Another Birthday Cake

So I am slowly starting to get into making birthday cakes, very, very slowly. I'm not very good yet, so I've only made them for family members so far (because they have to say they like the cake no matter how bad it is, right?). This cake was actually really easy to make. I used a recipe for vanilla cupcakes from Annie's Eats, doubled it, and then used frosting from a can (hey, it was for young kids and they like what they like, right?). This cake is really light and has a good flavor to it, so I will definitely be making it again. The decorations are just gel icing, green sanding sugar, and conversation hearts turned over (don't worry, they were still fresh). The birthday girls love the cake, which made me very happy. I've also made cupcakes with this recipe and they were really good too, so give it try sometime soon.

Vanilla Cupcakes

From Annie's Eats

I doubled this recipe and baked it in a 9 x 13 cake pan at the same temperature for about 25 minutes.

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon (optional) I omitted this
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup milk

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Set pan aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides and beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest, if using.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in pan 5 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Kugelhopf

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a bit of a challenge for me. First of all, the recipe, which was picked by Yolanda of The All-purpose Girl, is for a yeast cake called Kugelhopf. This recipe scared me because of the fact that I have never made anything by myself with yeast. Nothing, ever. So I was very nervous that I would somehow mess this up and end up looking silly on my second week in the group. But amazingly everything with the dough went just fine. My dough rose like it was supposed to each time, much to my amazement. So when the last rise in the fridge was done I had a perfectly risen dough.

Then came the real trouble. This cake can be made in a special Kugelhopf pan or in a regular bundt pan, I planned to use a bundt pan. I have never made anything in a bundt pan, so I planned to use the one from a Kitchen Aid set I had gotten a while ago at Linens 'n Things for the first time. Well, lets just say I learned an important lesson: always check your pans before you start baking. It turns out I had a mini bundt pan, not the full size one I thought I had. Luckily I had read on the Tuesdays with Dorie site that you could make these in a muffin pan, so that's what I did. So we had Kugelhopf rolls, instead of a cake.

This recipe was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be. It has a nice texture and a good taste to it. I think if I make it again I will use something other than raisins in it, I'm not a big fan of raisins in my baked goods. Overall though this was an easy recipe and, I think, a nice introduction to yeast.

Kugelhopf from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Pages 61 to 63.

Caving to Peer Pressure

I never really had to deal with peer pressure in high school. I think I was just so far into the world of band geeks and drama freaks that I just never noticed it. Sadly, the same is not true for me as an adult apparently. First I let myself get "talked into" (also known as commanded) reading young adult book about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. And now I have let myself be talked into joining a blog group where everyone bakes a recipe a week from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours and blogs about it on Tuesdays. The vampire book thing ended up being great (thanks for the pressure on that one!) and I think this baking thing may be ok too (thanks Jessica and Maci!).


So for those of you who don't know about this blogging group let me explain. The group is called Tuesdays with Dorie and is composed of a huge variety of food bloggers from all over who have Dorie's book. Each week a member selects one recipe and everyone bakes it and then blogs about it. They ask that you do not post the recipe to your blog to encourage more people to go buy the book and support the publishing world (and as a major book fanatic (both cookbook and other) you know I love that! I had been toying with the idea of joining this group for a while now, but was always really intimidated by the awesome things everyone was making. However, recently the group set a cut off date to join, you had to sign up by 10/31 if you wanted to be a member. So the peer pressure had been strong the last few weeks (ahem, Jessica) and I finally caved in, er I mean decided to join.



So, this is my first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe and I was both excited and nervous about it. The recipe was chosen by Piggy of Piggy's Cookin Journal (check it out!) and is for Rugelach. I have had this treat before but had never made it, so I was excited to try it. I was also slightly frightened because this is another recipe that calls for making and rolling out a dough. I survived the rolling process and they turned out pretty good. They didn't really hold their shape very well though, but they are still good. I think I am going to try to make another batch and play around with the shape until I get it to work (and goodness knows I could use the rolling practice).


So check out the other bloggers who are doing Tuesdays with Dorie and check back here on Tuesdays for the newest TWD recipe.


Recipe: Rugelach from pages 150 and 151 in Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

A Small Break From Cooking

So my kitchen got a nice gift Saturday night: it got deep cleaned. I will admit that I am not the best cleaner. I tend to clean in waves, sometimes I'm in the mood to really clean and will do everything but other times I barely have the desire to wipe the counter. However, I have realized lately that I am a lot happier when the house, especially the kitchen, is clean. So when Katie at The Hyper Homemaker (also the same Katie as Good Things Catered) started a fall cleaning challenge I got the motivation I needed. So Saturday night at about 10:30, after reading Katie's blog posts, I started cleaning our kitchen.

I cleaned out, wiped out, and organized the fridge, freezer, and cabinets. I wiped the doors of all the drawers and cabinets (even the fake ones), reorganized our tiny counter tops, and organized all of dish washing tools. I had already done the pantry earlier that day when we got back from Sam's so that was good. I also scrubbed the stove top and the microwave until the were practically shiny. I was really please with what all I got accomplished, though there are still a few things I need to do in there. But I still have plenty of time for that. So thanks for the inspiration Katie and check out her blog for her daily fall cleaning posts.

Impossibly Yummy

I'll admit it: I use Bisquick. I use it for pancakes, cheesy garlic biscuits, and this cheeseburger pie. Go ahead and judge if you must, I don't mind. I like Bisquick. It is a great way to make things quickly, easily, and on a budget. We buy the big box from Sam's and it lasts us quite a while. I first made this recipe when I still lived with my parents and was amazed at how easy it was. This is one of the recipes off the back of the box and, according to the Betty Crocker site, is one of the most requested recipes for the company.

This is a great item to make on a night when you want something quick and easy but still warm and filling. When I made this I actually cooked my hamburger the night before so that I could quickly mix this up and throw it in the oven when I got home. I also doubled the recipe to make two pies so that we could get a couple of lunches out of it, it really reheats very well. So, if you can handle using Bisquick (and I'm sure you can) you should give this a try, it really is great.

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

From: Bettycrocker.com (also on the Bisquick box)

1 Pound Lean (at least 80%) Ground Beef
1 Large Onion, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (4 oz)
1/2 Cup Original Bisquick® Mix
1 Cup Milk
2 Eggs

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.
In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in salt. Spread in pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese.
In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.
Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Like a Bat Out of Hell

I think Meatloaf gets a bad rap. No, not the singer. I mean the food, that brown loaf so commonly made fun of as being a staple of horrible lunchrooms and fifties kitchens. I love meatloaf. I think that stems from the fact that we didn't have it all the time when I was growing up. My mom made meatloaf for special meals only, such as birthdays, anniversaries, good grades, etc. And yes, I do remember requesting meatloaf one or two times for my birthday meal growing up (hey, I never said I was a normal kid).

My mom's meatloaf is incredibly simple: meat, bread crumbs, eggs. Worcester sauce, and ketchup are the basic ingredients (no onions in my parent's household, much to Doug's dismay, but sometimes a little onion powder). So I based my recipe off of this, with just a few tweaks for our taste (no onions this time but I am sure I will have to give in eventually). I really recommend taking this recipe and changing it to please your tastes. Maybe you like onions in your meatloaf, maybe you hate Worcester sauce. Do whatever you want to make this taste good to you. We owe it to meatloaf to give it a chance to shed it's horrible reputation.

Meatloaf

By me (Adapted from my mom, Connie)

2 Pounds Ground Beef

2 Eggs

1 Cup Bread Crumbs

1 Teaspoon Garlic (I have a jar of minced garlic (yes, gasp!) but you could add however many cloves make you happy)

1 Teaspoon Season Salt

3 Shakes of Worcester Sauce

2 Shakes of Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Steak Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray pan with non stick spray (I use a roasting pan with the tray in it).

Mix all ingredients together. Form into a log or loaf shape and put into pan.

Shake a little more Worcester sauce and steak sauce on top if desired.

Bake at 350 for about 1 hour or until completely cooked.

This can be eaten with ketchup or steak sauce if desired. I think this is even better the next day for lunch.

The Great Exchange

The cooking board I frequent does a recipe exchange every few months, I did one last year around Christmas but hadn't done one since. So when the last one's roundup was posted I decided to do it. And I'm glad I did! The recipe I got is for a great veggie chicken rice casserole. It was really easy to put together and tasted great, especially today when I had some of the leftovers for lunch. This was the perfect thing for a cool, windy night like we had last night. And it is great because it makes a lot, which means a lot of leftovers, which I love. This is a simple recipe that doesn't call for any outrageous ingredients, which is a great thing. Try this one out on a cool fall evening, you won't be disappointed.

Veggie Chicken Rice Casserole

Source: allrecipes.com

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1 whole cooked chicken, cut into pieces (the person who sent this to me likes to buy the rotisserie chickens from Sam's or Walmart; I used a couple chicken breasts that I had previously baked, shredded and frozen)

1 pkg. frozen mixed veggies, thawed and steamed

2 c cooked rice

2/3 c water

1/2 c crushed Ritz crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the soup, chicken, cooked veggies, cooked rice and water. Mix well and spread mixture in a 9x13" baking dish. Sprinkle crushed cracker crumbs on top and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes, then serve.