Kentucky Wildcat Cupcakes! Go Big Blue!

Our household, like many others, are excited, nervous and more than anything, anxious for the big game tomorrow.  One that has truly divided the Bluegrass state.  It's March Madness, baby, and two of our Kentucky teams are duking (btw, where is Duke?) it out tomorrow in the Final Four Games.  This is the first time that the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals have faced the big dance against each other in the Final Four and boy, is it going to be a showdown.  You know it's serious when dialysis patients break out their fists to fight over the big event.  Yes, you heard me right, but I'll say it again.  What?  Fist fight.  Who?  Dialysis patients.  Why?  Ky versus UofL game in the NCAA Final Four Tournament.  Lesson learned from this?  You don't mess with KY fans when it comes to their Cats.

We will be chowing down on our usual game day foods tomorrow (in the comfort and safety of our own home) as well as some Blue Velvet Cupcakes that are perfect for any KY Wildcat event.  I found this recipe last year on bettycrocker.com and made these for my son's 15th birthday last year and they turned out great.  So, whether you are cheering on your team in New Orleans, Lexington, Louisville or Wyoming...be safe, have fun and whatever you do please don't make the same mistake that the dialysis patient did because we all know the UK fan is always right!  Get your Goggles on, boys!  Go Cats!

photo courtesy of kentucky.com.

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Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tablespoon unsweetened baking cocoa
2 teaspoons royal blue paste food color
1 toothpick violet paste food color

Frosting:
1 jar (7oz) marshmallow creme
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Heat oven to 325F.  Line muffin pan with white cupcake liners or grease and flour cake pans if making a cake.
2.  In a large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
3.  Divide batter evenly into cupcake liners or cake pans.  Bake 22 to 27 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry.  Cool 15 minutes and remove from pans.  Cool completely.
4.  Spoon marshmallow creme into large microwavable bowl; microwave uncovered on high 15-20 seconds to soften.  Add butter.  Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Beat in powdered sugar and salt until smooth.
5.  Pipe your frosting onto your cupcakes and enjoy the game!

*If you are in a hurry or don't have the desire to make the Marshmallow frosting, you can always use a store bought vanilla icing.   

Kentucky Wildcat Cupcakes! Go Big Blue!

Refrigerator Pickles

I have received a ton of cucumbers over the past few weeks in our bountiful basket and so after searching Pinterest for some ideas, I decided to make Refrigerator Pickles.  One Perfect Bite shares a delicious recipe for these pickles.  The recipe I am going to share was adapted from the one I found and  let me tell ya, they are yummy.  They lasted, well, about a day in our house and this morning my oldest asked me when I was going to make some more.  So yeah, you guessed it, I have another batch made up and resting in the refrigerator until tomorrow.

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What you need for these pickles:
1-1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 3/4 teaspoons of pickling spice
2 cups hot water
2 pounds kirby cucumbers, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon dill weed spice
3 cloves garlic, minced


Making them:
1.  Combine Vinegar, sugar, salt and pickling spice in a medium size bowl.  Add the hot water and stir until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is clear.  Cool to room temperature.  (This only takes a minute or two.)
2.  Place your cucumbers, minced garlic and dill weed spice in a large bowl and toss to combine.  Pour your brine over the cucumbers and stir until cucumbers are well coated.  
3.  Cover them with a plate to weigh them down and keep them covered in the brine.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, stirring once or twice.    
4.  Transfer to an airtight container and store for up to two weeks. Yield: 1 quart. 

Cover your cucumbers in brine.

Refrigerator Pickles

Beef with Broccoli

My apologies that I have been MIA since Valentine's Day.  My children, as well as myself, got attacked by a horrible viral illness that left us coughing and miserable with fever for a couple of weeks.  Besides a few lingering coughs, it seems that we have overcome yet another round of this stuff and I can speak for all of us in saying, "We are ready for Spring!"

My husband was sweet enough to help me one night with dinner and it was the night that we had beef and broccoli on the menu.  It. Was. Amazing.  We received another head of broccoli in our Bountiful Basket yesterday, and if you haven't already guessed it...yes, this delicious meal has landed on our menu again for this upcoming week.  This was my first attempt at making a beef and broccoli stir fry, like the kind we love to inhale at our favorite little Chinese restaurant, and I have to say I lucked out when I came across this recipe from Rainy Day Gal.  Not only does it taste like it came straight out your favorite take out box, it is even a little better. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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For the meat marinade you need:
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds of flank steak, sliced into thin pieces

*Whisk together all of the above Ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Once well blended, toss the sliced steak in the mixture until well coated.  Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

After you have let the meat sit in the marinade for one hour, you should go ahead and proceed with the rest of the ingredients.  For this part you will need:

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 heads of broccoli, crowns only

1.  In a small bowl, whisk together the first four ingredients until blended and then set aside.
2.  In a large saute pan (or wok if you have one) heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over high heat until shimmering.  Add your broccoli and saute for 3 minutes, stirring often.  Once your broccoli is sauteed, transfer it to a bowl and set aside.
3.  Carefully add the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to your hot pan (your pan will be hot and the oil may pop).  Add the marinated meat and half of your sauce mixture you previously made, and saute for about 5 minutes or until the meat is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink.  Stir in the broccoli and the remaining half of your sauce mixture and saute for one more minute.  Serve hot with steamed white or brown rice.  Makes approximately 4 servings.

*An optional side of eggs rolls and sauteed mushrooms goes wonderful with this dish!

Beef with Broccoli

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I had green and red peppers, and even a fresh pineapple that need to be eaten, so I tweaked our menu a bit and decided to make sweet and sour chicken with white rice and egg rolls.  The egg rolls were some I had previously made, froze and then reheated tonight.  The dish I made was adapted from a recipe I found on Food Network.  The picture they posted showed a typical red sauce that you normally find at an Asian restaurant, but the sauce that I ended up with was nothing like that at all.  However, it was very delicious and had such a good flavor.  I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

*note: As written, this recipe Serves 2-4.  If you have a large family like I do, you will need to double!
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Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 4 teaspoons water
• 1 cup pineapple cut into chunks with 1/2 cup reserved juice
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper

How to make it!

In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper and ginger and add to pan. Brown chicken and remove to plate.  Next add the onion, red and green peppers and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in pineapple chunks, juice, sugar, vinegar and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until sauce begins to reduce.  Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring the liquid to a simmer.  Stir in chicken and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve over white rice with a side of egg rolls and enjoy!

Sauteing veggies and pineapple

A delicious dinner !

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Red Velvet Chip Cookies!

Tonight I am baking Red Velvet Chip Cookies for my boys' teachers, friends and of course for my own little Valentines.  I wanted a red cookie, something festive, something a little unique and of course something ridiculously delicious!  I stumbled upon this cookie recipe posted by Sweet Dreaming and knew this was the cookie I had been looking for.  I just finished my first batch, and not only are they a beautiful red cookie, they are moist and absolutely delicious!  I am so pleased with how these turned out, I wanted to immediately share with all of you, just in time for your own Valentine's Day celebrations!  Happy Heart Day dear friends!  Much love!

What you need:

1 box Red Velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cake mix, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until a dough forms.  Dough will be thick!  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Roll into balls and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Let cookies stand on pan for about 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 30 cookies.

the dough...

Roll them into balls...

Yumtastic!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Red Velvet Chip Cookies!

The Eats for the Week!

Menu Board by Oh So Chichi!

Today, I have done nothing.  There is snow on the ground, it is cold outside, and I have become a permanent fixture on my sofa surrounded by the comforts of my blanket and pillow.  We all need a movie marathon day every now and then, don't you think?  After many hours of debate, I finally came to the conclusion that I should at least find my lap top and plan our meals while I lay here, as I am assuming my family will want to eat this week. They're pretty demanding like that.

Above is a cute menu board created by Oh So Chichi!  Isn't this the cutest thing!  Go here to be taken to the tutorial and learn how to create this menu board for your own home!

Breakfasts and lunches will be fairly basic this week and everything I need for those meal I already have in the pantry, so meal planning this week will consist only of dinners. Yes, is seems as if my laziness is going to be a week long event!

Dinners this week:
Penne with roasted asparagus, red lobster biscuits, spicy roasted cauliflower
Beef with Broccoli , white steamed rice, sauteed mushrooms
BBQ drumsticks, steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, garlic potatoes
Game night foods: Chicken wings, queso and chips, crescent wrapped lil smokies, carrot sticks
Spaghetti, asparagus, garlic bread
Green salad tossed with roasted chicken breast, carrots, red peppers and tomatoes
Valentine's Dinner Out 

The Eats for the Week!

Caramel Apple Bites

Since the hubby and I are going out to dinner and a movie tonight, I thought I would do a little dessert for the boys to have after their dinner of baked pork chops, roasted asparagus and steamed carrots. Now that I realize how delish their dinner sounds I may be second guessing going out to dinner...roasted asparagus, yum! I had an apple that looked a little bruised, so after slicing it I dipped each piece into some melted caramel and made my sweet darlings some Caramel Apple Bites! Cute, easier to eat and a lot less messy than an entire Caramel Apple!

Caramel Apple Bites

Freezing Brussels Sprouts

Plunging into water.

For the past few weeks I have been ordering a basket of veggies and fruits for $15.00 from bountiful baskets, and about a week and a half ago I had a freezer day and frozen some of those veggies.  For the next few days I will be sharing my home freezing successes.  I was nervous at first, because I really didn't know what I was doing, but once I got my home freezing book out and started doing it, it was really easy and actually kind of fun!

This is what I received this week in my bountiful basket!

Freezing Brussels Sprouts!

Brussels Spouts actually freeze very well!  To prepare them for the freezer you first have to wash them and trim off any outer leaves and stems that remain.  I sorted them into small, medium and large sizes.  After sorting then you water blanch small sprouts for three minutes, medium sprouts for four minutes and then large sprouts for five minutes.  If you choose to steam blanch your sprouts, small ones should be blanched for four minutes, medium-sized for five minutes and large sprouts for six minutes.  Immediately following blanching, plunge into ice water until completely cooled and then drain thoroughly.  After they are thoroughly dried, you can transfer to freezer bags or containers and place in the freezer.  

My sprouts before the blanching process.

Freezing Q&A:

Why the ice water plunge?

This was a question I had when I first started reading up on freezing veggies.  Little did I know how important this step actually is.  If you don't cool down your vegetables as soon as they emerge from the boiling water or steam, they will get soggy.  So, it is very important not to skip this step!

The sprouts ready to be put in the freezer!

Freezing Brussels Sprouts

FOOD! FOOTBALL! FUN!

Earlier today on my sister blog, Mocha Mornings I posted some fun ideas and tips about how to make your Superbowl party a bash to remember.  Now, onto the food!  No matter what our differences may be, all those seem to disappear one Sunday out of the year when we all put up a united front, dig into some hot wings and pop open a Bud Lite.

My favorite part of the Superbowl, besides the commercials and the game of course, is the food!  Here are some Ridiculously Delicious Game Day Foods that are sure to be a crowd pleaser.  Let's Chow Down!

Crispy Broiled Wings

The Football Foodie shares a recipe for the delicious wings that are cooked in the oven, but crispy as if they were fried.  They are dry wings, which make it easier for snacking and crispy without the messiness of cooking with oil.  Yum!  I can't wait!

Man-tested Game Day Dip

Man Tested Recipes brings us a Superbowl Dip that has been man tested, so you know it is good!  Cheese, beef, sausage, beans, and salsa.  How can you go wrong with that?  Needless to say, this is also on our Game Day Menu!

Baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries

Playing with Sugar has a fabulous recipe for oven baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries.  If you are having several guests over you will need to double or triple this recipe because I promise they won't last long.

CrockPot Chili

You can never go wrong with a big pot of soup or chili for your guests to munch on.  This Crock Pot Chili is a recipe from my collection and by cooking it in the CrockPot you can prepared earlier in the day and it will be ready to enjoy by the time your party goers arrive!

Stadium Brownies

Betty Crocker tempts us with these amazing brownies that are topped with butter, marshmallows, popcorn and peanuts.  It might be wise to have a copy of this recipe on hand, because you are sure to be asked for it a hundred times!

Bacon Wrapped Li'l Smokes

These Bacon-Wrapped Li'l Smokies in a Brown Sugar and Maple Glaze are found at Tasty Kitchen.  Although not the healthiest snack food to serve, it is sure to be one of the most delicious.  My mouth is watering already!

Taco Pizza

Taco Pizza anyone?  Real Mom Kitchen has a recipe that is out of this world.  Sure to be a hit and so much better than the frozen kind!

Or course it is never a bad idea to whip up some party mix and have a raw veggie spread ready for your guests to munch on throughout the game.  These foods are sure to be a hit at your Game Day Bash.  Remember to take some time to enjoy these goodies yourself, after all, you're the one that spent the day in the hot kitchen!

FOOD! FOOTBALL! FUN!

What we have cooking up this week!

Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board 

Another week?  Already?  Time just seems to go by so quickly these days, and I wish things would slow down, just a little.  My boys are growing up before my eyes and at least one day out of the week I find myself in tears at the thoughts of the oldest almost being through his freshman year of high school and before we know it he will be going away to college, with our second son not far behind him.   This makes me incredibly sad.  However, I am hopeful that they will always remember mama's good cookin' and come home every now and then to visit me.

But for now, my house remains chaotic, loud and full of hungry, growing boys, which brings us to this week's menu.  What do you have cooking this week?

Oh, and I almost forgot!  The picture I posted above came from the blog Make and Takes.  She has a great tutorial on how you can make this very cute Wipe Off Menu Board for yourself!

Breakfast:
Grapefruit
Hot oatmeal with fresh blueberries
Cold cereal
Toast with Apple Butter and banana
Bagel with Nutella and oranges
Waffles with apple slices

Lunch:
Left overs
Deli Meat Sandwich with mixed fruit and pretzels
Mac and Cheese with fruit snacks
Healthy  Choice for mom
Cheese and crackers with orange slices
Soup with crackers

Dinner:
Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Roast with carrots and potatoes with a side of spicy roasted cauliflower
Homemade chicken and dumplins, cream biscuits and fresh green bean stir-fry
Sweet and Sour Chicken, white rice, homemade egg rolls
Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, green salad
Kielbasa & Cabbage, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus

What we have cooking up this week!