chubby chicks with oven mitts

Biscoff Buttercream Cupcakes

2012-09-23T15:45:00.002-05:00

Today is Josh's birthday...and he loves those Biscoff cookies they serve on the plane. Luckily, they also have them at Wal Mart reasonably priced...otherwise we'd get two every several hundred dollars spent! Biscoff came out with Biscoff spread also...this is great because it's dairy free! Josh likes that too. So... you may remember that Josh shouldn't have dairy, but you know...let him eat cake...I tried to scramble together some vegan friendly products but in Logan at 9:00 PM, it's not a good idea to start that adventure at that point. If the whole thing wasn't going to be dairy free then why bother? So I did my own thing with what I had already. I made the frosting from this site

Biscoff Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread
2 Tbs. milk

and then used Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodle cupcake recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (Ateco No. 809 or Wilton No. 1A), pipe frosting on each cupcake: Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve

but I added biscoff cookie crumbs to the bottom and topped it with a Biscoff cookie I cut in half :) I just had an idea...use the spread and thin it out just a little bit and insert it in a squeeze tube and drizzle it over the top! That would be epic....

2012-07-18T16:37:00.001-05:00

Jill Schadegg from Logan, Utah was our 100th Fan on Facebook. She won a Chubby Chicks oven mitt! We recieved soem hints on what colors she would like and we came up with this!

Debb's Italian Cream Cake Cupcakes

2012-06-02T20:36:00.002-05:00

Debb's Italian Cream Cake Cupcake

My all-time favorite cake is made by our preacher's wife (and my dear friend and mentor), Debbie Webb. I begged for the recipe which she gave up without hesitation and for over two years, I have never made it. I guess I was afraid it wouldn't turn out as good as hers and I didn't want to go to all the work to be disappointed.

Well, I decided to dust it off today to make for our Italian themed potluck at church tomorrow. Layer cakes are so hard to cut and serve well at potlucks, so I decided to make a cupcake form. Ok, I just like to turn things into cupcakes....isn't that why read this blog?

I did make a couple tweaks to the original recipe. First, I substituted almond extract for amaretto (we live in a dry county and I didn't want to make a road trip to buy it, but the amaretto is really worth and adds just a little more flavor punch). I also left pecans out of the frosting and sprinkled them on top so that I could pipe the frosting.

They turned out amazing and while I wouldn't call this a quick, easy recipe, it was totally worth the effort and I hope the 36 people who get one tomorrow enjoy them.

Italian Cream Cupcakes
Yield: 36 cupcakes

2 sticks butter, softened
400 grams sugar
5 egg yolks
300 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon vinegar with enough milk to equal 1 cup)
2/3 cup pecans, chopped plus more for garnish
3.5 oz shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract (or 3 tablespoons amaretto)
5 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 and prep cupcake pan(s) with liners.
Combine flour and soda, set aside
Beat butter at medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar and beat another 30 seconds. Add egg yolks, one at a time beating after each addition.
Set mixer on the lowest speed and add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk and ending with flour.
On low speed add pecans, coconut and extracts.
In a separate bowl, beat cold egg whites in a cold bowl until foamy. Add cream of tartar beat until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold egg whites into batter.
Bake for 16-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Top with frosting and sprinkle with pecans. Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

Frosting:

16 oz cream cheese, softened

2 sticks + 2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat cream cheese until smooth, add butter and beat until fluffy
Add remaining ingredients and beat on high for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy

Sloppy Joes

2012-05-16T12:06:00.001-05:00

I made this recipe for lunch during a play date and we both really liked it. My pictures didn't turn out very well, so I'm just showing you the finished product served with some sweet potato fries from the frozen food section at Walmart. The Pioneer Woman did an wonderful job with her steps so I'm just going to give you the link to her site and tell you about a couple tweaks I made.

I used 1 pound of ground beef and cut everything else in half.
I used leftover red bell pepper from the stir fry instead of green
I used smoked paprika instead of chili powder. It gives it a smokey, kind of BBQ-y flavor instead of heat.
I did use tomato paste, but not Tabasco sauce

There you have it. A quick easy recipe that was also great as leftovers served over a baked potato.

Playing catch up

2012-05-13T23:33:00.000-05:00

We had some plans change Friday night, so I made our sloppy joes for lunch instead. I didn't like the way the photos turned out so, I'll be posting the recipe details along with a completed photo tomorrow. I will also be making the honey pecan chicken Tuesday night with some pretty amazing mashed potatoes. Here is a hint as to what makes them special: garlic, brown butter, Parmesan and cauliflower. Yeah....they are pretty good if I do say so myself.

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry

2012-05-11T15:30:00.002-05:00

Chicken Stir Fry

I think this may be the healthiest thing I make. It contains 7 vegetables! I have a few other super-healthy dishes, but this one is for sure in the top three. It's perfect for using up leftover veggies and getting a rainbow of colors in one meal.

I'm not gonna lie, it's a little work to chop up all the fresh veggies, but I think it's so worth it in terms of nutrition and flavor. It's a great recipe to have kids help make. If you prep all the veggies in advance and keep them in Ziplock bags in the fridge, you can pull this out and have a meal in about 15 minutes.

The first thing I do is prep the chicken. I use breast meat, but you can use your favorite cut. Don't tell anyone, but you can also use beef, pork, tofu or whatever your favorite protein is.

Start by trimming off any chunks of fat, bones (if any), and any parts that just look yucky. Yes, this is the technical culinary term.

Next, I split the breast in half horizontally so that I have two thinner cutlets (I usually do this with all my chicken breasts to create a 4 oz portion size).

Next, but each cutlet in half vertically then each half into small strips.

Look for the lines running through the meat. This is called the grain (like wood grain).When cutting the strips, you want to cut opposite the "grain" of the chicken. This holds true for cutting all meats. This keeps the meat more tender when eating it because you can easily bite off pieces without having to bite through connective tissue.

Next, dump your strips in a bowl and cover with 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce, 1/4 cup water and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cover and leave on the counter if you will be cooking the chicken within 30 minutes or refrigerate if not.

This is the perfect time to make the rice. I have never been very good at making rice. It was never cooked enough and I could never produce light, and fluffy rice. That is until I followed Jamie Oliver's Method. It uses basmati rice which costs a little more, but it is worth every penny. This rice comes out perfect every time, cooks faster and is easier to make ahead and keep warm. The method is like cooking pasta then you finish it by steaming it.

Assemble your veggies: 1/2 red bell pepper, 2 medium carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 1 small onion, 2 small (or 1 large) stalk of celery, 1 broccoli crown. You could also use 1/2 cup frozen corn, 1/4 head of cabbage, 1 cup cauliflower, snap peas, or any other vegetable your family really loves.

I cut up the vegetables for even cooking. When stir frying, you cook foods at a high temperature for a short period of time, so it's important to cut longer cooking foods (like carrots) very thin and faster cooking foods (like broccoli) into larger pieces. We will do a tutorial on cutting vegetables later, but here is a quick run-down on what I did:

Yellow squash: Cut off the ends, cut in half lengthwise then cut each half lengthwise again, then cut into 1/4" slices.

Celery: Cut off ends, cut into the thinnest slices I could.

Red bell pepper: Cut into 1/4" slices then cut those in half to make 1" long julienne strips.

Onion: Cut off the ends, cut in half lengthwise, cut into small julienne strips.

Garlic: Pounded the flat side of my chef's knife onto it then chopped it into small pieces (or use a garlic press).

Carrots: Peel and cut off the ends, cut the thinnest slices you can on the narrow parts, then cut the larger parts in half lengthwise and slice as thin as possible.

Zucchini: Same as the squash.

Broccoli: Cut off the florets into small florets. Peel the stalk and slice it into very thin rounds. I added the stalk pieces to my celery.

Heat a wok (or large skillet) between medium-high and high. Drain marinade off chicken, getting it as dry as possible. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the skillet and then add chicken. Toss it around every few seconds. Drain off any liquid that appears in the pan because we want it to brown.

Cook the chicken until it is cooked through and starts to brown up, like this. Remove from pan and set it aside.

Add another teaspoon of oil to the pan and add the hearty vegetables: celery with broccoli stalks, red bell pepper, onion and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes tossing it about every 10 seconds.

After too minutes it should look like this. The vegetables aren't cooked through, but are starting to soften up.

Add remaining vegetables along with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook for 3 more minutes, tossing every 10 seconds.

Return the chicken to the wok and drizzle teriyaki sauce over it (as much or as little as you like). Cover and allow it to steam for 1 minute. If you are like me and sometimes eat raw ramen noodles and have leftover seasoning packets, it would be good to toss one of those in here too. This stir-fry doesn't have a strong Asian flavor. It's pretty much just chicken with a lot of veggies.

For a fancy (portion controlled) serving, take a small cup or bowl (I'm using my toddler's snack cup), spray it with non-stick spray and firmly press rice into it almost to the brim.

Turn it onto your serving plate and tap it out.

The the same cup back up, overfilling it slightly, with stir-fry and pour it over the rice. This recipe makes 4-6 servings.

Wednesday: Thanksgiving Dressing

2012-05-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving Dressing

Our theme at house church this week is meals that remind you of your mom. I chose this not because it is her recipe, but because I loved watching and helping my mom prepare Thanksgiving dinner. My favorite dish was the dressing. There is an art to making dressing. Notice that I don't call it "stuffing." Stuffing is slimmey and disgusting and cooks inside a raw animal carcass. Nasty! I like my dressing to be moist in the middle with a nutty brown crusty top. My mom made delicious dressing and I have taken her same recipe, with a few changes. First, I make a homemade loaf of bread and batch of cornbread where my mom bought a box each of Mrs. Cubbisons cube stuffing and cornbread dressing. Second, I added some shredded zucchini and carrots for color, texture and to sneak in some veggies. I think this is the best dressing I have ever tasted and wish I could get a Scentsy candle that smelled like it cooking. I hope you try it and love it as much as I do.

I started by making a loaf of bread in my breadmaker. Most of the time I think my bread maker is a stupid appliance that takes up too much space on the counter, so I have relegated it to the garage. But when I need a loaf of bread in a hurry, it gets promoted to the kitchen. I just use the basic white bread express loaf that my breadmaker bakes in one hour start to finish. This was perfect for me today because my go-to bread recipe takes 3 hours. Next, I sliced it up then cut it into cubes. I cut it while it was still warm, so many pieces are torn into chunks. I think this adds to the rustic look of the dish. Then I spread all my bread onto a cookie sheet.

While my bread was making, I mixed up 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix according to the package directions except that I spread the batter out onto a rimmed cookie sheet and baked it for about 10 minutes. Feel free to substitute your favorite cornbread recipe. When it was done I began cutting it into small squares and breaking it up with my fingers while it was still on the cookie sheet. This is a perfect job for kids who need something to keep their hands busy. I then put both trays of bread into a 200 degree oven for about an hour stirring up the breads about halfway through.

Remove the ends from 2 small onions. Peel and quarter them and put in the bowl of a food processor. Add 2 medium stalks of celery cut into 1" pieces. Pulse until chopped finely. Using a shredder attachment, shred 2 peeled, medium sized carrots and 1 zucchini. Thank you, Mom, for my awesome food processor. It has been life....wait for it....changing! If you don't have a food processor, you can finely dice the onion and celery then shred the carrot an zucchini on a box grater. Saute in a large skillet or wok in 1 teaspoon of olive oil for 5 minutes.

While the veggies are cooking, chop a few sprigs of fresh parsley. I just wanted to show off some of the herbs from my herb garden. Remember the basil trick we learned from the pizza recipe? If you think you will use an herb at least twice, just buy a plant and put it in a simple window box to set in your kitchen. Super easy to take care of and you always have fresh herbs ready for those fresh herb emergencies. Oh yes, I have had a few fresh herb emergencies in my day.

And a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Again, from my garden. Aren't they cute and pretty? The one downside to cooking with the thyme is that I use an organic bathroom cleaner that's made from lavender and thyme oils, so whenever I smell the thyme it makes me think of cleaning toilets. Not the best visual to have while preparing dinner. This is probably one of those stories I should have kept to myself.

If fresh herbs scare you, feel free to use 1 teaspoon thyme and 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley.

Add 6 sticks of butter cut into chunks to the veggies. Just kidding....it's only 2 sticks. See now, two sticks doesn't sound like that much. You saw six and thought "holy crap, this woman is trying to kill me! No wonder she's a chubby chick!" but now that you know it's only two that doesn't sound so bad. I also use this trick when telling my husband how much I spent on a purse. Add herbs and 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning and 2 cups of chicken stock. Heat to a boil.

In a large casserole dish or roasting pan mix breads together. If you want more crunchy part, use a pan that gives you a large surface area. If you want it more moist, use a deep casserole dish. Pour veggie broth on top and mix it.

It should be moist and a little wet in spots. A joke here is too obvious, so I will just leave it alone. Add up to 2 more cups of chicken broth if it's too dry. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until top starts to turn golden brown. Really want to make it feel like Thanksgiving in your house? Burn and apple pie candle while this bakes. Mmmmmmm it's like a hug from you favorite person going on in your nose. Except without the pain and awkwardness.

Tuesday: Alfredo pasta with bacon, peas and red bell pepper

2012-05-08T14:58:00.001-05:00

Alfredo pasta with bacon, peas and red bell pepper

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I won't be making this recipe for dinner with homemade bread because have other last-minute dinner plans. The good news is that we had the pasta for lunch. The bread will have to wait for another day.

This is a quick, easy dish that is perfect for company. Since it uses a butter and cream sauce it is not something that freezes well or or can be made ahead and re-heated. The longer it sits, the sauce will go from being rich and creamy, to greasy and nasty. It's also very rich, so a it doesn't take much to fill you up.

Let me warn you, that I am explaining this recipe in great detail and you could probably make the whole thing start to finish in about the same amount of time it takes to read it. When I prepare these tutorials my goal is to show you all the little things I do that i believe makes my food special. Anyone can read and follow a recipe, but a good cook adds his or her personal touches that bring it to life.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil on high with the lid on. My pot has a pasta insert, but it's not necessary. Also preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

While waiting for your water to come to a boil, let's dice some red bell pepper. When choosing a pepper, I like the darker colored ones because they are a little sweeter. I just want a hint of pepper, so I sliced off the top and am saving the rest of the pepper for another meal this week. I cut the stem away from the flesh, then made julienne slices (think french fries).

I removed the core with the seeds and some of the membranes from the pepper then put it in a Ziplock bag back in the fridge to be used in stir fry later this week. Next, chop the "french fries" into small little pieces. You may do larger chunks if you prefer. This ended up being about 1/4 cup of bell pepper. Did you notice the plastic bag in the bowl? I call this a garbage bowl. I make mine be lining a large bowl with the produce sack my pepper came in (or a Walmart sack....anything that you can throw away). This keeps me from walking to the trash all the time, and keeps my work area cleaner. Plus, Rachel Ray does it, so it makes me feel cool.

Next, take 6 strips of pre-cooked bacon. Life is too short to cook and clean up raw bacon all the time. Stack them up then cut them about 1/4 inch thick.

In a large skillet, crisp up the bacon over medium-high heat until some of the fat starts to bubble and foam up like the picture above.

Add the bell pepper and cook for a couple minutes.

While the bacon and peppers are cooking, grate about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. I don't have a picture of it, but as soon as your water starts boiling, add 8 ounces of your favorite pasta. I used rigatoni. Cook it according to the packages directions. It should have a little bite to it because it will continue to absorb some sauce and cook a little more and we don't want mushy pasta. That's just nasty. Continue making your sauce while you wait for it to cook.

Remove bacon and peppers from the skillet and set them aside on a paper towel to drain. Remove the skillet from the heat and add 4 tablespoons of butter, swirling it around to melt it. Add it back to the stove on medium heat and add 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

Add about 2/3rds of the cheese and stir until it begins to thicken. About 2-3 minutes. Add bacon and peppers back to sauce and stir until it is rich and smooth. A little taste wouldn't hurt. Add salt and pepper if necessary.

Thaw 1/2 - 1 cup of frozen peas by rinsing them with hot water. Don't even think about using canned peas here. Aha! I caught you! You thought about it!!! Canned peas are not pretty and take this bright, pretty dish and make it look like your mom doctored up a box of Hamburger Helper. So, dump in the peas and drained pasta (when it is finished). Give it a stir. You can serve it just like this topped with a little more cheese. I made this dish quicker than I thought and found I had 15 minutes before Steve would be home to eat, so I came up with a solution to avoid that greasy mess I described earlier.

Pour pasta mixture into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starts to crisp up. This dish feeds 2-4 people depending on how hungry you are.

Monday: Family Dinner at Cracker Barrel

2012-05-08T13:47:00.003-05:00

Most people hate Mondays. It means the weekend's over, it's back to the grind and family leisure time is over. Not for me! I love Mondays because it means I don't have to worry about dinner (three times a month at least, I'm in charge of dinner once a month) and more importantly, I get to reconnect with Steve's family. For the last few years we have been having family dinners Steve's mom and dad, his younger brother and his wife, his older brother, and his grandma. When we first started these in 2007, there were six of us, but in 2009, Steve's younger brother got married and we had Wrigley.

Each household takes a turn planning where and when we meet and provides a meal. This week we went to Cracker Barrel which is a rare treat because it's about 15 miles away. I had the chicken and dumplings and it was delicious. I also got to share some wonderful news about Susan....but I'll let her tell you about that later...

Dinner at my house

2012-05-06T15:07:00.004-05:00

Remember that poll we had over a month ago asking what recipes you would like to see on here? Well, the winner was family dinners, so this week I will be sharing my menu plan and recipe tutorials throughout the week. I must confess up front that if a day gets hectic and I'm not able to take step by step photos, I will at least make sure you have a photo of the finished product and the recipe.

I should mention a couple things about our family that affect our meals. 1) Every Monday, we have a family dinner with Steve's family which often means going out to eat, and 2) Wednesday nights are when our house church meets for a potluck dinner, so I will be sharing what I made for the potluck. So, here is this week's menu:

Monday:

Family dinner at Cracker Barrel

Tuesday:

Alfredo pasta with bacon, peas and red pepper and homemade bread

Wednesday:

Thanksgiving Dressing (made from scratch)

Thursday:

Chicken stir-fry with rice

Friday:

Sloppy Joes, sweet potato fries, green beans and peanut butter cookies

Saturday:

Honey pecan chicken with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots

Sunday:

Chicken pot pie

Do you like this idea? Please post a comment below. Hate it? Please keep your comments to yourself. My self-esteem is very fragile right now. ;)

Margherita Pizza

2012-04-23T21:10:00.001-05:00

Before we get into this recipe you have to see one of my favorite cooking show clips of all time. It's from Iron Chef America with Todd English versus Mario Batali and their secret ingredient is pizza dough. Click here to see the shows introduction. The only part I really like is from the 3:05 - 3:24 marks. The way he says "pizza dough" is just hilarious to me! I can't hear those words without thinking of this clip.

Anyway, I'm a big pizza fan and recently discovered a recipe from Tyler Florence that is delicious. I made a few tweaks to the dough and sauce for my taste and have been using the dough to make bread sticks similar to Little Caesar's Crazy Bread as well. This recipe makes two crusts so it's perfect to use one for the pizza and one for bread sticks*. It's very simple to make in a food processor or a stand mixer, but can be made my hand with a little elbow grease.

Let's start with the dough. I know many people have never made bread from scratch because we have been taught to fear yeast. Please don't be afraid. The best store bought bread still isn't as good as a mediocre homemade loaf and it's very easy to make if you have a right tools - which you do if you've been following this blog. Ideally, you would have a mother or grandmother (your own or someone else's) walk you through the entire process, but hopefully my pictures and instructions will help.

Every yeast bread recipe starts with "blooming the yeast." This just means you wake it up from it's dormant state in the packet by giving it a soak in a hot tub and a sweet snack. Start with 2 cups water (if you don't have good tap water, use bottled or filtered water, it can make a big difference in your bread) heated to 110-115 degrees (about 1 1/2 minutes in the microwave for me). Test it with a thermometer until you learn the temp by touch. Too cool and the yeast will be groggy, too hot and it will die. Add two packets (14 g) of yeast (I used pizza crust yeast for this, but it doesn't matter, it's all pretty much the same stuff). Next, add 2 tablespoons sugar (sweet snack). I like my dough to have a hint of sweetness like a really good soft pretzel....soft pretzels....mmmmmmm. Give it all a good whisking to make it start to bubble and foam up like the picture above. Set it aside and let it hang out while we prep the dry ingredients.

Weight 720 grams (6 cups) of flour directly into your food processor bowl (I have a 12 cup bowl, if yours is smaller, I suggest halving the recipe).

Add a heaping tablespoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon each of oregano and garlic powder. Pulse a few times to mix everything together.

Whisk 2 tablespoons olive oil into your yeast mixture. Turn on food processor and slowly pour liquid into the feed tube. Process until dough starts to form. Stop when you see a big lump of dough form.

Remove the lid and check dough by touching it. It should be sticky, but not stick to your finger. There should be large portions on the bottom of the bowl that look clean. This dough is too wet, so I added more flour.

I added a spatula full of flour and pulsed it a few more times.

It's getting better, but it was still clinging to my finger when I touched it, so I added one more spatula of flour and pulsed a couple more times.

This looks good. The bowl is mostly clean and while the dough is still sticky, it doesn't cling to my finger.

Prepare a rising place for the dough by spraying non-stick spray into a gallon sized Ziplock bag.

Spray counter with non-stick spray (I like this better than flour for pizza dough because it's cleaner and keeps me from adding unnecessary flour to the dough) and kneed the dough a few times. I just push it down with my knuckles (see the marks?) fold it in half, turn it a quarter turn and repeat this process a couple more times.

Shape the dough into a ball and spray it with a little more non-stick spray.

Put it in the plastic bag, seal it and let it sit for about an hour.

This is how it looks after 1 hour. I thought the bag was going to explode.

Remove dough from bag and punch it down on a counter sprayed with non-stick spray.

Divide the dough in half.

I eyeballed it, then put them on the scale and kept adding to one and taking away from the other until they were equal (or close to equal) in weight.

Note: At this point, I put one ball back in my greased plastic bag and put it in the freezer to use another time. I wasn't quite ready to make my pizza at this point, so I put the other ball in a covered, greased bowl and set it in the fridge for an hour. This caused it to go through a second rise producing a lighter, fluffier crust similar to a pan pizza at Pizza Hut. For a more traditional, thinner crust, prepare pizza immediately once you get to this point.

Now for the sauce. This is a very simple sauce that could even be served on pasta or as the base for a tomato soup (I like to add a large can of condensed tomato soup and a cup of milk to the leftover sauce and make soup the next day).

In a medium saucepan, combine a 28 oz can of the best crushed tomatoes you can find (I picked these because they were the most expensive ones at Walmart, so I figured they were good....they are good). Add 1 tablespoon brown sugar, a few grinds of black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon each of: garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, dried basil and salt. Cook over medium heat until it starts to splatter and make a mess. Then cover and reduce heat to low.

Move your oven rack to the second lowest position and preheat the oven to 450.

Fresh mozzarella really makes this pizza. The regular mozzarella just won't have the same richness. I found this at Walmart in the deli section with the "fancy" cheeses, but it was about the same price as the other stuff.

Remove the cheese from the package and wrap it with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture.

Using a serrated knife, cut the ball in half and place them flat side down on your cutting board.

Slice each half into the thinnest slices you can make.

Finished slices

Prepare a pizza pan (this is a 12", but you could go up to a 16" with this recipe) by spraying it with non-stick spray and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Similar to how you would grease and flour a cake pan.

Flatten dough into a disk on the counter. I then tossed mine in the air about 5 times like the pizzeria guys do. This helps create a more uniform circle and creates a naturally thicker crust on the edge. Watch this video to see how the pros do it. The higher and faster you throw it, the more it will stretch the dough. Just toss it until it's the size of your pan.

Place the dough on the pan making sure is just overlaps the edges.

To create a professional rope edge (Susan used to work at Papa Murphy's and taught me this technique), place your pointer finger near the edge of the dough with your dominate hand. I'm left handed, so I will explain what I do. Just reverse it if you're right handed.

Using your thumb and pointer finger on your right hand, pinch a small piece of dough to the right of your left pointer finger. Stretch it out toward you a little then fold it up and over your left pointer finger pressing it into place.

Move your left pointer finger once space to the right and repeat this process until you have gone all the way around the crust.

Dock the dough by pricking it with a fork several times. This avoid bubbles during cooking that I call "pizza zits."

Top with sauce. I used a little less than a cup.

Arrange cheese slices over the top.

Fresh basil is really important in this recipe. They have fresh herbs in the produce section, but they are expensive and usually not very fresh, so I just headed over to the lawn and garden section and picked up a cheap basil plant. I trimmed off the mature leaves for my pizza and I have 3 plants that I can transplant in my garden.

Tear off leaves and place on top of cheese.

Drizzle with olive oil and a couple grinds of black pepper.

Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes and check. My pizza got a little watery in the middle, so I used a couple paper towels to blot it up then put it back in for another 3 minutes. The edges should be light brown and the cheese starting to bubble.

Let sit for 5 minutes then cut into wedges. A pretty inexpensive, easy vegetarian dish that the whole family will love. You're welcome ;)

*For bread sticks: Prepare the same way until until you get to the rope edge on the crust. Skip this step and cut them into strips with a pizza cutter. Brush on melted butter, sprinkle with garlic powder and sprinkle cheese (that is the Parmesan cheese that comes in the can). Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Top with more butter and cheese, if desired. You could also do cinnamon sugar instead of the cheese for a dessert stick. I better stop there with the ideas!

Sorry for the hiatus

2012-04-23T10:21:00.004-05:00

After three weeks away, I am finally ready to get back to work on the blog. I have done a little traveling and been pretty sick. After 2 weeks of having a sinus infection, I developed cellulitus on my leg and am in the process of healing that now.

I can't spend as much time in the kitchen right now because I have to keep my leg elevated often, but I am going to do the best I can with sharing what I'm making for dinner. Today I'm making a pizza from scratch that will be up on the blog today!

Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcake Shoppe

2012-03-31T20:41:00.000-05:00

Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcake Shoppe

This week, Wrigley and I tagged along with Steve to go to Hot Springs for a business trip. On our way into town, we drove through historic downtown and I spotted this adorable cupcake shoppe. I think I started squealing when I saw it. It was a small little shop with some beautiful cupcakes.

Lemon Lavender Cupcake

My favorite was the Lemon Lavender one with lemon cake and a lavender icing garnished with a small piece of lemon. The cake was very moist and spongy and the icing was rich and creamy with just the right amount of sweetness. This has been a very trendy cupcake flavor for a few years now (skinny girls follow fashion trends....chubby chicks follow food trends....don't get me started on sun dried tomatoes and truffle oil), but I have been scared to try it. Who wants herbs in their cupcakes? I learned that I do. We also got: salted caramel (I'm eating this one as I write this), chocolate on chocolate, red velvet and creme brulee.

Me in front of the shoppe

It's weird, because I don't know who these girls are. I had never heard of their shop and I knew nothing about them or if their cupcakes were any good. Yet, somehow I felt we were connected. A sense of camaraderie just in seeing the name and that they make cupcakes. I wanted to go in and greet them with a hug as though we were reunited at a family reunion. I did not, but I did make Steve take my picture. Warning: grab your sunglasses and shield young children from the screen before you look at my winter white legs. These are also my summer white legs because I avoid the sun. I saw a picture one time of two eighty year old women. One avoided the sun and one bathed in it. The sun bather looked like the Crypt Keeper and the other woman looked like she was in her 50's. So, I refer to myself as "Pasty and Proud!"

Anyway.....it was a very fun trip and I look forward to going back to see my "sisters" at Fat Bottomed Girls and visit some new places like the Savory Pantry that I didn't have time to see this week.

Weekly Menu Planning

2012-03-26T16:03:00.001-05:00

It's come to my attention that not everyone does things the same way I do. It was what Oprah calls an "A ha" moment for me. I have heard various menu planning ideas over the years, but most often I find that people have no plan at all. I have been using a form of this system for over a decade, but just recently combined it into one pretty package. I will show you what I do each week then you can download the Excel files to customize them for your family or print the PDF file versions if you just want to print and write on them.

The numbers below correspond to the numbers in the picture:

To make it more personal, change "family" to your family's name if you are downloading the Excel file version.
Insert the dates here. I find it easier to plan my family's schedule by keeping Saturday and Sunday together, so I start my week on Monday. You can change the labels here if you would prefer a different format.
This is where I enter all the appointments and plans that we have. This calendar gets printed and put on our fridge where I will hand write any appointments that come up later. In general, I put special days like birthdays or holiday on the first line, morning items on top, evening items on bottom and all-day events in the middle. You could also color code these by person.
Here is where I look at the events for the day and come up with a dinner menu that will match the energy level I will have. For example, Tuesday is a very busy day for me, so I picked a "heat and eat" type dinner with virtually no prepwork. Wednesdays we have a potluck at house church so I just enter what food items I am bringing (FYI - "bp cupcakes" are banana pudding cupcakes....makes you want to come to our house church, huh!?). Thursday and Friday we will be out of town, so we will be going out those days.
This is not an exhaustive list of what I do each day. Just a couple things I want to make sure we do. This could include items I need to mail, errands to run, people to call, etc... I don't schedule chores on Sunday because everyone needs a days off, that is why it doesn't have a chore box.
I primarily use this to write down things I need to know for the following week. For example, If the following Friday I have a play date, I would write "Play date with Jude at 10 AM on 4/6" in the notes box under Friday. I also use it for phone numbers I may need, Redbox rental codes and anything else I need to remember.
This is a running list I keep of things that we run out of. It works best if you can train everyone in the family to write things on here they need that way you can give it a glance each time you leave the house to see if there are things you can get while you are already at the store. When you get home, cross them off the list. Anything left at the end of the week, goes on the grocery list for the following week.

This brings us to the next step, the grocery list:

My list is organized for the store I shop at most (Bentonville Walmart). I find it most effective to get all the non-food items first since they are spread out all over the store. These items I write in the "miscellaneous" box. Then I start in the back of the store and work my way to the front. If I only need grocery items, I do it a little differently, but that will be another post for another time.

Notice I also have a column for "Sam's Club." There are some items that I know are always better to buy at Sam's, so I put them in my list from the beginning. I go to Sam's Club first to shop and take notice if there is anything else on my list that may be better to get there as well.

This whole planning process usually takes me about 15 minutes (1 hour if I do it when my two year old is awake), but saves me hours throughout the week. In a future post, I will show you how I grocery shop to make it a fun field trip rather than a dreaded chore. What tips do you have for menu planning?

Calendar and Grocery List
Click here to download the Excel file for both documents

Calendar
Click here to download the PDF version

Grocery List
Click here to download the PDF version

What do you want to see?

2012-03-25T19:29:00.001-05:00

Cookie cake I made

It has been a busy week! I hosted a Thirty-One party yesterday and also made some cupcakes and a birthday cookie cake for one of Steve's co-workers. It was all a lot of fun, but I am beat now!

I have several ideas for what kind of post to work on next, but I would like to know what you guys want to see. So, please take a minute to answer the poll question on the right and give me your feedback. If you choose "other," please post a comment on this post with what you would like us to do next. Next week I will work on the most voted for item.

Check back tomorrow to learn how I plan my dinner menus and grocery list each week.

Banana Chocolate Chip and Nutella "Ice Cream"

2012-03-22T22:19:00.000-05:00

Banana Chocolate Chip Nutella "Ice Cream"

Did you try Susan's Mango Sorbet? It looks delicious! I'm not a big mango fan, so I'm going to try it with pineapple soon. It got me inspired to come up with more healthy dessert recipes that can be made quickly and cheaply.

I remember a recipe I saw Williams Sonoma post on facebook awhile back. I remember it clearly because it pissed me off when I read it. Some lady froze some bananas and blended them in a blender then called it one ingredient ice cream. Here's what irritated me: 1) If there is no cream in it, it's not ice cream, 2) That is not a recipe, and 3) This would have been a fine post for Kraft foods or something, but not for Williams Freaking Sonoma. I expect better from them.

Anyway...despite my initial irritation, frozen bananas are pretty good, so why not call it ice cream and trick yourself into thinking your indulging. But a Chubby Chick can't just freeze some bananas and call it good. No, I had to "chubby it up" (maybe that could that be my "bam") with some chocolate chips and Nutella. Still pretty healthy and very easy.

I apologize for the bad pictures. I made this at night with poor lighting and I wanted a quick tv watching snack. Steve had Happy Endings cued up on the DVR and I was ready for some SOMA time (that's a word we made up that means: "sittin'-on-my-butt").

This is so simple, I'm not even giving you a recipe, just telling you what I did. It's very forgiving, so you can just throw crap in and it will still turn out great. Scratch that, don't put crap in your food. That would not taste good. So, I peeled about 8 bananas then broke them up with my fingers and put them in the freezer for a few hours.

I put the frozen banana chunks in my food processor and pulsed them about 20 times for about 2 seconds each time. Gave it a quick scrape down with the spatula then set it to blend for a couple minutes.

Afterward it looked like this, I added a couple heaping tablespoons of Nutella. It didn't have a strong Nutella taste, so feel free to add more if you want more flavor. I also added a couple splashes of milk because my bananas were a little too frozen. If you have adopted a dairy-free lifestyle, you could just not freeze the bananas as long or add a little water.

Next, I grated a 3.5 ounce chocolate bar. Nothing special, I just used a cheap IKEA one.

Dump in the chocolate shavings and don't be afraid to lick off the chocolate that melted on your fingers. Blend for a few more seconds until it looks like this. Mine was soft, but if you want it firmer, just stick it in the freezer for about an hour. The end result isn't super-pretty, but it is super-tasty!

Make Your Own Sorbet in 5 Minutes

2012-03-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

So, recently I was told that neither my husband nor I could have dairy. This was devastating. It's not that I love drinking milk, because I don't. I'm weird about my milk. So is Shannon. Walk with me down memory lane...

We could only drink 2% from Smith's (grocery store) and it had to be Mountain Dairy brand. It also needed to sit in our fridge for at least 24 hours reach the optimum temperature and feel like it was ours. Forgetting about the pasteurization process was a plus too.

Back to today. I don't really like cereal, or breakfast for that matter...unless it's a Chick-Fil-A Chicken Biscuit...MMMMM...anyway those have buttermilk in them, so no more of that for me either :) The biggest deal with this no dairy thing is how I use it in ingredients, and ice cream. I absolutely adore ice cream! So I am gathering details on how to make the best dairy free chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and more! I will share the good stuff with you once I have it perfected. I want to do as much research as I can, because dairy free alternatives are much more expensive and I don't want to waste them. Immediately after hearing this no dairy news, I realized how badly I needed (err...wanted) ice cream. I liked sorbet, particularly Haagen Dazs Mango Sorbet. It's so rich and full of flavor!

I also took a class years ago at Luv To Cook Kitchen Kneads on summertime favorites and the instructor made sorbet out of frozen fruit. So... I decided I could make my own with my Cuisinart food processor. I will tell you, that I think it would have been much better to have a 12 cup food processor when I used a full bag of frozen fruit, which makes 3-4 decent sized servings. A blender will not give you the same consistency as the food processor. If you have something with a really tough serrated blade that it what you want to use.

I used a bag of Dole Frozen Mango Chunks from Wal-Mart, and a little Simply Orange Juice

You could add a little extra sugar, but with the mango I don't think it's necessary. If you were to add something tart like raspberries, then I would definitely add sugar. Otherwise it's too bitter. The neat thing about sorbet is it's really just fruit. You could omit the orange juice, but I think it made the process just a tad faster and made it smoother. You DO NOT want to add ice to this. We are not making a smoothie. You want just frozen fruit. If you want your sorbet hard, you could take the extra step to freeze your orange juice in ice cube trays, but realize you are going to make it into tiny little slivers of orange juice ice and it will melt much faster than you think it will. You will want to use between 1/2 c. to 1 c. of orange juice that you will add throughout this short process. I find 3/4 c. has been the best. 1 cup, make is so the edges melt a bit faster on the edges of the serving bowls.

First, pour your frozen fruit in the food processor

Then add a little bit of the orange juice to speed the process up!

Put your hand over the top of the food processor

Then "Pulse" 15 times for about one second each

Wait....Did you forget to keep holding down the top?

So did I...clean it up...put your hand back on the top and continue.

It should look like this from the outside...

And on the inside:

Stir it up a bit to get the bigger chunks back down by the blade and add 1/4 c more orange juice. You can stop adding more here if you want.

Recover the machine and this time press on and leave it for about 30 seconds.

Now is a good time to be throwing away the bag with the frozen fruit in it, putting away the orange juice, grabbing your serving bowls, or maybe cleaning up that mess I told you to do earlier... ;)

Now It should be a lot smoother, remove the cover, and stir it up to make sure the chunks are out. You can add more orange juice (1/4 c.) And press "on" again for another 30 seconds. Repeat this if necessary.

When it's all done, you should be able to slide your spoon/silicone spatula over the top and it should glisten and mold however you want it to :)

I use these Corningware, "Just White" rice bowls. They are the perfect size for sorbet or ice cream....or I guess rice, I just haven't ever used them for rice. Maybe I should...

Factoid: I'm also told sorbet is a good palate cleanser if you are having some sort of taste test in the future :)

Aren't these beautiful?! I couldn't care less about dairy when I'm eating this (Note from Shannon: I appreciate the use of "couldn't care less" I hate it when people say they could care less. If you can care less, then you care and that doesn't make any sense in what you are trying to say. Ok, I'm off the soapbox now)!

Closet Renovation

2012-03-18T15:20:00.003-05:00

I have been unhappy with our master bedroom closet for awhile now because it just wasn't very functional. It would make a great pantry, but for a bedroom it was just blah. It is almost 4.5 feet wide by just over 9 fee long, which is a good size. It just needed a little organization, so I sketched out a plan to have floor to ceiling shelves built in along the back wall and create a double clothes hanging rack on the long wall along with two separate long clothes rods with shelves above. We don't have a dresser, so I needed space to put baskets that hold our "unmentionables."

Anyway....this is taking a little longer than I thought and we have been working on it all weekend, so I haven't had time to do a proper post about food. See, I can think about things that don't involve food!

This is the "before" with the previous owners stuff in it. I didn't have a before picture with my stuff. It is basically just a simple wire shelf that forms an L shape. We didn't have nearly amount of crap in there, but it was still a hodge podge of clothes and junk with no real organization.

After we removed all the stuff, pulled out the rods and patched the holes.

After the shelves went in. Steve is caulking them for a clean built-in finish. I started painting it, Winter's Day from the Martha Stewart Collection, that is gray with a hint of blue (you can see it along the baseboard on the left). I would like to paint our bedroom this color in the near future.

This is how we left it last night. All painted and ready for the hanging rods. We are also going to put a piece of crown moulding across the top shelf the full width of the wall to join the shelf and divider pieces and make it look more finished. So far, I am loving the color!

3/20/12 Update
The closet is now done and I LOVE it! What kinds of projects have you created for your husband to do?

The large tubs are dirty clothes hampers.

Wrigley is just excited we are done.

Pretzel Bites

2012-03-16T17:03:00.002-05:00

Wrigley and I had a bake and play date today and we made pretzel bites from a Pinterest recipe and while they tasted really good, they didn't look so good. They looked a little like chicken nuggets. I just wanted to share with you that even good cooks have "nailed it!" moments.

Cherry Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

2012-03-15T14:19:00.000-05:00

Cherry Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

After seeing these Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes, I knew I had to try them. I love Coke and cherries and cupcakes. If you add Christ and the Chicago Cubs that pretty much makes up the five "C's" of my life. When I went to the cupboard to see what ingredients I needed to buy, I found my Cherry Dr. Pepper dessert topping (which is delicious) and wanted to experiment.

I took these to our house church last night and one person said it "was the best cupcake he had ever tasted." I don't know about that, but they were pretty good. As with most of the cupcakes on here, I have lightened this one up from the original version which called for 2 sticks of butter. In general, butter is not the best fat for cakes because you want them moist. To make (and keep) a cake moist, your fat should should be a liquid at room temperature which is why I used vegetable oil. I also wanted to lighten it up some by using half oil and half unsweetened applesauce. The batter didn't look very good, but they baked up beautifully, which is what counts, right?!

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Step 2

In a mixing bowl, weigh flour and cocoa powder, then add baking soda and salt. Stir together to combine.

Step 3

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs and buttermilk. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add Dr. Pepper and vanilla and wait for the foam to go down then mix on medium speed for 10 seconds. Slowly add flour mixture and mix on medium for 1 more minute. The batter will look nasty. It will be like a thin gravy with lumps in it (see the picture above). Don't worry, you didn't mess it up.

Step 4

Scoop batter using a 2 oz scoop and bake for 18 minutes. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick into the middle of an inner cupcake. If it comes out clean, they are done. If not, bake another minute and try again. Wash out your mixer bowl and put it in the freezer while these bake. We want it nice and cold for making the frosting.

This is what they look like fresh from the oven

Step 5

Chop up your can of cherry pie filling (I used one with more fruit and no high fructose corn syrup). I used a Pampered Chef food chopper and it worked very quickly and easily for this task. You could also chop them by hand or pulse it just a couple times in a food processor. You want it to be the consistency of a really chunky salsa (see picture above). Set aside.

Step 6

Using a paring knife, cut out a little cone of cake in the middle of each cupcake. A good, sharp knife works best. You now have little cake bites for hungry taste testers, or yourself. No judgement.

Step 7

Spoon a small spoonful of pie filling into the hole you have created.

Step 8

Using your Dr. Pepper Cherry Dessert Topper, squeeze a little on top of each cupcake as shown in the picture below. You can leave it like this, or I like to spread mine around a little with my finger to give a nice even coat across the entire cupcake.

How to drizzle

Step 9

Remove your mixer bowl from the freezer and fit it with the whisk attachment again. Add heavy cream and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute until it starts to get a little foamy, like the picture above. Then add the powdered sugar and continue mixing on medium until it is incorporated. Crank it up to high speed and beat until a stiff peaks forms when you lift up the beater, about 1 minute. If you over beat it, it will turn to butter. You just want it light and fluffy like whipped cream. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes and top with a maraschino cherry. This frosting doesn't hold up very long and needs to be refrigerated, so if you need your cupcakes to be a little more stable, I would use a buttercream frosting instead. The one I used for the Strawberry cupcakes would work well. Just omit the strawberry preserves and food coloring.

4x6 photo recipe card
Click on image then right click and choose "save image as"

A Few of My Favorite Things

2012-03-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite things in life. I'm not a big fan of stuff, but there are a few things in life that I really enjoying having around. I would like to share three of them with you here.

Starbucks Caramel Frappuccio
When I am stressed out, this is my drug of choice. A grande one of these
can take me from down in the dumps to pure joy in just a few sips.

Large Red Le Creuset Dutch Oven
For years I wanted one of these because all the cool chefs on TV had one. My mom
got me one for Christmas several years ago and I feel happy every time I cook in it.

Crocs Shoes
I know they are fugly, but they are really comfortable and the best
kitchen shoes ever! I wore them almost exclusively while I was pregnant.

So what are some of your favorite things?

Trivia Tuesday 3.13.12

2012-03-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

The first correct respondent to the trivia question below will get to choose a recipe for us to make in an upcoming post AND if we get at least 10 unique responses (from 10 real people) and you live near Susan or me, we will give you the finished product.

This week's question is:
In the blueberry cupcake post I mentioned a cake stand that I use. What brand name is the cake stand featured and how did I get it?

Think you know the answer? Just comment below (make sure you use a name so we know who to contact). I will give you a hint. The brand name is not mentioned specifically in the post, but you can easily find it by using the hyperlinks.

Rub 'em all over your body chocolate chip cookies

2012-03-12T22:14:00.001-05:00

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I started really cooking when I was in junior high and my favorite thing to make was cookies. I have always been a good cookie maker when I didn't follow the recipe and just dumped everything in the bowl at the same time and mixed it by hand. I don't know why it worked, but it did. Since then I have tried to make cookies the "grown up way" with my Kitchen Aid mixer, but never got good results. I would follow a recipe precisely, but while they would taste good they were some sad looking cookies. Usually very thin with chips sticking up. When making the same recipes by hand I would get excellent results.

A few months ago I found a blog where they painstakingly went through every tiny step on how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I decided to give it a whirl and they turned out amazing! Using my mixer, they tasted excellent and looked pretty too! I think the key is that you add the flour last. You can pretty much beat the crap out of the ingredients until it becomes more delicate with the addition of the flour. The more you work flour, the more gluten it develops. Gluten makes dough tougher and chewier which while good for pizza dough, is not what you want in cakes or cookies. I plan on trying this method in my other cookie recipes, but for now I wanted to share this one with you.

NOTE: I made a double batch when preparing this recipe, so my amounts will look much larger than the amounts you are using. Unless, of course, you double the batch too. Then we'll be twinners!

Step 1

Does anyone else have the urge to cut a hole in a box after I say step one? Anyway....put a small mixing bowl on your kitchen scale (if you don't have a scale, you really should get one. They are cheap and make a huge difference. See "measuring ingredients by weight" for details) and add the flour, then use measuring spoons to add the soda and salt. Whisk it together until it's fully blended.

Step 2

Using the wire whisk attachment on a stand mixer, cream butter and shortening on high for about 1 minute. If you don't have a very powerful mixer, this could take up to 3 minutes.

This is what it should look like after step 2

Step 3

Remove your mixer bowl from the mixer and place it on your scale then turn the scale on. This should give you a zero reading on the scale. Add the 6.5 ounces of brown sugar then zero out the scale and add the 6.5 of white sugar. Look how many measuring cups we have saved washing and our recipe is more accurate to boot! Return the bowl to the mixer and beat it on high for 30 more seconds.

Step 4

Add eggs and vanilla and beat another 15 seconds or until it looks like the picture above.

Step 5 - That adorable little helper is my 2 year old son, Wrigley

Switch to the paddle attachment and find a toddler who-won't-go-play-with-Daddy-so-Momma-can-bake and have them add the chocolate chips. If you don't have one of these, just dump them in yourself. Now I know what you're thinking: "Wait! We haven't added the flour yet!" Keep your britches on. We want to mix the flour as little as possible to avoid creating unwanted gluten (remember our science lesson in the intro?) so we are going to add the flour at the last minute. Just mix the chips in on speed one for about 10 seconds.

Helpers need a little reward

This is what the dough should look like after step 5

Step 6

Now it's time to add that flour mixture. Add a little at a time to avoid flinging flour all over your kitchen. Mix it in on speed 1 until it just comes together. It's ok to have a few flour streaks. DO NOT over mix it. At this point touch the dough. It should be sticky, but if it's super-sticky add a heaping tablespoon of flour. If it's too dry, you're screwed. Go ahead and bake the cookies anyway. Polite people will still tell you they taste good. Make note of these people and never ask for their food opinions in the future.

Step 7

Use a 3/4 ounce scoop, scoop the dough onto a plate (I used a serving platter that was the perfect size for holding 24 cookies), cover and stick in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to 2 days. If you would rather freeze the dough for later use, put this same plate in the freezer for 2 hours then transfer them to a Ziplock bag. They need to be frozen individually first or they will all stick together. I usually bake about 1-2 dozen then freeze the rest for fresh baked cookies in minutes.

I just wanted to show off my leftovers and half drunk pitcher of iced tea

Step 8

About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375 and prepare your cookie sheet. I use cheap-o half sheet pans from Sam's Club that are $10 for a two pack. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper (so you don't have to wash the cookie sheet, just throw away the paper) or use a Silpat. This is something I wanted for almost 20 years, but just got one a couple months ago. It is awesome! I usually just bake 6-9 cookies on a sheet for my first batch so I can see how much the spread. Since these didn't spread very much, I started using 12 cookies per sheet for subsequent batches.

Step 9

Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. They should puff up in the middle and look underdone.

Another view of what they should look like fresh out of the oven

Step 10

Allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Your helper should always get the first cookie

Finished product

4x6 recipe photo card
Click on the image to view it full size then right click and choose "save image as"

New Blog Posting Schedule

2012-03-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Susan has a lot going on right now with trying to make some healthy lifestyle changes and preparing for the adoption process. She will post on here whenever she can, but you are stuck with me for little bit.....bwah ha ha. One thing you need to know about me: I am major planner. I don't always follow through with my plan, but I love to have one to deviate from, so I have come up with a schedule for the types of posts you can expect from the blog each day.

Monday: Healthy recipes - This will begin the following week because I am already working on a recipe tomorrow for chocolate chip cookies that one person described as "I want to rub them all over my body because they are so good."

Tuesday: Trivia - I will come up with a food or housekeeping related question and the first correct responder will get to choose a recipe for me to make for a future post.

Wednesday: Tips for feeding a crowd - I have house church on this night where I plan a dinner menu for about 30 adults and children.

Correction: This will now be "Three Favorites" - I will share three things I love with you.

Thursday: Sweet treats - Recipe write ups for all kinds of desserts, but mostly cupcakes and cookies since they are my passion right now.

Friday: Main dishes - This will be some of my favorite main dishes I make for dinner or special lunches.

Saturday: Meal planning - Every week I have a menu plan, I will just share it with you to give you ideas for your own family's dinners for the week.

Sunday: Personal - These could be a story to help you get to know me better, a life lesson I learned during the past week or just something personal I would like to share with you all.

Susan and I are so excited about this blog and thank you for taking the time to read and comment. We LOVE hearing from you and watching our page views grow. Don't forget to share our ideas on Pinterest and Facebok if you find something helpful!

Blueberry Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream

2012-03-10T11:58:00.002-06:00

Blueberry Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream

Since I started my cupcake kick, people have been giving me their "requests." This one came from a friend at church who after seeing a few pictures of what I was making said I needed to stop putting pictures on facebook unless I was going to bring her one. She said her favorite was blueberry, so I got to work. This is not just a blueberry muffin with some frosting. It has a distinct white cake taste and texture with the just right balance of blueberries. This recipe is an adaptation from Always with Butter. She made homemade blueberry preserves for the topping, which I did as well, but found that they played such a minimal role that I would just use store bought. I know, the woman who wonders why anyone would buy marshmallows just recommended a store bought product over a homemade one. That should tell you how not worth it they are.

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 300 and line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Rinse
blueberries until water runs clear and return them to the freezer until
ready to use. This helps keep the cupcakes from turning purple.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar,
buttermilk powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Buttermilk powder is a great product to have on hand because you don't
have to worry about it going bad for a couple years and it's much cheaper
than using refrigerated buttermilk. I buy it at Walmart in the baking aisle
next to the powdered milk. I only use it for baking, but you could use it for
cooking as well. It's super easy to use, just mix the powder with your
dry ingredients, then add water in place of the buttermilk in your recipe.
If you prefer to use regular buttermilk in this recipe, just omit this powder
and replace the 1 cup of water with 1 cup of buttermilk.

Step 3:
Using a stand mixer (I love my 6 qt professional Kitchen Aid) fitted
with the paddle attachment, combine the oil, eggs, water, milk, vanilla
and almond extract on low speed. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter.
I added the butter at the same time and caused it to cool too quickly in
he mixture and create lumps. If you do a slow drizzle, you won't
have that problem. You're welcome :)

Step 4:
Scoop batter into tins using that 2 oz scoop that I love so much.

Step 5:
Place 3-5 blueberries on top of each cupcake. They shouldn't sink to the
bottom since they are frozen, but if you are really worried about it, you
can toss them with a little cornstarch to help them stick to the batter better.
I didn't care that bad and though I did have a few sink, they were
still delicious and turned out well.

Step 6:

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. They should not brown at all. This is a very soft, delicate cake that you do not want to overcook.

Finished cupcakes

Step 7:
For the frosting, use your mixer again, but fit it with the whisk attachment.
Whip the butter on high for about 30 seconds or until it gets light and fluffy.
This step is important because it creates an even texture throughout the butter
and incorporates a little air into it allowing it to blend better with other ingredients.
There is your cooking science lesson for the day!

Step 8:
Add the honey and whip it another 30 seconds so it is completely mixed
with the butter. This also makes an excellent honey butter on it's own.
You should have a taste if you haven't already :)

Step 9:
Add the powdered sugar and milk. Add the sugar about a cup at a time
keeping the speed on low then crank it up to high once it's incorporated.

Finished frosting

Step 10:
Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Don't forget to pull out your cute cake
stand that your dad bought you for your birthday. Don't have a cute
cake stand that your dad bought you for your birthday? Stop here and
take a minute to call your dad and re-connect with him ;) Don't forget
to ask him to buy you a cake stand.

Step 11:

Melt preserves in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are runny and can drizzle off a spoon. Use a spoon to drizzle them over each cupcake, or put the melted preserves in a squeeze bottle and drizzle. That reminds me of a joke: Why does Snoop Dogg need an umbrella? For the drizzle. I know, 1995 called and it wants its lame joke back.

Finished cupcake

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