Suessical Cake

In June Brandon was the mayor of Who-ville in Seussical the Musical at the Rose Theater. For the last weekend of the show I made a cake (by the request of some of the cast members). Each layer is a different form of chocolate.

Topper: Chocolate coated chow mien noodles (nest), fondant egg, and pretzel/fondant/frosting Truffala Tree
Top Layer: Devils Food cake with white chocolate chunks and red fondant
Second layer: Marble cake with yellow fondant
Third layer: Chocolate cake with mint filling and mint buttercream frosting
Bottom layer: Fudge brownie with blue vanilla buttercream frosting

 

Beef Stew

Tonight for supper I made beef stew and it was pretty darn tasty. As with all my soups, I never use a recipe... I just dump and stir until it looks (but more importantly tastes) right. I can tell you most of the ingredients I used, but just not the quantities.

I had leftovers from a beef roast I made earlier in the week with rosemary and fennel, and I also reserved the broth/stock. I threw that in a dutch oven on the stovetop and let it start to simmer. I also added a little canned beef broth, tomato sauce, and a little water for more liquid volume.

The veggies I used were potatoes, celery, carrots, corn, garlic, and onion.

The spices/seasonings I used included garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed, paprika, bay leaves, a seasoning salt blend, and black pepper.

I am sure I added something else along the way, but this is what I could remember :) We do have a bunch of leftovers, so I am going to try to freeze some to use later. 

PS- if anybody knows a good way to take a picture of soup so it doesn't look gross, let me know!

Easter Yummies

For Easter dinner Brandon's parents and sister's family came over to our house. Six adults and 3 children. Here was the menu:

Baked Ham with a Spiced Honey Glaze
Au-gratin Potatoes
Pasta Salad
Coleslaw
Green Bean Casserole
Deviled Eggs
Fresh Fruit (pineapple, grapes, strawberries, oranges)
Buns
Lemon Meringue Pie and chocolate cakes in the shape of Easter eggs

 

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Argo® OR Kingsford's® Corn Starch
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 baked (9-inch) pie crust
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 1 cup sugar and corn starch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in egg yolks.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice and butter.
3. Spoon hot filling into pie crust.
4. Beat egg whites in small bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining 1/3 cup sugar; continue beating until stiff peaks form.
5. Spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing to edge of crust.
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack at room temperature for 30 minutes; refrigerate for 3 hours before serving. 

 

The cheese sauce got added later, but I forgot to take a picture then :)

  

 

Grilled Chicken Kabobs

As I have said before, I LOVE GRILLING! Today Brandon and I made some chicken and veggie kabobs on the grill for lunch.
I marinated the chicken, yellow pepper, green pepper, mushrooms, onions, and zucchini for about 2 1/2 hours prior to grilling. I also used some fresh pineapple, but I didn't put the marinade on that because I wanted it to keep it's natural sweetness.
My marinade was lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder, and half a bottle of K.C. Masterpiece lemon pepper flavored pre-made marinade (I know, I cheated, but it was on sale...).  I also kept some of the bottled marinade on reserve to put on the kabobs as they were grilling.

Just ignore the dirty grill and look at the yummy food... :)

Me and my creation

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Grilling, nice weather, and leftovers... who could ask for more?

Pasta Bake & Coleslaw

ZESTY PASTA BAKE

Ingredients:
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 yellow onion
1 box whole wheat rotini pasta
1 lbs turkey sausage
28 oz crushes tomatos
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded colby-jack cheese
1 medium zucchini chopped into bite sized chunks
crushed red pepper (to taste)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray
Prepare pasta as directed on box
Meanwhile, place sausage in large skillet. Add onion, zucchini, and mushrooms. Cook until sausage is no longer pink.
Add crushed tomatoes and crushed red pepper flakes to skillet, cook for 2 minutes or until bubbling.
Add cooked pasta to skillet and mix until pasta is well coated.
Spoon half of pasta mixture into pan, layer with mozzarella cheese, the rest of the pasta, and top with colby-jack cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.


COLESLAW
I was pretty happy to make this recipe for 2 reasons... #1: I like coleslaw, #2: I bought a HUGE cabbage (5 1/2 lbs) for $0.48! Needless to say I made a pretty large batch!

Ingredients
cabbage
carrots
green peppers

Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
1/2 cup mayo
salt and pepper to taste
(since I had such a large cabbage I doubled the sauce)

Directions:
Chop/shred/slice all veggies and mix in a large bowl
In another bowl combine sauce ingredients, stir, pour over veggies, and mix well.

Awesome Weather & Grilling!

The past few days have been BEAUTIFUL!! Temps in the high 70's with a slight breeze and sunny... IN MARCH IN THE MIDWEST! Crazy! Birds are singing, the heat in the house is turned off, windows are open, grass is growing, I am able to run outside without a coat on. Everything is just putting me in a good mood :)

To make things even better, we broke out the grill after having it covered up all winter! YAY! On Tuesday I marinated some chicken breasts and made potato and onion foil packets for the grill. It all turned out very moist and yummy (I used a chipotle lime marinade).

Then, yesterday, Brandon made "Juicy Lucy" burgers. These are pretty much taking 2 thin layers of meat and putting a stack of cheese in the middle, then sealing the edges. The result is a hamburger patty with a pocket of melty-ooy-gooy-delicious cheese in the middle. They turned our really well! I love grilling :)

3-2-1 Cake

Here is a simple recipe my mom showed me called "3-2-1 Cake"

Mix together:
One box of cake mix (any flavor...I used chocolate)
One box angel food cake mix

Take 3 tablespoons of the cake mixture, 2 tablespoons water, stir, and heat in microwave safe mug for 1 minute.

The result is a perfectly sized individual portion of cake! (even better with a little scoop of ice cream on top! yum!)