Ice Cream Cake

Oh, hey again everyone.  Maybe I don't have a life because all I do is look for recipes every day?  

Yep.

Anywhoo.. I love this lady Jenny Keller and she does some pretty fantastic stuff with cookies and buttercream frosting.  And she throws a wicked party! Just check out this bad boy. But more importantly, she created this tutorial on how to make an ice cream cake which I promptly made for Trace's birthday. I haven't tried it yet, but its ice cream cake so I'm pretty sure I will love it.

Just gaze upon the beauty. 

 (Don't be fooled though, mine didn't look that good.)

Mmmmm.

Get some. 

Oh, Baby!!

Oh, hey everybody! I miss you all so much since we were last (finally) reunited for Leesil's baby shower.  It was one of those moments when you look around the room and see all the people you love surrounding you and you just feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the friends God has blessed you with.  Maybe it was just me, but I felt like the luckiest gal alive that night!

Besides all that mushy, you guys are the best friends in the whole world stuff (#butreally) (side note: are we allowed to use hashtags on here?), I just wanted to share some of the recipes I used that day since a lot of people asked about them.  P.S. Don't tell, but it was the first time I'd used a lot of them... good thing they turned out!

Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip 
from here 
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan, Asiago, or Swiss cheese (I used Parmesan, baby)
1 - 8 oz block of cream cheese, softened
1 - 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained (I used fresh*)
1 - 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
dash black pepper

Hearty Version: (which is the one I used) In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except for 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.  mix until all ingredients are well blended.  Pour into oven safe dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.  Chill for at least 2 hours for flavors to fuse.  Bake at 350 F for about 30-35 minutes, then bake under broiler for a couple of minutes until top layer of cheese is completely melted and bubbly.  Serve hot!

Creamy Version: Add all ingredients except for 1/2 cup of shredded cheese in a blender and blend on high until creamy.  Pour into oven safe dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.  chill for at least 2 hours for flavors to fuse.  Bake at 350 F for about 10 minutes, then bake under broiler for a couple of minutes until top layer of cheese is completely melted and bubbly.  Serve hot! 

*I used fresh spinach and it turned out just fine.  One word of advice though, cut up double the amount of spinach that you think you'll need because it cooks wayyyy down.  When you are cutting it and adding it and you think you have more than enough, cut up another couple handfuls.  

The BEST Chocolate Cupcakes Ever 

1 box Devil's food cake mix
1- 5.9 oz box chocolate pudding mix
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
4 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup hot water
8 oz sour cream (aka 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl combine the cake mix, chocolate pudding, and chocolate chips. Stir until combined.  Next mix in the eggs, canola oil and water.  Finally, mix in the sour cream.  Pour cake mix into the cupcake liners (about 3/4 the way full).  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the spring back when touched.  Do not over cook.  You can also test with a tooth pick to make sure the centers are cooked all the way through.  Remove from oven and allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.  Frost with buttercream (P.S. I used cream cheese frosting because I'm a rebel like that.)

Hummus
1- 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini paste (only at Smith's)
half of a large clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 to 3 Tbsp water

In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini paste and lemon juice.  Puree for 1 minute; scrape side of bowl.  Add garlic, olive oil, salt and cumin and puree.  Add half of the chickpeas and puree until smooth.  Add remaining chickpease and puree.  If the hummus is too thick or chunky, add water until it reaches the desired consistency.  

Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week.  Great served with vegetables or whole grain crackers.  

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
Apparently this cheesecake is contest winning!

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp cold water

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 16 squares)
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
3 pkgs (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs, lightly beaten

1. in a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice.  cook and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the berries are softened.  Combine cornstarch and water until smooth, stir into the blueberry mixture.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature.  Transfer into a blender; cover and process until smooth.  Set aside.
2. For crust, in a small bowl combine the crumbs and sugar; stirr in the butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9-in springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.
3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, flour and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour filling over crust. Drizzle with blueberry mixture; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.
4. Return pan to baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.
5. Refrigerate overnight.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Easy Garlic Parmesan Butter Breadsticks
aka regular ole breadsticks with amazing topping 

Breadsticks
1 tablespoon yeast
1 1/2 cups very warm water (105 -115 degrees)
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups flour
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
garlic salt and Parmesan OR Garlic Parmesan Seasoning below

Garlic Parmesan Seasoning
1/4 cup powdered Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspon oregano
1 teasoon basil
1 teapoon marjoram
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add butter to a rimmed baking sheet and place in oven to melt, being careful not to burn butter. Remove when melted.
In the bowl of your standard mixer, combine yeast, water & sugar. Set aside and let sit 5-10 minutes or until yeast is foamy and dissolved.
Gradually add salt and flour to the yeast, mixing with your hook attachment until well combined. Knead dough a few times then divide dough into 15 balls. (If dough is too sticky, you can spray your hands with nonstick spray). Roll dough into sticks and place on buttered baking sheet. Roll in butter.* Top with garlic salt and Parmesan or Garlic Parmesan Seasoning (Note that you will NOT use all of the seasoning*). Let the breadsticks rise for 15-20 minutes. Bake for 15 -20 minutes or until golden.

Cedar 17th Ward Christmas Party Salad 
*this recipe makes a big bowl of salad that will serve 35 to 40 people*
Also, ingredients are approximate, just stir in what looks good to you.

Mixed greens- 1 lb
Iceberg lettuce 1-2 heads (I like Romaine better)
Spinach- 10 oz package
Feta cheese- 1 cup
Craisins- 2 cups 
Sugared pecans- 2 cups (recipe below)
Red onions thinly sliced
Chopped Apples -we put them in pineapple juice to keep fresh
Can also add pineapple tidbits, sliced strawberries, mandarine oranges, etc. 
Brianna's Poppy seed Dressing- 1 bottle or to taste (We mixed this with the recipe below, but Brianna's seems to be the best poppy seed dressing.)

Mix all ingredients together and toss with dressing.  Try to serve as soon as possible as dressing will cause salad to wilt. 

Sugared Pecans
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cups pecans, roughly chopped

Boil all on high until the water is gone and the sauce is bubbly and caramelized, 7-10 minutes.  watch it carefully the whole time.  There is a point when it is done and would start burning if left any longer.  Stir as it cools and turns to sugar. 

Poppy Seed Dressing
In a blender add:
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1 /2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1 1/2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/4 red onion grated (be careful, this may be too much)

Will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. 

Cottrell Family Christmas Punch
(watch out guys, this one's a toughy)

1 part grape juice
1 part lemon lime soda
Ice

Yep.  That's where the magic happens. My great grandma used to make her own grape juice which I'm sure made this 10 million times better.  Store-bought grape juice seems to work just fine though.  

*Whoops.. forgot to add the Key Lime Trifle*
From Our Best Bites

1- 4 serving box vanilla instant pudding mix (can use sugar free, but I don't!)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup cold water
1- 14oz can sweetened condensed milk 
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 loaf pound cake, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup toasted coconut, divided
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Combine pudding mix, lime juice, water, and sweetened condensed milk in a medium-sized bowl.  Mix well and refrigerate a few minutes while you prepare the whipped cream.  Whip 1 cup cream in another bowl until soft peaks form.  fold into pudding mixture and then return mixture to refrigerator.  In a medium trifle dish or small, individual trifle dishes, spread a thin layer of pudding mixture.  Add a layer of cake cubes, a thicker layer of pudding, and a sprinkling of coconut.  Repeat, ending with a layer of pudding.  Whip remaining 1 cup cream with powdered sugar.  Spread on top of final layer and garnish with remaining toasted coconut.  Chill at least 1 hour before serving. 


Well, there you have it.  I hope you guys had as much fun eating these as I did.  They sure were fun to make too.  Honestly, I wouldn't be intimidated by any of the recipes (even the cheesecake!), none of them caused me much anxiety.  Y'all can do it!!

I LOVE YOU!!!! 

P.S.  Who is excited to meet Baby McLemore??!!!!!

  

Oven Shoyu Chicken

Oh hey there everybody! Props to whoever added our picture to the front page, I dig it! So I've been all domestic and such since I am jobless so I decided to try out a new recipe for dinner the other night.  I got it from the Worldwide Ward Christmas Cookbook, courtesy of Melani :).  Basically, this chicken is bomb.  And its really easy, so win win!  Here's the recipe, hope y'all are doing good!

Oven Shoyu Chicken
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt (I didn't use this)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 corn oil (I used olive, I didn't have any corn oil)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp grated ginger (I'm sure ground ginger would work just fine, too)
2 lbs chicken wings or thighs

Mix all ingredients except chicken.  Pour over chicken.  Bake in aluminum foil-lined pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour, turning twice.  You can thicken the sauce if preferred.
*So, when I made this I just thawed two chicken breasts and cut them into strips and poured the sauce over them and it worked just fine.  Also, I recommend double lining your pan because when I was turning the chicken, I accidentally poked a hole in the tin foil and stuff boiled up and over like Mount Vesuvius (you can read about that here.  It'll blow your mind) all over my oven which was unpleasant to clean up. I served this with rice and a couple veggies.  Way easy, way good.  

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this as much as we Torgersens did.  Ty even said to make it again, so you know its a hit!

Egg Rolls

 Egg Rolls 

Here's what I did:

I chopped three small chicken breasts and marinated them with soy sauce, sprinkled some ginger and a tablespoon of garlic for 30 minutes.

I browned the chicken in some olive oil then added 1/2 package of mushrooms and 1/2 package of shredded carrots to the pan. I let them cook for 3-5 minutes. I then added 1/2 package of coleslaw mix and a few green onions and let them cook for another few minutes.I added a little more soy sauce then  put the mixture on about 15  egg roll wrappers, wrapped those babies up like an envelope and cooked them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.I bet there's plenty of better recipes out there but this is just what I came up with :) I served it with a salad and then ate 3 brownies afterwards. Win.

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

 Ladies and Gentlemen (Minus the gentlemen part), I baked something and I didn't screw it up so I think it's safe to say it's fool proof. Do they taste exactly like Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pies? No, but they are sorta better. Better as in they don't have a taste of processed chemical shiz. I obviously don't mind that taste too much since I eat the Little Debbie's version on occasion. Anyway, I cooked mine for ten minutes and that seemed to be a tiny bit too long for my oven. Here they are...

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

Ingredients
COOKIES
1¼ cups unsalted butter (2.5 sticks), softened to room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar (Clarke's Country Market didn't have this so I just used regular)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon dark molasses (Also didn't have this so I used regular molasses)
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats (NOT whole-rolled oats)


CREAM FILLING
¾ cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt, as needed

1. Instructions For the cookies: With a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed until light and creamy. Add egg, vanilla, and molasses, scraping down the sides as needed. Set aside.In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Whisk it all around. Add the quick oats and combine.With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients. The dough will be quite thick and you may have to mix it all by hand after a few seconds in the mixer.Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking mat. Drop dough with a large cookie scoop, or make sure each ball of dough is 3 tablespoons in measurement. Cookies will spread in the oven, so drop each ball of dough 2 inches apart.Bake for 10 minutes, until cookies are lightly golden around the edges. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.For the filling: With a stand or handheld mixer, beat butter for about 1 minute until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Pour in heavy cream and vanilla extract. Mix on high for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Taste and add a pinch or two of salt, as needed. If filling is way too thick, add a couple more teaspoons of heavy cream. Spread 1½ tablespoons of cream filling on the bottom side of half of cookies; top with remaining cookies, right side up.Devour. 

P.S..The author of this recipe said:
Old-fashioned whole rolled oats will not work in this recipe You can make you own quick oats (like I did here) by measuring 3 cups of whole rolled oats and pulsing them in the food processor 4-5 times or until they resemble the consistency of quick oats.

Vegetable Pasta Stuff

As some of you may know I'm a pretty big fan of vegetables in my diet but not so much pasta. However, I liked this dish because it has a shiz load of vegetables so here it is, pasta with a shiz load of vegetables.The recipe is actually called Cajun Chicken Pasta but I was too lazy to thaw and cook the chicken so I just did without.

Cajun Chicken Pasta 

8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used whole wheat spaghetti)
1 pound chicken breast strips
1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced (or whatever color of bell peppers you want)
1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup  chicken broth
1/3 cup  milk
1 tbsp flour

4 oz cream cheese

 pepper
2 scallions, chopped
salt to taste

Cut all your vegetables. Make a slurry (whatever the muff that is) by combining flour, milk, and softened cream cheese. I wisked this briefly. Set aside. Season chicken with cajun, salt, and garlic salt then set aside. Cook your pasta of choice according to the directions. Heat a skillet to medium high with olive oil and cook half the chicken for 5-6 minutes. Repeat with the other half. Set chicken aside and then add a little more olive oil and saute the onion, garlic and peppers for 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and tomatoes and saute for an additional 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium and add your chicken broth and your slurry, stirring for about two minutes. Combine chicken, pasta, and vegetables and heat through for about two minutes. Top with chopped scallions.

Turkey Pesto Sandwich

This is a pinterest success! I love it cause it takes like 5 minutes to make, it's delicious, and healthy! Sorry I have to pictures. It was so good I could not control myself enough to hold back shoving it in my mouth so I could take a snap shot.

Ingredients:
1 jar of pesto
Turkey lunch meat of choice
Mozzarella (I prefer fresh, but regular works great too)
Tomato
Bread (The crusty italian stuff is really good, but I usually just use regular wheat)

I take 2 slices of bread and spread about 2 teaspoons of pesto on one slice. Then I put a few tomato slices on top of that. Next I slice some mozzarella and layer that on top of the tomatoes. Then I finish it off with a slice or two of turkey. I spray both sides down with some EVOO (baby mama anyone?) and grill on my George Foreman. Sometimes I even put parchment paper down so I don't have to clean it up.