Sesame Street Cupcakes

 

So... I had taken a lot of pictures of these... without my SD card in my camera so these cupcakes that you see here are actually the leftover cupcakes (and probably not the prettiest, I mean the bottom Cookie Monster looks likes he's going to cry! There weren't even any leftover Cookie Monsters, I made two more for the picture!)

Elmo's got a little bit of Big Bird's icing on him... oh well.  These were all made from scratch and took a really long time but I hadn't baked in so long that I wanted to try something different. I have a lot of stories for the long process that these took (Ran out of ingredients, using A LOT of food coloring for Elmo only to realize that I was using pink instead of red, pastry bag bursting from too much pressure when icing Oscar the Grouch, etc....) All the icing except for the black and white icing was made from scratch and is vanilla buttercream.  Here's the link for the vanilla butter cream and vanilla cupcake recipe I used... very highly recommended!

And of course, here's the tutorial on how to make these decorations from Annie's Eats.  She did SUCH an amazing job with these and even had a whole Sesame Street themed party for her son and if you get a chance, you should look it all the party decorations/invitations/food/etc.

Green Tea Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Ok... I honestly don't remember which recipe I used.  I had three different recipes and I kind of combined all of those.  Honestly, you can do a google search and find some great recipes but here are some tips:

THESE TAKE A LOT OF PREPARING! And are very time consuming.  I'm glad I made 'em... but I'm probably never gonna make these again.  I just wanted to try and see if I could do it.  I also read a lot of advice on how to make them so I wouldn't mess up ten times and get frustrated and give up.

Tips:
Keep eggs out for about 2-3 days.
Don't freak out if the batter is runny... it should be!
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
After dolloping the macaron mixture onto the baking sheet, pick up the sheet and rap the baking sheet on the counter 2-3 times. This will even out the top and helps make frills.
Let the pipetted macarons dry on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before placing in the oven.  If you touch the top of one macaron lightly, it should not stick to your finger.  If it does, let it dry for a little longer before baking.

Here's a good recipe and one that pretty much has the tips I listed: Basic French Macaron recipe

Balled Melons

It's been almost a year!  And I haven't made a single birthday cake.  That's kind of weird.  I had to cut back on the baking this year because it was actually becoming stressful and taking up too much time (and money).  Also, still in school so gotta get studying done.  But I did make cupcakes this weekend for a birthday party that I will be posting shortly and I have a couple pics of stuff I've made so I figured I'd go ahead and post those up as well...

Balled Melons

Ingredients:
Cantoloupe
Watermelon
Mint
Lemon Juice

Cut watermelon in half.  Use melon baller to make rounds.  Same for cantaloupe (after scooping out the seeds of course).
Mix rounds in lemon juice and mint.  You don't have to use that much and I don't even remember what quantity I used.  Put all the balls bag into the watermelon.... and done!

Tea Party pics

Just because.

Berry Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee is SO easy to make!
Here's the simple recipe I used.
Of course I modified the ingredients by choosing whatever brand of cream, sugar etc. that was cheap/I had around the house.

I don't really have a good broiler or a cook's blowtorch so I didn't get to crystallize the top of the creme brulee but it was still yummy!

Pear and Almond Tart

OMG.
I don't know how I've lived my whole life without ever having eaten a pear and almond tart.  My favorite kind of desserts are things with chocolate, coffee or cream.  So I tend to stay away from anything and everything else.  But I'm so glad I forayed into this little realm of the dessert world (by that, I mean, tarts).

The only changes I would make to this recipe is that I would use less sugar overall in all of the steps.  I would also use 1 tablespoon less of the butter and add a dash of almond extract to the filling.  And just add more almonds in general.

 Definitely making this again!

Cauliflower, Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Tart

A smittenkitchen recipe.  I just added mushrooms to the mix because I had mushrooms I needed to use up much to my friend Allison's dismay.

I also did not have Gruyere cheese and I'm not a fan of Swiss cheese so I just left that out.  I may have used mozarella to top one of the tarts (I made two of these) and it really doesn't make a huge difference.

Apple Galette

Kind of like a poor man's apple pie.  This is not a very pretty looking galette mainly because the dough is a pain to work with.  I have made a lot of pie dough and tart doughs and each time I tell myself I'm just going to buy pre-made crusts because the dough is just not worth the hassle... and each time I make everything from scratch.  Why do I torment myself so?
You will need to translate the recipe but luckily, the site has a translate button on the left side of the page.

Also, the galettes on the site with the recipe look WAY better than mine did.

Korean Cream Cake

Friend's birthday... you know what that means:

This cake didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it to (it was too dense) but it still tasted great.  I'll have to try this recipe again to see if I can get a spongy cake instead of a brick.

Eggplant Lasagna (kind of)

There isn't actually lasagna in this... but lack of a better term....
I kind of made this up as I went along.  Basically, opened my fridge and looked to see what was expired/going bad so I could make something quick and not have to waste a lot of food.  The great thing about this recipe is that minus the cheese... it's really  healthy!

Ingredients:
1 Eggplant
1 container silken tofu
1 jalapeno
1/2 green pepper or a full one julienned (optional)
1 small onion julienned (optional)
6-7 baby portabella mushrooms sliced (optional, or can be the white mushrooms as well)
salt
black pepper
4-5 cloves garlic
cheddar cheese
mozarella cheese
basil
Spaghetti sauce (any type will do)
olive oil

Prepare eggplant:
Slice 1/4"-1/2" inch.  Spread on paper towels and sprinkle salt to extract bitter taste.  Let sit for 20 minutes then pat dry.  Pre heat oven to 350 F.

In a blender, blend tofu, jalapeno and garlic.  Mix in chopped basil, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper.
Sautee onions, green pepper and mushroom in olive oil for 7-8 minutes on low-medium heat.  Add tofu mixture and heat up for 5-7 additional minutes.

 Brush olive oil in a baking dish (optional).  Place slices of eggplant on bottom until covered. Layer with tofu mixture.  Add another layer of eggplant and tofu, repeat until finished.  On top layer, spread Spaghetti sauce.  Cover with mozarella cheese.
Bake for ~ 40 minutes.

Delicious!

I have a picture of this somewhere... I will update this post when I find the picture...

Chicken Parmesan and Eggplant Parmesan

Awesome recipe from Pioneer Woman.  It's only the Chicken Parmesan.

 Eggplant Parmesan:
1 Eggplant
1 egg, whisked
bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese

For the eggplant, just cut the eggplant in about 1/4"-1/2" slices, arrange on paper towels and sprinkle some salt on them to help get rid of some of the bitter taste.  Let sit for about 20 minutes.  Pat the eggplant dry.  Whisk one egg and in a separate bowl combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and any seasoning you'd like (basil, oregano, salt, pepper, red pepper, etc.).  Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumb mixture.  Bake for 15 minutes on one side at 350 F and then flip over and bake another 5-10 minutes. 

Follow the recipe from Pioneer Woman for the rest of the steps.  The tomato sauce is delicious!

I know... not very good pics mostly because you can only see the cheese... but my friend who is a picky eater liked it so I think that's pretty high praise.

Fried Onion and Jalapeno

Just like from Chili's!  The recipe I used just has the onions, but basically slice up the jalapenos and follow the same method of preparation as for the onions.

Spring Dinner Menu

Photo of the Dinner 


Shiitake Mushroom and Ginger soup

•     Instead of using water and chicken, I used 3 cups of chicken stock

Salad 

•       Mixed greens with cherry tomatoes and feta

Brown Rice
 
Honey/Soy Chicken Skewers with lots of Veggies

•       I doubled the marinade recipe and used different veggies

  
Riesling
Chocolate Mousse 

•        Don't have a picture of the mousse but it was rich and decadent! Yum!

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust (makes bottom and top layer)
3 c. flour
8 tblsp. (1 stick) butter cut in small pieces and kept cold
1 1/4 c. cold water

Mix flour and butter until crumbles form.  Mix in water to form dough.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup flour

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups milk 

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper 

1 tsp. red pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

3 cups mixed vegetables

2 cups cooked, cubed chicken 

Cheese (optional)

1 egg white whisked

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Heat oil and sift in flour slowly to form paste.  Add in broth and milk, mix and keep stirring.  Add in vegetables, chicken and spices.  Simmer while making dough.
2. Separate dough into two lumps.  One for bottom layer and one for top.  Grease bottom of 9 inch pan.  Place one layer in pan.  Brush whisked egg on top.  Place in oven for 5 minutes.
3. Remove pan from oven. Pour in filling.  Sprinkle cheese on top if desired.  Place top dough layer.  Cut in design on top layer.  Brush rest of whisked egg on top layer.
4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Cinnamon Rolls

I've wanted to make cinnamon rolls forever!  The recipe used is found here.  Best part of this recipe? No yeast!  Next time I make these, I'm going to hold the cardamon and just add more cinnamon.  But otherwise a great recipe!

Kahlua Coffee Mousse Layer Cake

This cake is this chocolate cake recipe with Kahlua.  The Mousse was made with whipped cream, instant coffee, vanilla extract and powdered sugar.  Top layer of icing is chocolate butter cream.

Corn Salsa

Recipe

Football Cake Balls

Used leftover cake and crumbled it (any cake will do).  Mixed in icing (pick your favorite icing).  I don't think I had any icing so I mixed cream cheese, vanilla extract and sugar together.  Shape into footballs.  Freeze for 10-15 minutes.  Dip in chocolate. Use white chocolate to draw the stripes.

Great and easy Superbowl recipe!

Fried Mac & Cheese

Recipe

I used Paula Deen's recipe for the breading part.  Use your favorite mac & cheese recipe for the mac & cheese.  Remember to chill the mac & cheese overnight before frying!!!

Cookie Dough Cake

Same as the marble cake, just dressed up differently.  I don't have a picture of the inside of this cake either.  There's a cookie dough layer in between the two layers.

Icing is just whipped cream with sugar and vanilla.