Valentine Fun

We had the missionaries over for Valentines Dinner. I didn't go all out with craziness, but I did try to find things that were pink, red or white for dinner. Below is our Menu, links to any recipes and one extra little goodie.

Appetizer

Yummy Oreo Truffles by bakerella. Go here to see the recipe! I went a little larger though and used pink frosting and sprinkles on the tops! Then I just did small balls for the little kiddos.





Dinner



White Chicken & Pink Garlic Roasted Shrimp
I just cut the chicken in cubes and marinated in a small bit of oil and garlic Salt.
Shrimp I put in a zip lock baggie with about 1/2 Tbsp of oil and some garlic Salt.
both roasted on a pan at about 375 for approx 20 minutes. The shrimp will cook a lot faster than the chicken so if you want them to finish at the same time just start with the chicken then add the shrimp after about 10 minutes.



Red Roasted Potatoes
Similar to the chicken and Shrimp I just cube, throw into a gallon zip lock baggie, about 1 Tbsp of oil for about 5 potatoes and I also added about 1/2 Tbsp of Oregano. Potatoes I roast same as the chicken about 375-400 for 20-30 minutes.

Cauliflower & Red Pepper Hearts with pink ranch dip



If you cut the peppers right, put two of them together and it looks like a heart! It was about the only veggie I could think of to totally get creative with! My favorite ranch dip is light sour cream, hidden valley ranch packet and this time of course we added pink food coloring! Just recently at my moms I added a little extra minced onion and garlic to the ranch and it was wonderful!

Goodie Bag Treats!

this was the fun part! I got a few little party favors from wal-mart...super cheap and very entertaining....but then their treats were Peppermint heart Lollipops! You make these from your leftover mini candy canes and white chocolate. I found many variations online but here is mine.



Line your pan with foil then lay two mini candy canes to make a heart shape. Place a sucker stick inbetween the bottoms. Fill with melted white Chocolate and sprinkle! Let cool completely but not in the refrigerator or the candy canes will sweat and get sticky!

Melting white chocolate in a zip lock:
I only used about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips for the 2 lollipops that I made and it was more than enough. I didn't make more as I already had used the rest of my candy canes. Place chips in the zip lock and microwave for 30 seconds. Moosh around then zap for another 30 seconds. Moosh again and continue until chocolate is melted. Careful not to overcook you chocolate or it gets icky! Cut a small hole at the corner of your baggie and just squeeze into the centers of your candy canes!

A few places I found some candy cane treats

http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2009/02/candy-cane-heart-suckers.html

http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-suckers-and-heart-candies.html

http://www.megacrafty.com/2010/02/chocolate-candy-cane-hearts.html

Fairy Dust Lollipops

So, gotta go over here and check out this!

We made some really fun lollipops you just gotta check out at my blog. I posted basic directions, but if you needed more specific info feel free to ask! Or buy the book here for less than $5.00 (just on your first one) and free shipping! Just search for Barbara Beery and you will find all 6 of her darling books!

Pig Cake

I just had my sons 2nd birthday and we had a farm birthday party. I made a pig cake and again, I'm not posting an actual recipe but more just some ideas of what I did.

1. Chocolate Cake with STrawberry Icing. Totally yummy flavors together! NEver did it before, loved it and would probably make really yummy cake balls! Also I didn't put any oil in the mix, added a Sugar Free Choco pudding mix to it. Came out of the pan great, tasted great....thus you DO NOT need oil! Yay for less fat and calories
2. For the nose I was out of cake batter and wanted something wide and remember seeing often on CAke boss them use rice crispy treat. I didn't have rice crispies but I did have Chex, so I mixed some marshmallows, butter and crushed chex, and it was perfect!
3. I used pre-made fondant for the ears and just cut out the shapes by hand, no cutters. Although the stuff tastes awful it worked good. It's even a year old and I just had to put it in a little baggie with a few drops of water, warmed up in the micro for 15 seconds and it was really easy to work with.
4. Smoothing the frosting. Someone once mentioned using a blow dryer...didn't work as well. Tried it on the cupcakes, but went back to my old method for the cake. After the cake with frosting sitting in the freezer for about 15 minutes you use a tiny bit of water on your fingers to smooth out. I use warm water, but I don't know that it matters. Then you could use the dryer after to help make it shiny again, but I forgot to do that before I put the dryer away.

Other things....I used chocolate chips for the eyes, black sugar sprinkles for the nostrils and more fondant for the border. On the cupcakes I just made animal picks from my cricut. If I had some black licorice string I would have done a little smile at the bottom.

A plethera or things! Or at least 3

OKay, so I have a few things to add on here, but since I just posted them on my blog I'll just attach a link here that you can follow to there!

Christmas Cookies



Cookie Cutter Sandwhiches



Cake Balls

Cake Pops

So I'm not going to post this recipe, but I'm going to give you the link, because why should I re-type it when all you have to do is click! But I'm attaching two links, one to my blog so you can see our fun pictures of making these cake pops, but then to the original bakerella website where you can find the recipe just waiting to be used! Honestly these are so fun, easy and yummy you will have to some time in your life try them!

Here's a picture of my final cake pops for my music class



and a much better picture of the ones she made on bakerella!

White Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

So, I can't wait to make these. It was featured on the talk show Good Things Utah for winning the state fair I think. If you click on the link below it will take you to the website where I got this recipe and it also has a video of the preparation if you'd like to see that.

abc4.com

Prepared by viewer Heather Merrill

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup shortening
• ¼ cup butter or margarine softened
• ¼ cup white chocolate chips melted
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips

• 8 oz package cream cheese softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 Tbsp milk

• 1 can cherry pie filling

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In large mixing bowl cream together sugars, shortening, margarine, vanilla and eggs. Add in slightly cooled melted white chocolate. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in white chocolate chips.

Cream together softened cream cheese , powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk until blended.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Make an indention with your finger or spoon in top of dough. Drop a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into each indention. Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Let cool. Spoon on cherry pie filling. Store in refrigerator.

Makes about 3 dozen

Fresh Pears, Mmmmmmm...

I haven't posted any recipes for awhile, life has been a little hectic, but I have tried a few new things lately that I had to share. We got some fresh pears from the Church's pear farm in Medford and a couple of things I have made are here:

Pear Cranberry Salad

1 pear peeled and diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 head lettuce chopped (add other greens it would be delish!)
1 grilled chicken breast (I have used chicken cooked with a variety of marinades in this salad and they have all proven to be great!)
1/2 cup chow mein noodles
Poppy Seed dressing

Pretty much mix it all up! The dressing amount is to your taste. I prefer this salad with less dressing as you already have a lot of sweet flavor with the pears and the cranberries, and flavor from the chicken as well. I could eat this every day and it probably would be even better with a little gargonzola or other crumble cheese!


Slow Cooked Pear Cobbler

3-4 Medium Pears peeled and sliced

1 cup all-porpose flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1. Spray inside of 2 to 3 1/2 quart slow cooker wtih cooking spray.

2. Mix pears with 3/4 cup of sugar and add to the cooker.

3. Beat the remaining ingredients with spoon until smooth. Spread batter over the pear sugar mixture

4. Cover and cook on high heat setting 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

(If you want to bake in the oven, add 1 egg to the mixutre and add pears over the batter instead under. Cook at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until nicely browned and pears are tender.)

Serve with Ice Cream or Whipped Cream.

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

This is my first post to this blog...but I had to share this delicious recipe. We have it all of the time in the summer. To me, it is the ultimate summer dessert. Just top with really good Vanilla Ice Cream and you are in heaven!





I'm not going to put quantities because it depends on the size of your Dutch Oven. Just make sure your peach layer and your cake layer are about the same depth size.

Peaches (canned or fresh)
White or Yellow Cake Mix
Butter


Place sliced peaches in bottom of your dutch oven using about 1/3 of the juices (if using fresh, pour in a small amount of Sprite for the juice). Evenly sprinkle the cake mix over peaches, making sure to cover them completely. Slice up a cube of butter and place evenly over cake mix. Cover with lid and put coals on both top and bottom (again, depends on how big your dutch oven is, usually around 12 each). Let bake for about 30 minutes or until cake is golden brown. Watch closely and serve with ice cream.

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

My sister-in-law grabbed this recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and it is divine. Every time I've made it, I have used more oreo cookies than it calls for, and I have also tried it in a 9x13 cake pan and a cookie sheet. It has been yummy no matter how it is done. When I do it in a longer pan though, I usually need more cool whip too. ENJOY!


Strawberry Whipped Sensation

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tub (8oz.) cool whip, thawed and divided
8 Oreo cookies, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. Butter, melted


Line 8x4 inch loaf pan with tin foil.
Slice all of your strawberries. Take out 2 cups and set aside to use for the top. Put the other 2 cups of strawberries in a bowl to be mashed. Chop your oreos.
Mash the 2 cups of strawberries in a large bowl. Stir in condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the cool whip; pour into pan lined with tin foil.
Top with combined chopped cookies and butter; press into mixture. Cover.
Freeze at least 6 hours. To serve, invert onto plate. Remove foil. Frost with remaining cool whip. Top with remaining strawberries, sliced.

Makes 12 servings

Cake Cookies

There are so many variations you can do with this easy cookie recipe. This oreo style includes the frosting recipe.

Ingredients:
-1 box devils food cake mix (you can use other flavors too)
-1/3 c. oil
-2 eggs

Mix all together. Put in ball shape on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350º for 10-12 minutes

Other Additions: Chocolate chips, mint chips, white chips, peanut butter chips, or raisins.

Frosting Recipe:
4 oz. Cream cheese, softened
1/4 cube butter (2 Tbs.), softened
Powdered sugar to desired consistency like frosting

Mix well.
Put frosting on bottom of one cookie and add a cookie on top, Oreo style.
These taste really good well chilled!

The Best Brownies

My cousin posted these on her site and they looked so yummy that I just had to share. I'm really looking forward to making these soon. Thanks Jessica! (and if you go to her site, you can see the cutest grins ever that will totally brighten your day)


The Best Brownies
-Seriously, they are the best you will ever taste. just one bite and you will be addicted. You will never go buy the boxed kinds again. Add a scoop of ice cream and you will be in heaven. I have a few friends who have a standing order for these brownies. No joke. Blue ribbon material!-

½ cup Butter 1 cup Sugar 2 Eggs 1tsp Vanilla 1/3 cup Cocoa
½ cup Flour ¼ tsp Salt ¼ tsp Baking Powder
Frosting: 3Tbl. Butter- soft 3Tbl. Cocoa 1Tbl. Honey 1tsp Vanilla
1 cup Powder Sugar

Preheat oven 350°. Grease and Flour 8” square pan. In a sauce pan melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter in pan and bake 25-30 minutes.
Frosting: Combine butter, cocoa, honey, vanilla, and powder sugar. (I add maybe a tablespoon of milk too.) Spread frosting over warm brownies. Let cool and serve.
Double recipe for a 9x13 pan.


--Jessica Mortensen

Mom's Chocolate Frosting

1.5 cubes butter - softened
::whip 5 min. then add::
4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
2 t. vanilla
4 T. cocoa
1/2 t. almond flavoring
::whip until smooth, then you can immediately use on cupcakes, cakes or the leftovers are yummy with Graham Crackers!

Pancake Fritters

So I just discovered a super easy, yummy snack!

Get some pancake mix, the kind that you only need to add water. Mix up a cup or two of the pancake mix with some water, just enough to make it sticky doughy, not runny. Then drop spoonfuls of the mix into hot vegetable oil, and fry each side for a few minutes. Take them out of the pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar. A quick treat!

Paradise Pumpkin Pie

I made this 2 years ago, and I am going to make it again. I am inlove with anything that includes cream cheese as an ingredient!

1/2 pkg. (15 oz.) ready-to-use refrigerated pie crusts (1 crust)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs, divided

1-1/4 cups canned pumpkin

1 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. salt

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare pie crust as directed on pkg. for unfilled 1-crust pie, using 9-inch pie plate.

BEAT cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add 1 of the eggs; mix well. Pour into crust; set aside. Mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar, remaining 2 eggs, the pumpkin, milk, spices and salt; carefully pour over cream cheese mixture.

BAKE 1 hour and 5 min. or until center is set. Cool completely. Store in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Crunch

This is a yummy alternative to pie...in fact, my family requests I bring this every year!

1 can (15oz) pumpkin
1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 t salt
4 t pumpkin pie spice

Mix the above together and pour in a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Pour a yellow cake mix on top (do not mix in), then 2 sticks of melted butter and chopped pecans. Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.

Better Than Sex Cake

Better Than Sex Cake

So this cake goes way back, it was a favorite when I was a teenager, and despite how much my mom hated the name, it just stuck! I have made it with low fat options and it turned out totally fabulous....so to allow yourself an xtra slice....get the fat free cool whip and Sweetened condensed milk!

Ingredients:

1 Devils Food Cake

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup caramel syrup

1 large tub of Cool Whip

1 Candy Bar (any variety although we typically use Skor) cut or crushed in small pieces

Directions

After Baking your cake, either leave in pan or transfer to dish with a lip as you will have liquid run-off. The trick with this cake is to make sure you make while warm. Unlike the Tre Leche cake, the liquids in this one are really thick and if the cake is still warm they will more easily melt down into the cake.

Poke holes througout the cake with a fork, knife or skewer. The more holes the better!

Pour the sweetened condensed milk and Caramel over the entire top of the cake, spreading it out evenly with a spatula, spoon or I used a butter knife. Once the cake has cooled (you might want to put it in the refridgerator at this point) you will spread the cool whip over the entire cake.

Sprinkle your candy bar pieces over the top and voila!

Serves Approx 14

Tre Leche Cake

Tre Leche Cake

This is the cake that we made for a Missionaries birthday this last week. I have been trying to post semi-healthy items, but thought I would share the recipe for this calorie killer cake! Tre Leche means 3 milk. And this cake is named so because you use three milks to make it! I researched it's origin, which is semi-unknown, and has many variations. This recipe....is my variation!

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake (boxed or home made)

1 cup sweetened consensed milk (or the whole can!)

1 cup evaporated milk

3 cup heavy whipping cream

4 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp vanilla

strawberries, kiwi, mango or any other fruit for layering

Marachino cherry for garnishing

Directions:

After you have baked your cake, remove from the pan and place on a dish with a lip to help keep the liquids from running off. Poke holes in the cake with a fork, knife or skewer to allow drainage of the liquids.

Mix together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and 1 cup of the heavy whipping cream. Slowly pour over the cake allowing it to seep down before pouring it all. I didin't wait long enough I guess because there were defnitely part of my cake not soaked as much as I could have and I didn't use all my mixture.....so let it soak in then add the rest.

Beat your extra 2 cups of whipping cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Add a tablespoon at a time, the 4 Tbsp of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Add the vanilla and mix well. Layer over the cake just before serving. You can use the fruit in a variety of ways, either laying over the top of the cake before the whipping, over the whipping, or more of a garnish as I did. Or all three!! This cake is best made early in the morning or the night before to allow the milks to really soak into the cake. Remember to keep refrigerated.

Serves Approx 14

Nutritional Content.....there is none! (okay maybe in the fruit and you will get plenty of calcium!)

Yummy Healthy Pumpkin Cookies!

So I found this recipe on-line the other day when I had to make cookies for a little pre-school class I was teaching. I tweaked it a little bit (actually on accident, but I like it better this way)! Very healthy, little to no fat, and calculated to be approx. only 40 calories per cookie! Not too bad!
I'm sorry, I do not have a picture!

1 c. Canned Pumpkin
3/4 C. brown sugar
1/3 c. Applesauce
1 1/2 c. flour (I use half white, half wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
3 TBS. mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Mix together the pumpkin, sugar and applesauce. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, then add to the pumpkin, mixing well. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until done.

Yeild: 3 Dozen

Doughnuts

My mom grew up with a tradition of frying donuts on Halloween, and the last few years she's been making it a tradition at our house. We did it last saturday and had a blast. The donuts were so yummy! Thanks MOM!

Doughnuts (Spudnuts)

4 cups milk
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 cup warm water
4 Tbsp. yeast
4 eggs
2 cups mashed potatoes – or make up some potato flakes
1 tsp. nutmeg (if desired) you can also put in lemon flavoring rather than nutmeg
2 Tbsp. vanilla
2 tsp. soda
12-15 cups flour

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup water or milk
1 tsp. vanilla


Put milk, butter, sugar and salt in a bowl and put in the microwave to scald milk. Take it out just before it boils, or when the butter is fully melted. Set aside to cool. Combine yeast and water to soften yeast. Once the milk mixture has cooled, add eggs and yeast. Mix. Add nutmeg, vanilla, mashed potatoes, and soda. Then add half of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in more flour to make soft dough. Turn out and knead. Put in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size. Punch down, and roll out ½ inch thick. Cut with cutter. Place on greased sheets. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Fry in vegetable oil (375 degrees) at around medium heat. Dip in glaze.
Makes about 140 doughnuts.

Sweet Chex Mix YUMMY!!!!

My love of cooking is starting to take off....I have loved watching the food network for sometime now, and with just recently getting married I have found myself more and more wanting to cook and try new things. This recipe isn't so new, but I have discovered it when I was trying to find some goodies for a Halloween party that I was in charge of....ENJOY!! it's super super easy I made it less then 20 minutes!!

(this makes a HUGE portion, just for a quick taste I would cut the recipe in half)


MIX IN LARGE BOWL:
1 12 oz box of golden grahams
1 16 oz box of rice chex
4 cups of coconut
2 cup slivered almonds

BOIL FOR 5 MINUTES OR TO HOLD BOIL STAGE. POUR OVER CEREAL MIX AND COOL ON WAX PAPER:
1 1/2 cup butter? (not margarine)
2 cups sugar
2 cups light corn syrup