My Pastor Loves Me

I have a rather large sweet tooth. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner: Dessert is always a viable option. Always. You only think I am kidding. 

I realize this might not always be the most nutritional choice, but it is dessert. It makes my taste buds scream with joy.  Other food groups are good, I guess. They just aren't as good as dessert. 

Now, here is a dessert that my pastor sent to the congregation. Of course, I had to try it. It was a necessity. Since he sent it, I have made it not once, but twice. It is just That good. 

The very best part: it is healthy. Well, kinda. Bananas make it healthy, right?

Greg Matte's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 stick butter, softened

2 eggs

4 medium ripe bananas

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips (next time I am going to try dark chocolate)

Step One:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of the bundt pan and dust with flour.

Step Two: Mix sugar and butter in a large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended.  Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining ingredients (except the chocolate chips) until moistened. Now you can go ahead and add the chips.

Step Three: Pour into the bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is light brown. Let it cool for 5 minutes before you remove it from the pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Step Four: Serve warm with butter and a glass of cold milk. 

The milk really does make it that much better, I promise.

This cake is pretty dense. The original recipe called for three bananas, but it didn't have that good banana taste that I love, so I added another banana. 

Reasons why it is a perfect dessert: It works for breakfast and dessert. Can dessert get any better?

Macaroni & Cheese Cuppycakes.

Mac & Cheese: good. Cupcakes: superb. Bacon: wonderful. I cannot see this meal going wrong. 

This was the perfect solution for a work lunch party. The recipe makes enough for the 20+ people in my office, and who doesn't love macaroni and cheese? It is always a crowd favorite, obviously. No one had to worry about their eyes being bigger than their stomach because they were already portioned out. And, it made it easy for everyone to at least try the cupcake. They could very easily pick something out if they didn't like it (but, really, what's not to love?).  The best part was, it didn't take too long to make. Just combine the ingredients, line the muffin pan, pour and bake. Voila! You have an amazing appetizer that everyone will love. I will most certainly be making this again. 

I again, adapted this from How Sweet It Is. I just put my own spin on it. Because, well, Bacon is way better than zucchini. It's just a fact. Here is what I put together:

1 regular size bag of pasta (I chose shells, but it can be whatever)

1 bag of shredded Italian 5 Cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered

1 small package of bacon, cooked and torn into bits

2 cups bread crumbs

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt & pepper

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400.

Step 2: Boil pasta and set aside in a large bowl. Meanwhile chop up the tomatoes and bacon. This is where you can add as much salt and pepper as your little heart desires.

Step 3: Spray cupcake tins with some non-stick spray (Pam) and coat with breadcrumbs. You have to be pretty liberal here. Go big or go home. Once you have added the breadcrumbs, shake off any excess.

Step 4: Come back to the pasta bowl. Add the bag of shredded cheese and combine it with all the pasta goodness. Then, go ahead and fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with the pasta-cheese heaven. 

Step 5: Now it is time to top the pasta mixture with those tomatoes and bacon. Yum. This is where you can kind of get creative. The tomatoes & bacon need to be placed throughout the mixture. You don't want all of that flavor just at the top of the cupcake. Let the bottom of the cupcake get in on some of the goodness. 

Step 5: Top with a drizzle of olive oil, some Parmesan and whatever is left of your breadcrumbs.  

Step 6: Bake for 12-15 minutes. Once they are completely cool, you can very, very gently remove them with a spoon. 

My pictures do not even begin to do these little cuppycakes justice. I'm working on it though. 

BBQ Pasta Bake. Yum!

Aahhhh! I can't believe I wasn't able to post yesterday! Between not feeling too well, attempting to train, starting an exciting project, and spending time with good friends I simply got distracted. I apologize.

I will make it up to you with this great recipe! Again from How Sweet It Is. I have really started to like this whole cooking business. While trying new recipes, I am able to enjoy quality time with new and old friends. And they are an excellent help. This recipe would have gone terribly wrong if one of my friends wouldn't have been there to help me with the roux. It would have helped if I knew what  a Roux was.

This recipe is somewhat adapted. 

Here is what I got:

1 medium package of cooked pasta

2 pieces of boneless chicken breast, shredded

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1/2 tablespoon butter

1/2 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup milk

1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1 small onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare pasta and shredded chicken and set aside. In a small sauce pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and sliced onions with a sprinkle of sea salt and let caramelized – about 10 minutes.  During this time, combine shredded chicken with 2 tablespoons bbq sauce. Once onions are caramelized, set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and whisk in flour to create a roux. Immediately add milk and turn down to low heat. Add a small amount of cheese and stir until cheese is melted and mixture thickens – about 2-3 minutes.

In the casserole dish, alternate layering pasta, bbq chicken, and onions. Add cheese mixture, throughly mixing it all together. Top with additional cheese sauce, remaining shredded cheese, BBQ sauce drizzles and panko bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Yum!

I am not one for leftovers most of the time. But this one, I could not get enough of it! The cheese sauce gives it this creamy texture. The BBQ sauce adds a great tangy flavor. And, who doesn't love cheese? 

My Original Idea for the Pinterest Challenge

Okay, okay. I know that the Pinterest Challenge ended last Tuesday. However, I needed my project for this past Friday for my good friend's birthday party! Tuesday would have been way too early to have it ready.

Here is the result of my REAL Pinterest Challenge. And, yes, I did make it completely from scratch.

Things I learned:
1. Cake Flour Really Does Make a Difference
2. Stiff Peaks form after about 10 minutes of beating icing.
3. You shouldn't make icing in a plastic bowl (not really sure completely why this is).

I took this pin to create it:

I followed the recipe to a tee. This project took me two days to complete. Two days. I am not a patient one, so this is a HUGE accomplishment. 

Day One: Make the Cake

1. Gather the Ingredients

2. Mix it all up.

3. Split it up and add some coloring.  Bake & Freeze. 

Day 2: The Icing

1. Beat the icing until stiff peaks form.

2. Ice & Enjoy. 

The cake and party were a hit! Challenged completed.

Happy Birthday, Pam!

Pesto Pizza

Pizza. 

Always a winner. 

I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like the idea of pizza. It is so versatile. Everyone is happy on pizza night. And, while it has a not-so-healthy stereotype, it has almost all the food groups, which sounds pretty healthy to me (please ignore the heaps of cheesy goodness).  

A couple of weekends ago, my sweet cousin came to visit me! I always love it when we are able to get together. 

(My Birthday several years ago)

Now, Lauren Loves to cook. She is a nutrition major at Texas A&M and could spend hours in the grocery store if you let her. This comes in very handy for my EpiCURIOUS Adventure. So, what did we do Saturday night, combined two of my favorite things...Pizza and fellowship. 

Here was our recipe...and by ours, I mean Lauren's:

A ready made Pizza Crust (we used Boboli) 

Jar of Pesto

Shredded Mozzarella

A medium Tomato

Feta (as much as you think is good)

Sliced Mushrooms

chopped basil

Bottle of white wine

Preheat the oven to 350. And find a cookie sheet large enough to fit the crust. 

Spread as much pesto as your heart desires over the crust and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes. This makes the crust less doughy. I love a crispy crust. 

The beautiful thing about pizza is that there is no right or wrong. We arranged the ingredients as we liked and covered it in cheese. I probably added more than Lauren would have liked, but cheese is Always a good thing. I am sorry if you are lactose-intolerant. Then popped it back in the oven until the cheese started to brown. I get distracted very easily, so I set a timer for 15 minutes so I wouldn't forget about it. This turned out to be delicious! The crust was perfect, and it had just the right amount of cheese. 

Take it out, let it cool, slice it up, serve with wine. Yum!

Camp Blessing

Meet my best friend. Her name is Betty.

The Tourist & The Scuba Diver

We've pretty much been besties since I lived on her couch my sophomore year of college. I cannot say enough great things about this girl. She is almost always willing to join in whatever impulsive thing I am ready to jump into. Random Scavenger Hunt around town with only 30 minutes to put together the clues? You betcha! Immediately volunteering to dress up like fairies at any given chance? That's us! Driving to 45 minutes to meet each other after work on a random Tuesday? Of course. She has also been there for me in some pretty nasty situations. Computer & Car crash in the same day? She was right by my side in said fairy costume. I don't know what I would do without her. 

(Slightly scary!)

Okay, but enough of this mumbo jumbo. Isn't it Wednesday? Aren't I supposed to be talking about my EpiCURIOUS Adventure? Yes, but first I need to explain my meal for the week. About two weeks ago I went to go meet Betty at this Amazing special needs camp called Camp Blessing. I should mention she is a Special Education Teacher. She does a lot for this camp. A ton. She plans all year for this camp on top of her lesson plans and everything else. She is constantly busy. 

(That's her on the right)

But, she recently told me that she was missing a good home cooked meal. Something other than camp food. So when she asked me to come visit and watch the camper's talent show, I jumped! It was the perfect opportunity for me to provide her that good home cooked meal (and try a new recipe)! What! What!

Here is what I made: Crunchy Honey Chicken

I was in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't get to take any pictures. This is definitely Jessica's picture & creation from How Sweet It Is. Have I mentioned how much I love her? Because I do. She is always coming up with something new!

This recipe was way more difficult than the Salmon. The salmon was a walk in the park. It was my first time to cut up chicken. And, I don't really know if I breaded it correctly. There are just a lot of steps that run together, and I am just not that talented. I'm pretty sure I didn't follow the directions very well. But, from what I understand it rocked. Betty said it resembled a stir fry. I didn't know what that meant. Sure! A Stir Fry. I did make it on a skillet. And it called for Soy Sauce. But that was about all I could offer. 

Best Part was I got to add this scrumptious little treat to go with it. And then I was forced to take it to work with me so I wouldn't eat the whole pan! Trust me, I very easily could have.

Recipe & Picture are Here.

Mine had a bit of hot fudge on top (so I couldn't see the white chocolate chips, white foods gross me out. Strange, I know).

Sweet, Sweet Tooth

Mondays are not my friend. They just aren't. I just want to curl up and hide...almost every Monday. Mondays mornings mean I have to wait a full 5 days before I can spend my days doing absolutely whatever I choose. The sad part is, I can wake up early just fine on Saturdays and Sundays. But Monday. Oh, Monday. Waking up early just does not happen. The very sad part about this is, I wake up at 7:30 in the morning. 7:30 is not early. Most people I know have to be at work by 7:30. So, I really can't complain. And, then I found this little gem. It makes my Monday a little better.

Because it is "my day," I am going to share with you number 37 on my list. Just this year I realized that it isn't that difficult to bake from scratch. If you don't want to go out and buy some break & bake cookies or a box of brownie mix, you can just as easily find some ingredients laying around your kitchen that will make a scrumptious comfort. Because let's face it. Desserts are definitely a comfort food. They really hit the spot.

37. Make 50 Desserts from scratch.

Don't you just want to devour these right here, right now?!

I've already made 4 new desserts. And, I am going to share this one with you first. The Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie. Is there anything better? I submit that there is not. I found the recipe on Pinterest. If you haven't joined the Pinterest bandwagon yet, I highly encourage it. This website will change your life. Seriously. 

The recipe is super simple, and they are really good. Growing up there were always two things in our pantry. Oreos and Capri Suns. I have a special place in my heart for these black and white cookies.  And, anyone can make these. Just make some chocolate chip cookies using the recipe of your choosing. I find that refrigerating the cookie dough for an hour really helps when forming the "dough balls." Just take two of those balls and place them on each side of the Oreo. Make sure that the dough is completely covering the Oreo. A friend and I did some minor experimenting, and it is a much better idea to really mold the dough around the Oreo. Then just bake the cookies for about 13 minutes, and there you have it. A melt in your mouth, bursting with flavor (if those two things can go together) cookie!

pinterest

P.S. I am totally open to new dessert recipes to try out. 

EpiCURIOUS Adventures: Asiago Baked Salmon

Okay, so we have already determined I cannot cook. At all. But yet, I am determined to make some delicious food! Luckily for me (and not so luckily for my wallet), a brand spankin' new Whole Foods just opened up by my house.  I already know this will be dangerous in the future. However, with its grand opening, I got what any girl could ever want! Coupons. I am a sucker for coupons. They save you tons (um, hello, extreme couponing). I don't care if they are possibly gimmicks. If I have a coupon, I will use it. It is like a law of nature or something. So, my Whole Foods coupon was pretty sweet. All I had to do was spend $30.00 and (drum roll, please) A FREE pound of Fresh Atlantic Salmon. See, I told you it was sweet! It is really, Really easy to spend $30 at Whole Foods. Mm..Salmon. So flavorful and fresh, almost decadent. And, it makes you feel a bit fancy when you eat it.

So, of course I HAVE to make some salmon. I carefully think this meal out. What can I make with Salmon? What will be easy enough for me to pull off as my first real meal to make from scratch? Salmon is normally expensive ($14.99 without the coupon), therefore that means it must be difficult to prepare, right? Wrong. Again, I went to How Sweet It Is and did a quick search for Salmon. And I found a recipe for this Asiago Salmon! It didn't seem too hard...I had absolutely no Idea what a Shallot was, but other than that I was in pretty good shape. 

So after my cooking-inspiring trip to Whole Foods I came home and stared at the Salmon for a little while. You see, Jessica's recipe doesn't say anything about preparing the fish. This fish still had it scales! What was I going to do? I couldn't serve my friends who were coming over very shortly scales! Sick Out! (All of you who frequently prepare Salmon can go ahead and have a good laugh right about now) So in a complete panic I google preparing Salmon. I am yelling down to my roommates for help with no avail. What in the world am I going to do?? After about 3 or 4 websites, I finally realize, you cook the salmon with the scales.  Once its cooked the scales/skin easily comes off. Boy, did I feel relieved, and slightly silly for panicking. 

I had about 3 minutes until my friends came over for dinner. I quickly combined the ingredients together. 

(Those purple things are the Shallots. Apparently they are a type of baby/miniature onion)

Then after they were all mixed together, I went ahead and added it on top of the fish.

Baked it for a little while, and next thing I knew, I was a Master Salmon Baker! I definitely deserved a Gold Star for the success that is this dish. It was so incredibly easy. Even I could do it without a single hitch (I am choosing to ignore my minor panic attack in preparing the Salmon). 

Wow. It was so mouth-watering good, too! I couldn't believe I actually made it! Mixed with some garlic asparagus and berries, perfect summer meal.  My friends loved it! I wasn't really done by the time they got to my house, but I'm so glad I had them there to share my first feat. One down, 99 to go. Top Chef, here I come!

Recipe is Here.

EpiCURIOUS Adventures

This is the era of trying new things, Of breaking out of the ordinary, veering away from…Velveeta Mac & Cheese.

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 Yea, so…about that. Cooking and I, we have never been much of friends. Sure, I can make some mean French toast and some killer brownies from a box, but as for that other stuff (you know, the Real food like meat & veggies) we have just never understood one another in the kitchen. It always ends in tears of frustration...usually only on my end. 

My friends love to laugh at my cooking abilities. Once, I wanted to make a baked sweet potato using the microwave. Bad Idea. Thankfully, I knew not to wrap it up in foil…but that was about all I knew. So I gently washed the potato and threw it in the microwave. This can’t be too hard, I thought to myself. People do this all the time. My roommates do this all the time. The microwave is even ready for me! It has this nice little button called “Potato.” Boy, was I wrong. Apparently, you are supposed to poke it a bunch of times and wrap it up in plastic wrap. Who knew? I still can’t say that I am comfortable with the idea of making a baked potato.

But, come on! I am 23 years old…the world is my oyster. I should be able to make Something. Anything. I need to know what the difference between mincing and chopping is! About six months ago I came across this absolutely hilarious blog How Sweet It Is. Now, this is right up my ally. I’m in love. She had me at tuna…without the mayo. 

yum!

 As I continued to read, I noticed something. All her recipes looked fairly simple (fairly being a relative term, remember the potato), delicious, and they are made from scratch. I could be the next Betty Crocker! So after marveling at her sheer genius in the kitchen for a couple of weeks, I decided. I should start making meals from scratch on a weekly basis. What other way am I going to learn how to cook? This decision came before my list, so it entered on to my 6-weekly goals. Make a meal from scratch once a week for 6 weeks. That can’t be too hard! But then my list came along. I had to include cooking on my list! It was practically a necessity. At first I thought I would be safe and only make 35 new meals. But, 35 out of 1001 days...kinda wimpy. So I am going bold. 100 new meals from scratch in the next 1001 days. It will be quite the adventure!

2. Make 100 new meals from scratch

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Any Good Ideas in what I should make in the next 998 days??