Chocolate and orange and lime OH MY!

Hello gentle people!!!

I know it has been a little while since I have done a post and I can only point the finger at myself for that. However I am back at it; hosting and cooking!! I invited a few friends over last night and we had a cupcake night. As my previous posts have stated, I am NOT a baker so I didn’t have a wide range of flavors. I created Orange-lime cupcakes and white chocolate orange-lime cupcakes with an orange glaze icing. The reactions that I received were AMAZING!!  These are definitely a must try recipe.  There is a slight difference between the two recipes and that is simply adding white chocolate chips to the batter. MMMM MMMM GOOD!!

Recipe

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
• 2 1/2 tsp. orange extract (if you can’t find it, use orange juice instead)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 c. lime or lemon juice
• 3/4 c. water

Preheat the oven to 350°. Put muffin cups in the tins.

Blend the sugar and margarine together and beat in the eggs and extract. Add the water and lime juice and mix well, then incorporate the dry ingredients.

Mix until smooth and fill muffin tins. Bake for 30 min. or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake!

Note: To create the White Chocolate Orange-lime cupcakes just add white chocolate chips to the batter.

Orange Glaze

• 1  cup powdered sugar
• 1  tablespoon milk or water
• 1/2  teaspoon orange extract or freshly squeezed orange juice

Blend all the ingredients together then dip the cupcakes in the glaze.

Bon Apetit

Pillsbury Dough Who?

Buttermilk Biscuits

 

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 pound (one stick) cold butter
1 cup buttermilk

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir the ingredients.  Slice the cold butter into the flour mixture.  Use a pastry knife or a kitchen knife to cut the butter into the flour mixture.  Work the butter into the flour mixture with your hands until you have a coarse, grainy mixture. 
2. Gradually add the buttermilk and knead the dough until it becomes the consistency of cookie dough or just a bit stiffer.  If it is not moist enough, add another tablespoon of buttermilk. 
3. On a lightly floured counter top, roll your dough out about a half inch thick and cut into circles, using a lightly floured circle shaped cookie cutter (if you don’t have one a tea cup should do just fine.)
4. Place your biscuits on the lined baking sheet and brush the top with the buttermilk.
5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the biscuits just begin to brown.  Remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool. 

Some things I learned about making buttermilk biscuits:

1. The hot oven gives the dough a burst of steam that helps make the biscuits light and airy.
2. The alkaline baking soda reacts with the acid buttermilk creating bubbles and a lighter texture.  There is not enough baking soda to completely react with the buttermilk so the tangy taste of buttermilk still comes through.
3. The density in your flour mixture will affect the amount of liquid needed.  If you spoon light flour into the measure, it should be about right for the liquid noted in the ingredients. 
4. Make the biscuits of uniform size and shape so that they will bake uniformly.  Protruding bits of dough can be pushed back in with a wet finger.  (I didn’t need to do this)

Cran-orange Buttermilk Breakfast cake

 Tired of the same ole thing for breakfast all the time? Need a change in your morning routine? Well try out this Cran-orange buttermilk breakfast cake recipe now for free (except for the cost of  ingredients).  This melt in your mouth dish goes great with a cup of tea or coffee for my caffeine addicted readers. I promise you’ll love it or your money back gauranteed (take that up with your grocery store)!!!  

Just playin! 🙂

My baking skills are in serious need of improvement, so I’ve been trying to use not so complicated recipes to practice until I become a much better baker. As my skills progress my recipes will become more and more complicated. I plan to go from  THIS              

       

  TO THIS!!

You get the idea! So I found a recipe for Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast cake which is cool but cran-orange sounded soo much better to me. Unfortunately the grocery store I went to didn’t have fresh cranberries so I used cherries instead. Oddly enough it still tasted like cranberries so I win either way!  🙂

Ingredients:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
• 1.5 tsp. orange zest or more
• 7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp.  salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• ½ cup buttermilk (you may need to add a little more depending on the texture)

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with  zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the cherries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the cherries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness for cooked texture. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. (make sure to use the right size pan, if your pan is too large the texture will be off)

Note: if you prefer your breakfast cake to be sweet, add another cup of sugar. This amount stated above is not so sweet so it gives you more of a breakfast item taste and not a dessert item taste.  ENJOY

Bon Apetit!

Rice Pilaf

 

Weekends are when I tend to experiment the most, it’s also the time I feed my very picky brothers the most. Many meals just aren’t as appreciated by them if rice isn’t involved. You can have 3 different kinds of starch and the number 1 question will be “No rice?”.  With that being the case it can be very easy to become monotonous. So I made up my own rice pilaf dish. Pilaf is a class of rice dishes, most commonly referring to rice cooked in a seasoned broth with meat or vegetables.

*measurements will change depending on how many people you are serving. When feeding my brothers I cook for 10 9. (i’m serious though)*

Ingredients

• Basmati Rice (about 7 cups)
• Chicken broth (vegetable broth can be substituted) (1 box)
• coconut milk ( 3/4 can)
• shredded carrots (as much or as little as you like)
• pine nuts (1 small bag)
• tumeric ( about 2 table spoons)
• coriander (about 1 table spoon)
• salt (to taste)

Here’s how it’s done:

Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, tumeric, coriander and salt and bring to a boil.

Once the liquid is boiling add the rice. While the rice is cooking, toast the pine nuts in a seperate pan.

When the rice is 3/4 of the way finished cooking add the shredded carrots, then let the rice finish steaming. In the last 5 minutes of steaming add the pine nuts. Once the rice is fully cooked you have a delicious rice pilaf to eat.

 Bon Apetit!!

Dress it up!

There is nothing better than a great salad with the perfect dressing. And sure, Kraft’s makes a decent Italian dressing but how about a homemade Ginger Scallion vinaigrette with less calories and ingredients that you can actually pronounce. Even better, a Lime Cilantro Dressing to top those crunchy carrots and tasty tomatoes. Sounds delicious right? Well, I have the recipes for you. I stole was given these recipes by my wonderful mother (who btw is one of the best cooks I know). SHOUT OUT TO MY MOMMY!!! She loves salads and makes a lot of her own dressings. These are two of my favorites so far.(sorry I only have a picture of one of them)

    Ginger Scallion Vinaigrette

•  1. 3 cloves garlice, minced
•  2. 1 tbsp grated ginger
•  3. 1/2 cup scallion finely chopped
•  4. 3 tbs honey
•  5. 4 tbsp soy sauce
•  6. 2 tbsp lemon juice
•  7. 2  tsp sesame oil
•  8. 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

 Whisk everything together. Pour oil in gradually when combining.

      Lime Cilantro Dressing

1.  1/4 cup cilantro
2. 1/2 cup garlic
3. 1/4 cup lime juice (about 3 times)
4. 1 tbsp honey
5. 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (my mom puts cayenne pepper in everything..it’s supposed to be really good for you)
6. 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
7. 1/4 tsp sea salt

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor, then enjoy!!

Bon Apetit!

To drink or not to drink?

In my Pestoccini blog post, I spoke about a potluck that I attended. For that same potluck I was in charge of making juice. The simple thing to do would have been to buy some Simply Lemonade with mango, one of the best drinks in the world! But being the creative person that I am, that wasn’t good enough for me. I found two drink ideas that I decided to try and I shall share my thoughts about the two.

1. Exotic Drink – Unfortunately I lost the link  but it’s probably because my taste buds and brain can’t relive the horror that is this drink. I am convinced that the person who came up with this recipe hates all people. That is the only reason I could think of that would make anyone serve this. It was a combo of cranberry juice, orange juice, lemon juice and carbonated water. Luckily I  tested the juice before serving it to the masses, so I  quickly remedied the situation by created a cranberry, lemon and gingerale mix. (try it)

2. Citrus Mint Cooler – This juice deserves all its praises. Kathy Burkholder shared this recipe that her grandmother created. May I say, her grandmother is a juice genius. I definitely recommend this drink to be served at any brunch, potluck, cocktail party etc that is being held. My only critique is that it may be too sweet for some people (like myself) so I added extra water. Others may want to just cut the sugar amount in half. But overall this drink will be a hit at any function!!

~Bon Apetit!

(sorry I forgot to take pics..no bueno!)

Pestoccini

 

I’m not very good when it comes to making up great names for my dishes but I figured Pestoccini is better than “A Pasta Dish”. 🙂 This past Saturday a friend of mine (Hi Nicholi) had a potluck at his humble abode and I decided to create a new pasta dish. One of our staples for these potlucks is Macaroni & cheese  Macaroni Pie but I wanted to do something different. After looking through many recipes and consulting my “sous chef” (Hi Jeannee), I came up with an easy recipe that tastes great. For my carnivores you can easily substitute the vegetarian sausage with regular sausage or chicken.

Ingredients

• 2 boxes of Fettuccini pasta
• 1.5 containers of Pesto (7oz containers)
• 1/2 jar of  Alfredo sauce
• 2 heads of Broccoli
• red, yellow and orange peppers
• Tofurkey: Italian Sausage 
• salt and pepper
• oil

Steps

Begin by bringing a pot of water with oil and salt to a boil. Once your water is boiling add your pasta and cook until tender. While your pasta is cooking, cut and sear your broccoli and peppers. You can season your veges if you like. All I added was a little salt and pepper.  Don’t cook your veges too long because you want them to still have a crunch. About 5-10minutes at the most on a medium high heat. I also seared the “sausage” in another pan at the same time.

Once your pasta is cooked, drain and put it into a bowl. (You can put it into a pot if you would like but there is no more cooking to be done.) In that bowl add your pasta, sausage and veges and stir. Next add your pesto and fettuccini sauce. I used about 1.5 small containers of pesto  and about 1/2 a  jar of  alfredo sauce but you can add as much or as little as you like. Homemade pesto is usually the best but time did not allow for that. (Look out for a blog post soon on making pesto from scratch.) Once the pasta’s taste is to your liking, serve and ENJOY!

 ~ Bon Apetit!

                                   

Lee’s comment corner

Tofurkey products can be found in most major grocery stores. However, I don’t see the Italian sausage as much as their other products.  It can definitely be found at Trader Joes, Safeway and sometimes Shoppers Food Warehouse.

Lee’s sauce-less pasta

I made up this recipe because I really wanted to make pasta but I wasn’t in the mood for pasta sauces.  It turned out to be a really great dish. This recipe is definitely a must try, especially if you are looking for a meatless, cheese-less and/or sauce-less pasta dishes.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 5 cloves of garlic (or to your taste)
• celery (finely chopped)
• red pepper
• orange pepper
• yellow pepper
• Grillers Crumbles
• pasta (spaghetti or angel hair pasta can be used)
• powdered seasonings (including salt)
• oil

 

 

 

Steps

• Boil a pot of water with salt and oil
• Add pasta and cook til tender
• While the pasta is cooking, finely chop the onions, celery, and peppers. Then mince the garlic.
• In a separate pot add a little oil to sear your chopped ingredients. Then add the Grillers crumbles and stir ingredients.
• You can begin seasoning the vegetables and vege meat or you can season everything at once (I started seasoning the veges and  vege meat)
• Once your pasta has cooked, drain and add to the veges and crumbles. Stir and seasoning everything using the seasonings in the picture or your seasonings of choice.  Once the pasta is seasoned to your liking, serve and eat!  You can add cheese if you so desire, I didn’t.

Bon Apetit!!

Brittle Success

“In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.” Anthony J. D’Angelo

A few posts back I tried to make peanut brittle. If most of you remember, it turned out to be a complete and utter mess. If you don’t recall or this is your first time viewing my blog here is a link to view the disappointment that should have been peanut brittle.   After some much needed therapy time, I finally got the courage to attempt this recipe again and all I can say is VICTORY!! *cue party music and confetti*

Ok, enough of the dramatics. Here is how it all went down.

Ingredients

1 cup peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup water
pinch of baking powder

Cooking steps:
1. Make the caramel. Place the sugar and water in a thick bottomed pan. Turn the heat to high and bring the water and sugar to the boil without stirring. Then lower the heat to medium-high and continue boiling. After about 8 minutes, the mixture will start to brown. Continue boiling until the liquid is the color of amber.
2. When the caramel has turned amber, add the baking powder and then the peanuts. Stir until all the peanuts are evenly coated with the caramel.
3. Pour into the greased baking paper and using the rolling pin, roll until evenly spread to about 1/4 cm. thickness. While still hot, cut into squares using a sharp knife.

I originally found this recipe from a fellow blogger and when I posted my mishap she was kind enough to respond and tell me some mistakes I could have made. The first thing I did differently was use almonds. So this is almond brittle not peanut brittle. Why did I use almonds? 1. I loooove almonds.2. I figured I should try something different for good luck 3. I ran out out of peanuts and didn’t realize it until I had already started melting the sugar. I realized that the main mistake I made was stirring the sugar way before its time. During the melting stages.. DO NOT STIR!! I repeat DO  NOT STIR!!! After the first picture below,I began stirring.

I also didn’t need to use a rolling pin, and I cut the brittle into squares halfway through the cooling process. In doing that it’s not so hot that you can’t cut it but not so cool that it’s too hard. I finally conquered this delicious treat, which really isn’t hard to create as long as you DO NOT STIR before the right time. Bon Apetit! 🙂

Slutty Brownies

I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate but many people are, especially some of my closest friends. When I found this recipe I figured it would be a great treat to provide for my chocolate junkies. Slutty brownies are simply a layer of chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cookies and brownies! It really must have been delicious(lee)  🙂 because I didn’t even get a good picture of the finished product. I found this recipe while stumbling one day and I definitely recommend it.

So to answer the big question. WHY ARE THEY CALLED SLUTTY BROWNIES? *insert drum roll here* “They’re called Slutty Brownies because they’re oh so easy, and more than a little bit filthy.” (a direct quote from the author of the recipe I used) For the exact recipe click HERE or the first link above.

Ingredients needed:

• cookie mix
• brownie mix
• oreos
• eggs
• oil

Lee’s Tips

ADD ICE CREAM!! (especially if the brownie is warm)

Bon Apetit!!!