughout.

Store popcorn in a covered container.

Note: You may vary the amount of popcorn used. I like more caramel coating so I use less popcorn. You may also 1/2 the recipe, but I never seem to use the other half a can of sweetened condensed milk:)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup. Margarine

1 Cup. Brown Sugar

1 Cup. White Sugar

Cream these 3 and then add:

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Mix until blended all together.

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Sift and add to already mixed ingredients. Once blended add:

3 Cups oatmeal

1- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Stir the oatmeal and chocolate chips in well. Shape into balls and spread evenly on cookie sheet. Make sure to line your sheet with something so the cookies don't stick.

Bake at 375 fro 10 -12 minutes.

Chicken Lemon Penne

1 lb penne pasta

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1" cubes

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

pinch of salt, plus 1/2 tsp

pinch of pepper, plus 1/4 tsp

1 cup chicken broth

2 cup heavy cream

zest of one lemon

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 cup fresh, flat-leaf parsley

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Season the chicken with the Herbes de Provence and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Take the chicken out of the skillet and set aside. Pour off any excess oil from the pan. Add the chicken broth to the pan and cook over med-high heat, using a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the cream, lemon zest, and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes. (At this point, I dissolved about 1tbs of cornstarch in a little cold water, or you could us chicken broth, and stirred it into the sauce.)

Add the pasta, chicken, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper, chopped parsley, and lemon juice. Toss to coat the pasta and chicken with the sauce and serve.

Bowtie Salad

It tastes better if made the day (or at least a few hours) before. I reserve some of the coleslaw dressing and fold it in before serving to make sure the salad is moist. Also the cashews shouldn't be added until just before serving so they don't go soft.

454 g (1 lb) 1 box of bowtie pasta

One large bottle (2 cups) of coleslaw salad dressing

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

4 stalks of celery, diced

2-3 cans of mandarin oranges, drained

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup of red grapes, cut in half

1/2 cup unsalted cashews (optional)

1/4 cup Craisins (optional)

Add salt and pepper for taste

Pumpkin Spice Cake

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cup pumpkin

4 eggs

2 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (or more)

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

dash of cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine sugar and the oil. Blend in the vanilla, applesauce and the pumpkin. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Mix the dry ingredients together and beat into the pumpkin mixture until smooth.

Bake in a greased 9X13 pan or the batter makes great muffins or smaller size cakes too. Bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Cool then ice with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Beat 8 oz softened cream cheese with 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla until smooth. Add 3 to 4 cups of powdered confectioners sugar ( I like it sweeter and add 4 cups) -- beat for a few minutes until creamy.

Heart In A Cupcake!

For the cupcakes and the hearts you’ll need:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

3 eggs

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

the seeds from half a vanilla bean

1/4 t. salt

2 1/2 c. flour

1 1/3 c. whole milk

red food coloring 

For the Laffy Taffy buttercream you’ll need:

10 pieces of strawberry Laffy Taffy candy

2 T. heavy cream

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 c. powdered sugar 

Directions: 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F). 

Mix the butter and sugar together at medium speed for about 90 seconds, until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets well combined. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until the batter is smooth. Finally, alternate between the flour and milk, beating on med-high speed until the batter is light and creamy.

Pour a little more than 1/3 of the batter (about a cup and a half) into a smaller bowl. Add red food coloring until you get your desired pink or red color. Pour the batter into a non-stick (or lightly greased) 8x8 baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes until the edges of the cake start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely (to speed up the process, I stuck in in the fridge).

Once the sheet cake is cool, loosen the edges away from the pan with a knife and then invert the pan onto a cutting board. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out a dozen cake hearts that are small enough to fit into an average-sized cupcake pan.

Spoon two heaping tablespoons of the remaining batter into paper-lined cupcake tins, so they’re about half-full. Put one heart into each tin and press it point down into the batter. Keep all the hearts facing forward in the pan. Cover with another teaspoon of batter and bake for 24 minutes.

Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.

Here’s the tricky part—you’ll have to keep the cupcakes facing forward so you get the right cross-section of the heart when you cut or bite into the cupcake (to get the full heart effect). So keep all the cupcakes facing forward as you move them from the cupcake tin to a cookie sheet for cooling/frosting. After frosting, put heart candy on them (or some other decoration) that can also face forward so you know which way to cut the cupcake in order to see the heart shape inside (if you cut the heart in the wrong direction you just get a rectangle shape—not very romantic!).

For the buttercream, melt the taffy and the heavy cream together in a small bowl for one minute on high, stirring every 20 seconds. Stir the mixture together until it’s smooth, then stick it in the fridge so it cools a bit (the cream will keep it from hardening). 

In a mixing bowl, whip the butter for 30 seconds until it’s smooth. Add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time, whipping until fluffy. Finally, with the mixer on medium-low, drizzle in the melted and cooled taffy mixture. When it’s all in, turn the mixer up to high and whip the frosting until it’s fluffy. If you’d like, add a little pink or red food coloring to get the desired shade. Then frost! 

{recipe copied from here} 

Zebra Cake

      Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup milk (whole, 2% or 1%)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons Double Dutched Dark Cocoa

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9" x 2" round baking pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment, and spritz again. Set the pan aside.

2) In the bowl of your mixer, blend the sugar and eggs until lightened, about 2 minutes. On low speed blend in the oil, milk and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

3) In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to remove any lumps. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Combine on medium speed 1-2 minutes or until the batter is smooth and lump free. Be sure to scrape down the bowl halfway through mixing.

4) Remove 2 cups of the vanilla batter and place it in the measure you used for the liquid ingredients. Sift the cocoa over this batter, and stir well to combine. Be sure to use a sifter to avoid cocoa lumps in the batter.

5) Now for the stripes. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of vanilla batter into the center of the cake pan. Next, spoon 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter into the center of the vanilla batter. This causes the vanilla batter to spread out. Continue to alternate batters, in bulls-eye fashion until all batter is used. You will now have thin rings of each batter on the outer edges of the pan, thicker rings towards the center.

6) Bake the cake in the center of the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost as desired.