I recently caved to peer pressure and joined Pinterest. That's where I found a photo of a beautiful-looking salad from Espresso and Cream and decided to make it for dinner. Except for the addition of pomegranate seeds, I followed Madison's recipe to a T, so I'm not going to give you the blow-by-blow here. You can find the recipe here, but in case you want to know what's in it first, here are the ingredients:
Romaine lettuce
pears
dried cranberries
chopped pecans
crumbled bacon!
feta cheese
poppy seed dressing
balsamic vinaigrette dressing
I fed this to myself, Mr.4444, and three young college guys who thought it was fantastic. It's as delicious as it is pretty!
Mrs.4444 Cooks
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Dawn's Kick-Butt Cheesy Potatoes
My friend, Dawn, made these potatoes for our Halloween party, and they were a big hit. I don't have a photo (too busy that night), but I do want to share the recipe.
1 red onion, diced
1/2 stick butter
2 bags hash browns
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Vegetables (mushrooms, green pepper, broccoli) optional
Saute onions until soft. Put all in a crockpot and heat 4-6 hours on low (first hour on high) or bake in the oven.
If you bake it, add a topping.
Warning: This recipe is a beast on a crockpot (messy), but that's what dish soap and hot water are for, right?
1 red onion, diced
1/2 stick butter
2 bags hash browns
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Vegetables (mushrooms, green pepper, broccoli) optional
Saute onions until soft. Put all in a crockpot and heat 4-6 hours on low (first hour on high) or bake in the oven.
If you bake it, add a topping.
Warning: This recipe is a beast on a crockpot (messy), but that's what dish soap and hot water are for, right?
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Christmas Cake Pops
It's Christmas Eve day, so I don't have a lot of time,
but I wanted to share my Christmas Cake Pops that I made this morning.
Are these beautiful, or what?!
Dark Chocolate Cake (per box directions)
Milk Chocolate Frosting
Dark Chocolate Candy Coating
Mini M&Ms
Peppermint Candies
Green Melts
I made the dough last night. I whipped these up this morning, in about two hours.
Cake bites are a lot faster to make than cake pops (which require a stick).
I got a real kick out of decorating these.
So simple, and yet so pretty.
If you're lucky, you'll receive this little collection as a present tonight.
Merry Christmas!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Somebody's Gonna Get Gobbled Up!
It's Kendall's turn to bring a treat to Spanish class at her high school.
She found inspiration from Bakerella, but WOW--These turned out great!
Can you guess what kind of cake pops Kendall decided to make?
Tools of the trade...
Assembly line focus....
How cute are these?!
Chocolate-covered raisins, butterscotch-flavored beaks,
eyes from Creative Cake Supply.
Wattles with "homemade" fondant (cherry-flavored Tootsie Rolls)!
Yes, I know--I'm a genius.
Pretzel legs inserted carefully...
(She painted those nails herself. Clearly, we 4444s are not afraid of tedious tasks!)
Double-stuffed oreos with chocolate candy corn await...
I know, right? Seriously, seriously cute!
Happy Turkey Day!!!
Labels:
cakepops,
Thanksgiving,
turkey cakepops
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Party Pops
Our annual Halloween party is this weekend. On Friday, I'll make Barbequed Beef for a Crowd,
The green and orange pops were made with carrot cake, cream cheese frosting, and vanilla candy coating. They're absolutely delicious.
(They're in a fancy display box because they will be a prize for our costume contest.
I also made these basic cake pops, and I have a few platesful for serving at the party.
Yes, that's a cribbage board. It's kind of a long story.
Happy Halloween!!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Allan's Guacamole
"No offense, Barb, but that is, by far, the best guacamole I have ever eaten."
Need any more convincing to try this?
If so, you're too stubborn. (See a therapist.)
Personally, until I found Lawrey's Guacamole Mix, I never liked guacamole.
I fell in love, though, and so did everyone who tried my guac.
Then the bastards stopped making it!
I couldn't find it anywhere.
Thank goodness,
because if they hadn't stopped making my favorite guacamole mix,
I would never had made my brother-in-law, Allan's, real guacamole,
the recipe for which has been patiently waiting for me in our family cookbook
for two years.
Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados (I used 2.5)
1/4 cup peeled & finally chopped Italian plum tomato
(oops. Just realized I forgot to peel it. Whatever.)
(oops. Just realized I forgot to peel it. Whatever.)
4 tsp seeded and minced jalapeno (I didn't measure--just used one whole jalapeno)
1/4 chopped onion (red, yum)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice (I didn't measure--just used one whole lemon)
2 T freshly squeezed lime juice (ditto on the measuring)
1 tsp Worcestershire (pronounced "woostasheer")
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 tsp salt (We like sea salt.)
6 turns freshly-ground black pepper
See that? All natural ingredients.
(Discounting the fact that I have no clue what * Worcestershire sauce is.)
First, do all of the mincing, dicing, etc.
and throw it all together
Don't forget the cilantro--Wow--That was such a great addition :)
Cut the avocados in half, take the pits out.
Scoop the flesh out with a nice-sized table spoon and mash it with a potato masher until it's still chunky.
Mix everything together.
Some would say to chill it for a bit, to give the flavors a chance to "meld."
We skipped that step and inhaled it.
It was fantastic.
The only change I will make next time is to probably cut the Worcestershire sauce amount in half.
Maybe. It really was delicious. Very flavorful.
Good-bye, Lawrey's.
I am so over you.
From Wikipedia:
The ingredients of a traditional bottle of Worcestershire sauce sold in the UK as "The Original & Genuine Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce" are malt vinegar (from barley), spirit vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies, tamarind extract, onions, garlic, spice, and flavouring.[8] The "spice, and flavouring" is believed to include cloves, soy sauce, lemons, pickles and peppers.[8]
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Devil's Sex Cake Bites!
Tonight I started making one of Kyle's favorites--Devil's Sex Cake when I had a fantastic idea!
OMG!! I could make Devil's Sex Cake Pops or Cake Bites! What fun! Here's how it worked--
Make Basic Cake Pops using devil's food cake and milk chocolate frosting.
You'll also need this (4-6 bars if you're making a whole cake, or just two if you're making cake pops out of half of the cake, which is what I did)
and this...
I think Mrs. Richardson's might not be available in everyone's area,
so if you find some, buy more than one (for next time)!
After chilling the dough and making the balls, poke the end of a wooden spoon into each cake pop,
making space for the best part (coming up in a minute). I want to point out that after I made the holes,
I realized this would stick less and might work better:
(It did.) Recognize it? It's a nutcracker! (Necessity is the mother of invention, you know.)
Okay, back to the yum! Warm up the Mrs.Richardson's and put it in a pastry bottle (or whatever it's called--I got it at a cake supply store a while back). BE CAREFUL! I heated mine in the bottle (not the most efficient method, but it is what it is), and when I took it out of the microwave, it SQUIRTED sauce all over the cupboard and burned my hand a little (after only 15 seconds!)
Anyway, squirt a little deliciousness into each cake bite....
And then patch each one with a little more dough.
You can then just gently roll them again to regain their round shapes. Chill again.
Crush the Heath bars and set aside.
When the cake balls/bites are chilled again, dip them in melted candy coating
and sprinkle with the Heath candy before they cool/dry.
and sprinkle with the Heath candy before they cool/dry.
I did some like that, and I then tried just stirring the Heath bits into the melted coating
and dipping the cake balls into that. It worked "okay," but not great.
and dipping the cake balls into that. It worked "okay," but not great.
And I also did some like this!
They're beautiful like this, but they have to be eaten right away, and believe me, they were--
I wish I had a video of Kyle's face when he at the first one--That does a mom's heart good :)
So, I made them three different ways, and to tell you the truth, all were delicious!
Yum!
Labels:
basic cake pops,
chocolate,
dessert,
Devil's Sex Cake Bites
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