Sunday, April 29, 2012

Weekend over already... womp womp...

Wanted to post a couple more things... Weekends are so short when you are off and long and torturous when you're working... so sad... Anyway...

Salad I made myself - Arugula and baby greens with dried cranberries, goat cheese, and walnuts, and a simple vinaigrette... and toasted sour dough bread on the side... Good light lunch if I do say so myself...


  
And orange brownies... a friend of mine actually introduced me to these in college... I actually haven't made them in so long...



I just skip the glaze because these are already sweet enough... It says add 4 eggs... I do 3 whole ones and 1 egg yolk to give it that fudgy consistency... If you like them cakey then 4 is fine... and I also put in the juice of 1 regular sized orange...


Until next time...


What a night...

Went to this place called Biergarten in Jersey City for the first time for a friend's birthday... Place was nice and cozy.. seemed like I was at a big BBQ because of the types of seats... That cheese filled sausage was pretty good.. Beer was ok.. I was never really a beer person.. but it was alright I guess.. It tasted like fruity pebbles... to end the night was a stressful drive home.. so glad to be home safe... God is definitely watching over...

Anyway I made these Bacardi Gold cupcakes this weekend...




Recipe:

Rum Cupcakes
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 18-1/2 ounce yellow cake mix
1 1-3/4 ounce (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup cold milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Line muffin pan with paper liners. Sprinkle toasted pecans on the bottom of liners.
3. Combine all cake ingredients in a large stainless steel bowl. Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer.
4. Pour batter into prepared cups.
5. Bake for 27-29 minutes or until toothpick comes out of center completly clean.
6. Cool on a cooling rack. Prick top of cupcakes with toothpick.
7. COOL CUPCAKES COMPLETELY, then dip cupcakes into Buttered Rum Glaze.

Buttered Rum Glaze

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark rum

1. Melt butter in saucepan.
2. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Be very careful when adding the rum, it will cause steam, so you do not want to burn yourself on this step!

Butter cream Frosting
1 package(s) 16 ounces, confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp milk, plus up to 2 tablespoons more, as needed
1. Before starting, place your stainless steel bowl and the arms for mixer into the freezer, for about 5 minutes. The cold bowl and arms form stiffer peaks in your frosting.
2. In large bowl, with mixer at medium-low speed, beat sugar, butter, vanilla, and 4 tablespoons milk until blended.
3. Increase speed to medium-high; beat until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
4. Beat in more milk as needed for easy spreading consistency.
5. Once the cupcake is glazed, a dollop of of buttercream frosting added, drizzle remaining glaze over the top of the buttercream and insert a vanilla filled Pirouette cookie.

Earlier in the week I made Chicken Ceasar Pasta... I got the recipe from Rachel Ray...





Until next time...

Friday, April 13, 2012

Happy Friday the 13th...

And it really did feel like friday the 13th... So happy that I am off for the weekend... Made red velvet for work today...

Yummy cream cheese icing...



Rose icing on the cupcakes...

Recipe is same from the previous that I made... I just had the fancy icing tips for these ones...

Until next time...

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Off for 2 days in the middle of the week... yay!!!

So I survived working 8 days in a row... Go me!!! Anyway I made 2 kinds of food today... Pasta Carbonara and Zucchini Cupcakes...

First the Pasta Carbonara...



I'm so happy it didn't turn into scrambled eggs!!!

Next is the Zucchini Cupcakes.. Yeah I know it sounds a bit odd... But they are actually pretty good...

The Diet version... haha...

   
With the Caramel Cream Icing... I added a little almond extract.. love that stuff...

Ok that's all for now... Until next time...

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

I made Moscato cupcakes with and Almond Butter Cream frosting...


 I just added 1/4 of teaspoon of almond extract to the frosting.. My coworkers seemed to like them...

Here are some of the red velvet ones I did... My boyfriend iced a few of them... notice the star one.. hahaha...




I'll make zucchini cupcakes this week when I am off if I feel up to it... 


Until next time..