2013 - Week 26

Hi :) Week 26 was not too eventful blog-wise, but somehow it was still really busy. I didn't have a whole lot of time to do things, but I still got my exercise in with my Wii boxing game, and mowing part of a friend's lawn. He was joking about me mowing, but I thought it might be fun, because they have one of those old manual mowers. It was a work out, but the lawn looked pretty decent when I was done :) I still worked on my reading "task" but have fallen a bit behind. Have no fear, with the holiday this week, I will have plenty of time to finish this week's reading and do next week's too :)

The only fun thing I have to share this week is a recipe for these Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites that I made. It made quite a lot, and I kept them in the freezer because they were very tasty cold (and I didn't want to risk getting the pretzels soggy). I would just rate them as "good", not "great" . . . they were full of peanut butter chocolate sweet salty goodness, but not a knock out in my book. I did enjoy them though, and if you're looking for something small to snack on, these might be a good option :)

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Enjoy . . . see you next week :)

2013 - Week 25

Hello everyone. How was your Week 25? Things outside of the blogosphere weren't terribly great for me this week, but I did manage to make a couple of tasty dishes to share with you.

For exercise, I'm still boxing . . . I'm determined to "beat" this game, but it doesn't like to register my movements sometimes and that makes me frustrated. Oh well, it's still fun, and it's keeping me in shape so I can keep eating all these desserts I make. My task is still reading. I finished the Hunger Games series and watched the first movie. I have to say, I was rather disappointed in the movie. I liked the first two books, and the third was okay. Not as happy of an ending as I was hoping for, but still okay. It just seems like they changed things in the movie that didn't really need to be changed, or omitted things that could have easily been included, and it was for those reasons that I wasn't really a fan. I liked most of the casting, but not the announcers or President Snow. Donald Sutherland will always be the nice father in the most recent "Pride and Prejudice" for me, so he just didn't seem as mean or snake-like as I pictured Snow. I suppose if I hadn't read the books, the movie might have been better, but as usual, the books were much better than the movie.

Now to my tasty dishes :) I have never tried to make a molten lava cake before, so that was my task this week. It was my husband's birthday, and we had a lot of desserts in the house, but I didn't think it would be right to let his birthday pass by without making him a special cake. He didn't really have any ideas about what he wanted (to be honest, I think he likes fruit better than cake . . . when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he told me "a pineapple" and he was pleased as punch when he got it :)). So I wanted to make something easy and relatively small, and these little cakes definitely fit the bill. They were very easy, didn't take much time, and turned out just great. This is the recipe that I used (Molten Chocolate Cakes), and it turned out so well, I would use it again in the future for sure. I used 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the baking chocolate, and it still turned out perfect. I would recommend serving them with vanilla ice cream to get the contrasting hot and cold aspects, but they did not need the caramel sauce I added, they were sweet enough on their own.

Cute little cakes

Yum :) 

Speaking of cake, be sure you check out last weeks post (Week 24) to see the pictures of my completed Guacamole Cake that I finally got posted :) 

My other creation this week was a Creamy Chipotle Chicken Salad. I can't give you an exact recipe, because I just sort of make it up, but I started with a base of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and cilantro. Then I sauteed some chicken with drained and rinsed black beans, seasoned with southwestern seasoning. The sauce is really the crowning achievement though. I think it was about 3/4 cup sour cream with a finely diced chipotle pepper and some of the sauce and onions from the can. I also added green onions and fresh garlic, plus enough whole milk to make it into a nice sauce. I cooked it all together until I thought the green onions were soft enough, and then I blended it with my immersion blender. Then I thickened it with a little corn starch dissolved in water, and voila . . . creamy chipotle sauce. I also topped the salad with some shredded cheddar cheese and crushed tortilla chips to give it a nice crunch. So good :)

Creamy Chipotle Chicken Salad

That's all for now folks. See you next week :)

2013 - Week 24

Wow, so much to tell this week :)

First of all, I've been keeping up with my Wii boxing game for exercise, and for task, yes, I'm still reading. I started the Hunger Games series and I'm on the final book, "Mockingjay" right now . . . we'll see how it ends (DON'T tell me) :)

The surprise that I alluded to last week shall now be revealed: I made a cake (no surprise there), but it was modeled after a Mexican molcajete bowl filled with guacamole. I found the recipe here: Guacamole Cake. I couldn't find candied cherries, and my attempt at making my own ended in hard, charred ones (ick), so I went without. The cake was a bit messy to make (Oreo bits all over my kitchen) and time consuming, but I think it turned out tasty and really fun. The taste wasn't quite up to my standards because so much of it was just store-bought and processed, but it was still a neat experiment. Will I make it again? Probably not, but it was fun to try once.

Molcajete base pre-coating

"Guacamole" ice cream with cinnamon sugar pita chips

The finished cake

The next dish I made was a creamy portobello mushroom pasta with caprese salad (which I later chopped up and put on top of the dish, which was also tasty). I adapted this recipe: Chicken in Creamy Pan Sauce that I also tried this week (it turned out really yummy with some green onions and fresh garlic added to the sauce.

Chicken in Creamy Pan Sauce served over spinach with tomatoes and basil

Anyways, for the portobello dish, I adapted this recipe for Roasted Portobello Mushrooms by using mozzarella cheese instead of blue cheese and I added some plain bread crumbs as well. They turned out really well, and I would recommend this recipe with those changes, I can't say how it would be with blue cheese. Once I had that made, I made the sauce from the pan sauce base: 1 cup beef broth this time (instead of chicken) with 4 oz. cream cheese cooked with green onions and fresh garlic. I sliced the mushrooms, put them on top of linguine and covered with with sauce. I put a small caprese salad to go on the side too . . . all in all, it was a really tasty dish, both variations were very good and I would order it in a restaurant :)

 Creamy Portobello Pasta with Caprese Salad

My final creation was probably my best one: mini turtle cupcakes with caramel German buttercream. Did you even know there was such a thing as German buttercream? I didn't. I knew of the super sweet American version, the rich French version, and even the light and buttery Swiss version, but I never knew about the German one, and honestly, I don't know how that is even possible considering it's made with a custardy pastry cream base, which is one of my favorite foods ever :). My husband doesn't have the same affection for the Swiss version that I do because he thinks it tastes too much like pure butter, so since these cupcakes were for a party for him, I looked for a new variation to try. I discovered the recipe here: Bravetart German Buttercream, but thought that two pounds of butter was a little excessive. Luckily, I found this recipe: Food-ology German Buttercream and it only used one pound, plus vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans, and it worked out perfectly. It was great by itself, but I wanted caramel frosting, so I added about 10 oz. of store-bought caramel dip (the kind that is usually paired with apples), and it incorporated seamlessly into my frosting and it was so good. It might have bumped Swiss buttercream off of to the top of my list of favorite frostings :)

For the mini cupcakes, I used my go-to chocolate cake recipe: Sandy's Chocolate Cake. I didn't know how many it would make, but since the cake recipe is for three 9" round cakes, I figured it would be a lot (it was . . . I didn't even try to count them all, but I'm guessing about 150 mini cupcakes). I tried with cupcake liners but it was sticking, so I greased the pans instead, still sticking, then finally I really greased and floured the pans and although they didn't have perfectly round tops, they did come out of the pan better. I also experimented with piping in the caramel filling (I just used the straight caramel dip) before and after baking and decided that after worked better. My husband helped me by ladling the batter into a funnel that I used as a dispenser . . . kind of a fun trick that worked pretty well :) So needless to say, with all of the sticking going on, I was a tad bit frustrated with the cakes, but the frosting saved the day. I piped the frosting on and topped half of them with pecan halves and they were beautiful and little mouthfuls of goodness. I highly recommend trying German buttercream for your next cake.

Pastry Cream base

Before and After Frosting

YUM Turtle Goodness

Hungry yet? I hope you all had a good week . . . come back next week to hear about more adventures in my Life's Lab Notebook :)

2013 - Week 23

Well, here is my update on Week 23:

For exercise I'm still working on that Wii boxing game. I think I hurt my shoulder, but it's feeling a bit better now. My task has still been reading . . . it seems like kind of a cheater task, but I can't stop until I've finished these Hunger Games books :)

I made a couple of really tasty recipes this week too. First, Velvety Carrot Soup from the Penzey's spice catalog. I just blended the whole thing in the pot using my immersion blender, and I didn't add the half-and-half because it was creamy enough without it. We ate it with a side of garlic herb goat cheese on triscuits . . . mmm, now that's a meal :)

I also tried another variation on the Sweet Roll Dough from the Food Network Magazine. This time, I made the Poppy Seed - Lemon Twists. I must say, I'm not that big of a fan of lemon poppy seed things, but these gave the cinnamon rolls a run for their money. They were a bit time-consuming, but turned out really tasty, and if I do say so myself, prettier than the Food Network version :)

Ready to rise

Risen

Baked

Glazed in luscious lemony goodness :) 

So that's all that I have for this week, just wait until you see the fun I have in store for next week :) Talk to you then :)

2013 - Week 22

Hi :) How was your Week 22? Can you believe this year is almost half over already? My Week 22 was pretty good, I tried a few recipes that I would love to share with you. I also did more of that Wii boxing game (Gold's Gym Cardio Workout) which is surprisingly still fun, and for my "task" played cello, guitar, and sat down and read a book. I know it's not accomplishing any of the projects that I need to get finished, but it's been so long since I read a book (I think it was last year during my book reading month), it is still enriching my mind, and as an added bonus, my library's summer reading program just started, so I get fun prizes for reading . . . so it is definitely worthwhile, plus I love it. I got a few new books so that's was got me back into reading. Don't worry, my scrapbooking is still out and on the forefront of my mind, so I will try and work on that too, but for now, I have a few books calling my name :)

But first, before I go read, I have to share my yummy creations from this week. The first was something I alluded to in my post last week . . . cappuccino knots. They are made with the same sweet roll dough as the cinnamon rolls I made last week, but instead of the cinnamon sugar mixture, an espresso sugar mixture is made, the dough is rolled into logs, dipped in butter and then the espresso sugar, tied into a knot, and baked in a muffin tin. The finished rolls then get a espresso glaze and a plain glaze . . . the result was very pretty :) I think the sugar caramelized on the top a little too much so they were a bit harder than the cinnamon rolls, but they were still pretty good, and I don't even like coffee. But if you are a coffee lover, this might be a good recipe for you to try. (I found this espresso powder at my local Whole Foods in case you have trouble locating it.)

Pre-rising

Post-rising

Ta da

Next, I still have a ton of pumpkin in my freezer, so I made some pumpkin bars. They turned out pretty well, and I just winged a cream cheese frosting to put on top (cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla . . . I think I added a little too much vanilla because it was a little dark, but still tasty). I substituted applesauce for the oil and they were super moist :) Also, I followed some reviewers comments and baked it in a 10 x 15 inch pan for 25 minutes. I was a little worried it would run over the edges, but it was perfect.

Aside from sweets, I also made two tasty savory dishes. First was these bacon hasselback potatoes. My husband (who was home for the day) actually gets the credit for making these look so pretty. He did the initial steps and got them in the oven . . . I just did the last step of adding the onion, parsley, garlic, butter mixture. I'd never seen potatoes like that before and certainly had never tried them, but they turned out fantastic. We left the skins on, and they got nice and crispy while the potato was really soft and creamy (that might have to do with the large quantity of butter in the recipe) . . . overall, I think it's a really good way to make potatoes if you have the time.

Bacon Hasselback Potatoes

Finally, I made a repeat recipe. I may have lauded this seasoned chicken previously on my blog, but it's just so tasty I had to put it in again. I don't know when I found this recipe, but it's so easy and turns out so good . . . definitely a keeper. I know I have at least one blog reader (Hi Helen :)) who was looking for something easy to try, and I know has lots of soy sauce at home :) The oyster sauce is not something I usually have lying around, but I did find it at Wal-Mart. It really stinks, but trust me, it gives the chicken an amazing flavor. I always add extra garlic too, because I love garlic. I've made it with the Cornish hens before, but this time I tried it with chicken leg quarters . . . worked perfectly. The chicken is super moist and you can use the sauce from the pan to put on the rice . . . very succulent. So simple, and so good . . . give it a try :)

Okay . . . that's it for this week. Leave me a comment and let me know if you try any of these recipes and how they work for you. I'd love to hear suggestions too. Talk to you next week . . . time to go read now :)