I poked a cake and I liked it..

Thank you Katy Perry for my post title.

It all started with my go-to white cake recipe-

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening (You only need to wig out if you eat the whole cake)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsps of baking powder
2 pinches of salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsps of vanilla

Cream the shortening and sugar, add the eggs, then alternate the dry and milk. Finally gently mix in the vanilla. I use my Kitchen Aid to assist me. He is white and his name is Sam.

****WARNING---THIS CAKE IS DENSE*****

You can make 2- 8 or 9 inch rounds or 1- 9x13. Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean. Sorry I don't have an exact time. It depends on the weather and the temperment of my oven.

Next comes the pokin' part. Have you ever heard of Jell-O. I hate Jell-O, except when it's poured into a cake. You heard me right, into a cake.

Now poke some holes in your cake with a fork or a toothpick. It feels good doesn't it. Don't worry it's our little secret. Take your favorite flavor of Jell-O. I chose black cherry because after all this is a Valentine's cake. Disolve the Jell-O in one cup of boiling water and pour it over your cooled cake. Then stick your cake in the fridge or freezer. That Jell-O needs to set.

Oh my YUM...

Since the cake wasn't already sweet enough I topped it with whipped white chocolate ganache.

MMMMM HHHMMMMM.

Enjoy.

Much Love,

-H

Tasty Tuesday Treat

I'm stealing borrowing an idea from my girl Kate's blog and bringing you a Tasty Treat this Tuesday. I made these d-eeee-lish chocolate cupcakes topped with homemade marshmallow Fluff frosting for Dade's birthday and thought I must share with all of you.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl heat the heavy cream in the microwave until steaming, about a minute add the cocoa powder to create a thick mixture. Let cool to room temperature.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff:
3 egg whites
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, combine egg whites, corn syrup and salt.
2. Mix with mixer on high speed for 10 minutes (or until thick).
3. Add in confectioner's sugar
4. Beat on low speed until well blended.
5. Add vanilla and mix until blended.

This makes a lot of Fluff and can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. Just be make sure to mix it back together if you choose to re-use it the corn syrup has a tendency to separate.

Fluff Frosting:

1 cup Homemade Marshmallow Fluff
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 c. water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine all the ingredients in your mixer and beat until stiff peaks form.
2. Beat in vanilla.

**I was able to make the Fluff and the frosting while the cupcakes were baking. I recommend frosting the cupcakes and storing them uncovered in the refrigerator to allow the marshmallow to set and if you are feeling super spunky sprinkle some Heath chips on top.

 

Little Pockets of Yummy

This past Saturday in our house was Empanada Day. Empanadas are savory fried turnovers. Sometimes you can find savory empanadas, but my husbands specialty are a Paraguayan tradition. Making empanadas with three children turned into a most of the day experience, but it was so worth it.

Jon started the process at 7am by hard boiling 1 dozen eggs. I then peeled and chopped the eggs. After the eggs cooled we shredded a whole block of Monterrey Jack cheese and mixed it in with the eggs. For the meat filling he took a 2 pound should steak trimmed the excess fat and ground it up in the food processor. Also grind up 2 large onion and several cloves of garlic. Before browning the meat finely dice a tomato in Olive Oil in the pan until fragrant. Add the meat and brown. To the browned meat add rice, no mambie pambie minute stuff, real deal long grain takes 20 minutes to make, you will thank me for that tip.

Once the fillings have cooled, you have taken your monthly trip to Costco, unloaded and put away all your wares, feed your littles and put them down to rest it's time for the real work to begin.

First, we clean. Scrub, scrub, scrub..

Now dirty up that freshly cleaned counter top with flour, sprinkle, sprinkle 

<---- You will need some of these, ours came from the local Hispanic super mercado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprinkle with a little Paraguayan love. (Not sold in stores, sorry I have no suggestions where you can pick some up.)

 

Place a heaping tablespoon in the center of the shell, moisten half of the shell with water using your finger tip and fold over.

Press the edges with a fork. This may or may not require a "hmph" noise to escape your lips.

Watch as your husband runs circles around you press out the empanadas.

All done, and ready for the fryer.

Action shot, frying.

We are just a couple in and I can't help myself.

Yummy eggy cheesiness....

Mountains of Empanadas

The best part of the whole day was seeing my husbands face when the kids loved them. Coralee in over dramatized fashion said YUM-YUM-YUM with every bite and ate the whole piece that we gave her.

Yummy in MAH Tummy

This is one of my very favorite dinners and so so Yummy.

Creamy Penne with Sausage-

Ingredients-

1 package of mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 large onion chopped
1 and1/4 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 cups frozen peas
2/3 cup mascarpone cheese  OR 6 TBSP cream cheese and 5 TBSP whipping cream
16 ounces penne pasta
3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Several dashes of italian seasoning, basil leaves and oregano

Brown the sausage over medium-high heat until brown and crumbly.




 

Place sausage in a bowl and reserve 1 TBSP of drippings in the pan.

 

Add onion to saucepan. Cook until golden. Add cream, italian seasoning, basil leaves and oregano. Simmer until slightly reduced. Add broth. Simmer until thickened.

Action Shot (simmering) 

Return sausage to saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Add peas and mascarpone (Or cream cheese and cream combo). Cook uncovered, until peas are tender.

 

Meanwhile cook the pasta and drain.

 

Combine pasta and sauce in a larger serving bowl. Add Parmesan, salt and pepper. Serve to Blend and serve immediately and say, "Git in MAH Belly."

Snoopy bowl is completely optional.  

But it smells fishy..

I love cooked fish, but admit that I haven't been that successful at cooking anything but fish sticks (that I don't eat) at home. That is until I found this recipe. Tilapia is a realtively inexpensive fish that is hearty and less "fishy" than most fish. I purchase my tilapia in fresh frozen pacakages during my normal grocery run. This week for example it is on sale for $3.99 a pound this week at my local Harris Teeter usually $7.99. The hubs also loves this recipe because "it's fish that doesn't taste like fish"

Chili Lime Fish Fry

Ingredients:

4 tilapia fillets
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-pupose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
2 limes, zested and juiced
2 TBSP chili powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 TBSP fresh chopped thyme or 2 tsp dries
¼ cup vegetable, canola or safflower oil

Directions:

Arrange 3 dishes for dredging. In the first dish the flour. Second dish eggs. Third dish bread crumbs, 1 TBSP of zest, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and thyme.
Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium to medium-high heat.
Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper. Coat in flour, eggs and bread crumbs. fry the fish until deeply golden and crispy. Top with a little extra salt, top with LOTS of lime juice and the remaining zest.
We usually eat the fish with salad. It is light and delicious. Enjoy!!

DipTacular 2009

I know, I know over a week once again and really no good excuse. There is plenty of great kid material to blog about. Like Dade saying, "Guys, guys what the heck is going on here?" but right now I have a task at hand. In my last post I mentioned recipe sharing, then yesterday I happened upon BooMama's (I love that her tag line says, "Read by tens of people every single day")blog via Kelly's Korner. (I prayed for Harper when she was in the NICU). Lo and behold she is hosting a DipTacular in honor of the start of college football season. While I'm not a big college football fan, I do love me some NFL games. (GO RAVENS!! WOOT!!WOOT!!) I bleed purple in the heart of Redskins country. Anyway onto the dip, before my children wake up...

Corn Dip
2 cans of corn drained(I use one yellow and one white)
1 red onion - finely chopped
1 16oz container of sour cream
1 cup mayo
1 package of dry ranch dip
1/2 bag of shredded cheese (I use mexi-blend)

Mix it all up and put it in the fridge. (Don't let people know how easy it is.)

I generally garnish with finely chopped red pepper and serve with Fritos scoops.

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Guacamole

2 large avocados (Should be soft to the touch but not squishy)
1 TBS. of lemon juice or lime juice (fresh tastes better)
1 small onion chopped
1 medium tomato de-seeded and chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. red pepper flake
1 TBS. chopped cilantro(I always use a little extra)

Step 1.
Slice avocados in half length wise; remove pits. Scoop out pulp with a spoon into a bowl.
Mash with a fork until smooth.

Step 2.
Add lemon juice, onion, tomato and salt to bowl; mix well.

Step 3.
Add sour cream, red pepper flakes and cilantro to bowl; mix well.

If you prepare this a day ahead be sure to place plastic wrap on top, touching the guacamole to reducing browning.

_______________________________
Cold Corn and Black Bean Salad

1- 14oz. can black beans rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen corn
1 small red bell pepper seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 limes juiced
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Garlic salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and let stand for 15 mins for corn to defrost and flavors to combine.

Some alternatives- add hot sauce, chopped tomato, chopped avocado, fresh jalapeno or cilantro. (The possibilities are endless)

I generally serve this with Tostitos scoops and sometimes just sometimes, I will eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon.

Happy Dipping to all & to all a great college football season kick-off weekend!!