Super Mario Themed Cupcakes

After weeks of planning and scouting numerous Pinterest entries, Google images, and blogs, Corey finally found some pictures of Super Mario themed cupcakes to make for the baby shower she was hosting. For such a prominent theme, one would think there would be WAY more options; unfortunately, there were not (unless you are a professional fondant and frosting crafter). There is no special recipe for the cupcakes: simply Betty Crocker Yellow Cake mix.

Supply List:
Round Icing Tip and bag
Yellow Cake Mix
Vanilla Frosting
Blue colored sugar (simply add blue food coloring to a few tbsp of sugar, and mix)
Pre-made fondant (blue, red, yellow, green)
Star shaped cookie cutter
Various round caps to cut out circular shapes
Toothpicks

Not So Stuffed Peppers

If my memory serves me correctly, stuffed peppers was the first "real" recipe that I made. About eight to ten years ago my Spanish teacher gave us an assignment to make a Spanish themed dish, take pictures, etc. etc. Granted, I made a different dish (chimichangas) for the project, I discovered this recipe while I was researching. Still bearing the scar on my wrist from the oven burn I received when I removed the tray, I enjoy making and eating this wonderfully delicious dish. The first time I made this I followed the recipe to a tee, which I no longer have written but committed to memory. After everyone was finished eating, I noticed something: half of all of the bell peppers were left on the plate. "It's too much pepper," was the response I received. Which brings me to my 'Not So Stuffed Peppers' recipe. This casserole version is much easier to make, requires less peppers, and less pepper waste.
Writing this recipe was difficult, since I usually make this dish by sight/taste. Here goes...

Not So Stuffed Peppers:
Total prep and cooking time is about 1 hour. You can make the sauce/meat portion prior. Then just mix in the rice and bake.
2 cups cooked white rice
2-3 green bell peppers sliced (about 1-2 inches)
ground beef of turkey (I used about 3/4 cup cooked ground beef. If you really like meat, add more.)
1/2 tbsp minced onion
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
OR in lieu of basil, oregano, thyme use apx. 1- 1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1 can (14.5 oz) peeled diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cans (14.5 oz) tomato sauce (I used 3/4 of a 29 oz can.)
1 tbsp brown sugar (reduces the acidity of the tomatoes)
1/4 cup mexican style cheese blend.

1. Cook the white rice. Remember 2 cups water for every 1 cup of rice. Luckily, I have a rice cooker so I don't have to watch it too closely. Set aside.
2. Slice the bell peppers. Lay the sliced peppers in a 9x13 baking dish and add a little olive oil. Remember to grease the pan. Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes. Uncooked peppers can add a bitter taste to the casserole. See picture below.
3. In a skillet, brown ground beef with minced onion, basil, oregano, thyme, and/or italian seasoning, and salt.
4. Once ground beef is done, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and brown sugar. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
5. Mix tomato sauce mixture with the white rice. Spread over cooked peppers. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. If you want to bake it longer, cover with foil so it doesn't dry out.

I ended up adding an additional 1/4 tsp of italian seasoning because it didn't quite taste right. :)

Christmas Craft

Here we are again. Another day, another recipe. Unfortunately, everyone knows the recipe for grilled cheese (that's what we had last night), so I'm going to share a crafty Christmas project.

This first piece of crafty genius was of course discovered on Pinterest. Before Christmas, Corey wanted to make burlap wreaths. After some persuasion, I was in. We ventured to the fabric store, the craft store, bought a lot of burlap and Christmas accessories, grabbed the scissors, and went to work. Now, if you are a neat freak I highly recommend that you do not do this in the house. The burlap threads end up EVERYWHERE. My friend had to vacuum me. True story. Anyway back to the wreath.

You need:
Scissors, foam wreath form, burlap, ribbon, and some decorations with a wire stem.

Directions:
Cut burlap into 1-2 inch wide strips, depending on how you want the final "look". Note: The thicker the strip, the harder it is for the tie to stay tied. I used about 1 to 1.5 inch wide strips
Once you have the width properly cut, you'll need to cut the length. I cut my strips to be about 12 inches long. You want to have it long enough to tie and have at least a 3 inch piece left on each side of the tied part.
Then tie each piece of burlap to the wreath form, overlapping slightly to avoid gaps.
The rest is pretty self explanatory, but if you need more direction please let me know and I'd be happy to help.

Blueberry Muffins

During a quick shopping trip with my sister to the 99 Cent Store for some cleaning supplies, I ventured into the produce section. Now, before you think that they don't have yummy, un-expired things there, believe me when I tell you they do. I discovered their produce when I was throwing a bridal shower. After returning home from Costco with a large fruit tray that was over priced, I realized that there was not enough of the fruits that most people enjoyed i.e., grapes and strawberries. A relative recommended that I try the 99 Cent Store. With some hesitation I went and purchased the above mentioned fruits and headed over to the bridal shower. At the end of the shower, to my surprise, the fruits I had purchased at a "discount" were completely gone, and the platter I over paid for was still half full. So, lesson learned, discount doesn't always mean expired or that no one wanted to eat them in the first place.

What does this have to do with blueberry muffins? Well, back to my quick shopping trip at the 99. As I wandered the produce section, I came upon blueberries. They looked fresh, smelled great, and my favorite part was that they were, of course, 99 cents each. (Compared to the 1.99+ that the regular super markets charge, I figured that was great.) Couldn't hurt to try them, so I bought 2 packages. After scouring Pinterest, Martha Stewart.com, and all of my cookbooks, I came up with two options: blueberry buckle and blueberry muffins. My wonderful Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (see details on the side bar) also lists the nutrition info for each recipe. The muffins won because they had less than half the fat, calories, and sugar content of the buckle. Here's what you've all been waiting for, drum roll please!

Blueberry Muffin Recipe - Better Homes and Gardens
Makes 12 muffins and total prep and bake time is about 30 minutes.
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup cooking oil (I used Canola)
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel into batter
1 recipe Streusel Topping (Recipe to follow)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease or line a muffin tray.
In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt.
In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be a little lumpy).
Fold in blueberries.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin pan about 3/4 full.
Add about 1 tbsp of Streusel Topping to the top of each muffin.
Bake 18-20 minutes at 400 F

Streusel Topping Recipe -
In a small bowl, stir together 3 tbsp all purpose flour, 3 tbsp packed brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 tbsp butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Optional: Add in 2 tbsp pecans or walnuts (I didn't add nuts.)
A pastry blender worked great to get the "coarse crumb" look, but a fork would also work. It takes 5-10 minutes of mixing to get the butter small enough. DO NOT melt the butter first.

What I learned from this?? Previously, when a recipe called for a small amount of lemon (or another citrus) zest, I simply omitted it because I either didn't have the lemon or the zester. (Note: A cheese grater works great.) After eating these delicious muffins, I will never again leave out the lemon peel/zest. It added such a wonderful flavor to the muffins, that was not overpowering.

Jeff's Corn Salsa

While browsing one of my favorite sites, Pinterest, I came across a link to "Chipotle's secret recipes".
"It's too good to be true," I thought. For some of the recipes, including the steak marinade, it was too good to be true. After tasting the steak that we marinated in this concoction, I was glad I didn't smother it on everything.  I digress. The corn salsa doesn't taste exactly like the amazing Chipotle corn salsa, but it tastes pretty delicious, especially on tacos. YUM!

Before I write out the recipe, a word of caution. Do NOT make this in a metal bowl. How do I know this? We made it in a metal bowl and it turned out to be really bitter and we ended up tossing it out.

(Here is the Original recipe that we found: Chipotle Corn Salsa Recipe. Then there was a modified version based on that one which used frozen corn. Simply put- Don't use frozen corn.)

Jeff's Corn Salsa: 
6 ears roasted corn on the cob (removed from the cob of course)
    - First, soak the ears in water for 1-2 hours. Then, with the husks still on, roast on the bbq or in the oven u   until the husks become brownish.
1/3 bunch of cilantro finely chopped
2 green jalapenos finely chopped (if you want a spicier salsa, add more jalapenos and/or seeds)
1/4 of a red onion finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste (we used about 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper)
1 roasted poblano pepper, finely chopped. (Grocery stores often call this a pasilla pepper, which is what we used.)
    - Roast the poblano in the over on 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. The waxy coating on the pepper should be peeling back. Once the pepper cools, peel off the waxy coating and chop the pepper.

After tasting and re-tasting this last night we could not figure out what we had forgotten. As I was writing this recipe out for you, I realized it was missing the cilantro. I better go add some now.

Farewell!

Finding the Perfect Curry

I found a wonderful recipe for Curry chicken a few months ago while I was searching for something different to make for dinner. Since I had never made curry before I assumed that most supermarket brand curry powders were the same: I was soon proven horribly wrong. As I browsed the aisles of Ralphs, I came upon a small tin of "curry powder". Excited to try it, I bought it, went home, looked up a recipe, and started whisking away at the ingredients in the pan. As most cooks do, I tried it. I nearly gagged. It was sooooo bitter tasting. This did not taste like the curry powder that my grandmother or mother used. Set on finding the perfect curry powder, I inspected both of their pantries. For weeks I scoured the grocery stores, to no avail. I had given up on finding this illusive powder. THEN while shopping for ingredients for a new steak marinade, I came across a new curry powder. This was THE powder and it was half the price of the previous one I purchased. So, here is the recipe.

Curry Sauce- Unfortunately the link to where I found the recipe is no longer available.
In a small sauce pan, whisk together the following:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp curry - I used Sadaf Curry Powder Mild (the original recipe called for 1/4 tsp, but it was not "curry" enough for our liking)
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup milk (you can also use coconut milk)

Cook on low to medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir often or the milk will burn to the bottom of your pan.

I put it over basmati rice, chicken breast, potatoes, and carrots.

The beginning...

I suppose I should begin by explaining my reasoning for beginning a blog. While drinking my delicious cup of hot tea and contemplating the possible consumption of a fudgesicle, I was reflecting upon various conversations I've had with friends lately: conversations about being married, life's exciting events, as well as the hardships that are being anticipated, cooking, cleaning, trying new things, and much more. These conversations have prompted me to show how an average girl like me can rival the likes of the Martha Stewart types.

I am blessed with two parents who encourage me to try everything. Naively, I assumed the parents of most of my friends encouraged the same behavior. I was wrong. Whenever I think, "there is NO way I will be able to do that" or "I can't do that; I've never done it before", I hear my dad's voice in the back of my mind remind me... What's the worst that could happen? or If you mess up, buy another bag of flour (piece of wood, different paint color, etc.). As a child I was able to try so many new things. I particularly remember building or helping my dad with house repairs. He wanted me to measure the space for the new board, measure the new board, mark it, and help him cut it. Immediately I gave him a million and one reasons why I couldn't accomplish the task. What if I measure wrong? What if I mark the board in the wrong place? We don't have another piece of wood. Instead of doing it himself, he replied with, "So what? If you measure wrong, we'll re-mark it. If it's cut too long, we'll trim it. If it's too short, we'll go buy another piece of wood." Moments like these have shaped me into the independent, diy woman I am today. 

Now that I have a little background out of the way, I can continue. After posting pictures of things I've made online, and receiving lovely responses from friends (That's pinterest worthy, what's the recipe, that looks delicious!), I've decided to compile my creations in one area. Whether or not I stick to writing and posting them is another story. Here are my disclaimers: 1. Not everything tastes as good as it looks. 2. Some things taste better than they look. 3. I don't come up with my own recipes, but I do add/modify/leave out some ingredients. I will give credit for where I got the recipe if it has an "owner". 4. This is about trying new things. If I mess up, I'll post the pictures anyways. 

For now I bid you farewell.