Reminder

Just reminding everyone that there won't be much in the way of Food on the Blog for the next 2 weeks, I'll be outta town and very busy!

I'll be going to my dear friend Jen's Wedding (she's on the right)

I'll be visiting my family!

And seeing beautiful Upstate New York and Hiking with my Hubby
Have a great few weeks and God Bless!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Well it is another Taste & Create recipe for the Month of May. I have to tell you there was plenty on HoneyB's website for me to want to make. But these struck me as something different. And they came through. These puppies will RISE so don't overfill, how do I know. Just trust me.

The peanut butter icing was AMAZING and the cupcake batter was perfect. Everyone I gave these to thought they were awesome. Thanks Honey B!


Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
from Peanut Butter and Jelly Co.

1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup strawberry jam
2 cups Peanut Butter Frosting (recipe will follow)

Makes 17 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 17 muffin cups with paper baking cups.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the milk. Slowly add the flour mixture and combine until the batter is uniform. Do not overmix.

Fill each cupcake liner halfway with batter. Drop a tablespoon of the jam in the center of each cupcake and then top with more batter so they are a little more than three-quarters full. (do not overfill)

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when touched lightly. Let them cool completely before icing with Peanut Butter Frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth)
5 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp whole milk (I used 2% here also)

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the butter and peanut butter together.
Add the confectioners' sugar, salt, and then the milk. Add additional tablespoons of milk or sugar to loosen or tighten the icing, respectively. For best results, use immediately.
Have a great day and God Bless!

Blog slowness expected

So Thursday early AM I am boarding a plane to Buffalo, NY to be in one of my dear friends Weddings and then DH and I will be vacationing for a week.

Tomorrow I hope to get up my Taste and Create Submission which are Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes (and are SO good).

But after that probably not too much until June 1st.

So check out the archives and YOU keep cooking! If you make something of mine leave me a comment and let me know!

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Pasta with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce

Ingredients
2 Zuccini's Quartered and sliced
2 Yellow squash Quartered and Sliced
1/4 Onion, chopped
2 Boneless skinless Chicken breasts-cut into bite sized pieces
1 Bag Pasta
1/2 Stick Butter
3 Tbsp+ 2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2-3/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Cloves Garlic- Minced
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

MMMMMMmmmmmm this turned out wonderfully. It was just something I threw together after seeing The Pioneer Woman 's baked Lemon pasta dish. Mine isn't much like her's but I feel like I should say that seeing that inspired me to make my own.

Hubby absolutely loved this, he gave it the highest rating of anything so far. He couldn't stop commenting on how good it was. It makes a wife feel good for sure, I'm glad God paired the two of us together.

So first things first. Chop up your chicken into bite sized pieces. While you are doing that warm up a big skillet over medium high heat and put your 3 Tbsp canola oil in there.
Transfer your chicken pieces and salt and pepper generously. Cook for about 3-5 minutes each side or until cooked through and then remove and put in a bowl for later.

While your chicken is cooking cut up your zucc's and squash, I sliced and quartered them because I wanted them to be small-ish. I had some leftover onion chopped up from the other night so I used that too (but it was only about 1/4 cup).

Take your pan that is now over medium heat add your butter and 2 Tbsp canola oil. Once combined add everything you have chopped. Toss around so that it is coated and cook for 10 minutes or until they are tender.

Mince 2 cloves garlic and zest 1 lemon. Add this in at the end of the cooking of the zucchini and squash and cook together while you make the sauce.

In a pot combine sour cream, milk, parmesan cheese and the juice of one lemon. Add the chicken back in and cook over medium heat to warm.

Once it is warm combine the pan of veggies to the sauce.

Ladel over cooked pasta and enjoy! Yum!

Have a great Monday and God Bless!

Broccoli Slaw (or the best stuff EVER)

Let me just tell you, oh.my.goodness. This is phenomenal. I'm SO glad I made a double batch! I was perusing Smitten Kitchen's website and found being pregnant is causing her to crave broccoli so she made THIS recipe. There really wasn't much need for me to make adjustments but I will note them in Red. Also remember I doubled her recipe, I'm going to post those as well.

2 heads of broccoli ( I used 4 medium to large broccoli heads)
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted ( I used 1 cup Dry Roasted sunflower kernels)
1/3 cup dried cranberries ( 2/3 cup)
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (3/4 medium onion, minced)

Buttermilk Dressing
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken (I used 1 cup whole milk, plus 2 tbsp white vinegar)
1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used 2/3 Cup)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar (I used the same, whoops)
1 tablespoon sugar ( I used the same)
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (I didn't add more than the 3/4 from above)

Salt and Pepper to taste

First off I HATE doing dishes, yuck! So I always try to use as few as possible. So I made the dressing first.

Put your mayo in the bottom of a big bowl ( I used a cute tupperware one, so I could put it all in the fridge, and covered later).

In a pyrex measuring cup, measure your milk and vinegar (or buttermilk if you are way cooler than me) and let it set for a few minutes.

Then pour that into the bowl with the mayo, add the sugar and cider vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk until smooth.

Now take your broccoli and slice them off just where it starts to stem to each piece. Then I just cut off the floret cut it in half (or thirds depending how big it was), cut the stem in half and threw them into the dressing mixture. Repeat until you've cut all of that yummy goodness up (Did you know broccoli is a good source of calcium?). Broccoli is my favorite veggie. If you couldn't tell.

Cut up your onion, mince it. Throw it in.

Now measure out 1 Cup Sunflower Kernels (oh man this was a great substitute in my book)

Then 2/3 Cup Cranberries.

Now grab your salad fork and spoon and mix, making sure to coat everything.

Then I covered it and put it in the fridge for an hour so it was nice and cold.

This was all I could have wanted and more, sweet, tangy, fairly good for you, with tons of broccoli. Let me suggest trying it with the sunflower kernels, mmmm.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Sauteed Garlic Zucchini and Squash

Ingredients
2 Medium Zucchini's
2 Medium Yellow Squash
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

So I went to the store on Monday as usual and these yummy veggies were on sale $1/lb. So I picked up about 4 each just to break up the monotony of life at my house. Where we eat lots of salad and lots of broccoli. Both of which I love, but boring.

Wash your veggies.

Warm up a big pan to medium high heat.

Now slice them about 1/2 inch thick. Put them in a bowl and toss with 2 Tbsp Olive Oil.

Put them in the pan and salt and pepper them. Don't be afraid to put a pretty good amount in.

Sautee them, flipping occasionally for about 5-8 minutes. Then in the last 2-4 minutes add your minced garlic. You want it to get sweet. But not bitter.

Cover them for the last few minutes so they steam a bit.

mmmm this was just right. And tomorrow I'll post a Broccoli Slaw that will knock your flip flops off!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Spinach Florentine Lasagna Rollups

My dear friend and her daughter came over the other day. She's a SAHM and I had the day off so we decided to get together. She brought her cutie daughter and we made this together. This is a recipe that she had. It was very good. It's a great vegetarian recipe if you need one for friends.

(This is my friend and her sweet, sweet daughter in a wrap that she made, so talented)

Ingredients
10 oz Frozen Spinach
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Onion Chopped (we used 1 tsp onion powder)
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 Garlic Clove Minced (we used 1/2 Tbsp)
1 egg slightly beaten
4 oz shredded Mozzarella Cheese
10 Lasagna Noodles
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
A few sprigs Flat Leaf Parsley

Boil your Lasagna noodles until they are Al Dente. You don't want to over cook them because you will put them in the oven later.

While they are boiling combine your Cream Cheese and Egg in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Then add your Spinach (rinsed in warm water and squeezed out of all water),Onion, Parmesan Cheese, Garlic, Parsley and Pepper. Mix well.

When your noodles are done rinse them under cold water in a colander.

Put one noodle flat on a cutting board. Put one heaping tablespoon in the middle and smooth out over all of the noodle. Top with a little mozzarella cheese.

(yup, it's me, in the flesh, my friend thought it might be fun to actually see me in the blog)
(ok, I'm sure you are sick of seeing me now. Back to the food)

Now preheat your oven to 350* (by the time you are done rolling it will be ready!)

Then roll up the noodle into a cute little roll up.

In a 9 x 11" pan put 1/3 of your jar of sauce on the bottom.

Put the rollup in the pan and continue to roll until all 10 are done and in the pan.

Pour the rest of jar of sauce on top and top with more Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 min at 350*

This was a great meal, it had a nice creamy filling and it was much quicker than a regular lasagna.
Have a great day and God Bless!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Let me tell you first off that this is one thing that I remember my Mommy making alot when I was growing up. I loved it and always asked her to make it. Originally my mom clipped this from a Bisquick box in the 80's but Betty Crocker does not have it on the site.

So I called mom and she read it to me over the phone!

So here it is : Adapted from Bisquick Box circa 1987

Ingredients
Filling:
1 Package Cream Cheese softened
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 tsp almond extract ( I used vanilla)

For Dough
2 Cups Bisquick ( I used pioneer brand)
1/3 Cup milk
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter

Topping
1/4 cup Fruit Preserves ( I used 1/2 cup of Strawberry preserves)
1/3 cup sliced almonds ( I omitted)

Servings- 9

Preheat oven to 350*

In a bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Mix Well

In another bowl mix baking mix, milk, sugar and butter until it forms a dough.

In a 9x9 pan place the dough in the bottom and flatten so it covers the bottom and goes 1" up the sides.

Add the filling and spread so it is flat.

Warm your preserves a bit so they are easier to spread.

And CAREFULLY spread them out as evenly as you can.

Then pop in the over for 40 minutes or until the cream cheese filling is mostly set.

This is just heavenly, don't take my word for it. Make it for yourself! DH even helped out!

Have a great day and God Bless