Monday, June 27, 2011

Oatmeal Cinnamon Muffins

So I got up this morning thinking muffins sounded good, however I didn't get around to making them until this evening. I found this recipe on Allrecipes and am trying to eat healthier baked goods. These were pretty good, my only complaint like other people was that they stuck to the muffin cups. I did change the recipe a little bit.

1 cup oats
1 cup buttermilk (I didn't have any so I made my own with milk and lemon juice)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
cinnamon
I also added a 1/2 cup of applesauce

Combine oats and buttermilk and let sit for 5 minutes.
Stir in eggs then apple sauce.
Combine dry ingredients and then add to wet mix until moist.
Fill baking cups about 2/3 full.
Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes on wire rack.

Very tasty but like I said I can't figure out why they stick to the muffin cups, if you can please let me know!

Bumblebee Cupcakes

A new guy started at Ryan's work so I thought I would make cupcakes to welcome him to the Blue Dog Crew. I didn't have a recipe for dog cupcakes but did have one for Bumblebee cupcakes that I thought would be really cute. I used boxed cake mix, the recipe called for banana but I thought Lemon would taste better so I used Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix.

I then bought Cream cheese
frosting, if I had more time I would have made my own.. but alas time got away from me.

You'll need gum drops, black gel frosting and black licorice.

Use a couple drops of yellow food col
oring to dye the frosting.

Cut the black licorice so you have about 1.5 inch pieces
for antennas.

I tried to find a bag of all yellow gum drops but due to cost just bought Meijer brand and u
sed all of the different colored ones.

Frost the cupcakes one at a time.


Place one gum drop on the front for a head and two down the middle, all the same color for the body. Then choose 4 more all the same color and put 2 on each side of the body for wings.

Stick the black licorice in between the head and body for antennas and use the black frosting to draw eyes on the head and stripes on the body.


These are a very cute su
mmer dessert for a picnic!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Great Recipe from Barefoot Contessa

A few teachers at Mason were talking about how great this recipe thought so Ryan and I tried it out on a weekend and absolutely loved it. It's from Food Network's Barefoot Contessa, her site is here. This recipe makes a lot and is great cold or heated up the next day, it's a good summer recipe.

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
1 small eggplant, peeled and 3/4 inch diced (we used summer squash instead)
1 red bell pepper, 1 inch diced
1 yellow bell pepper, 1 inch diced
1 red onion peeled and 1 inch diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 t of kosher salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
1/2 lb of orzo or rice shaped pasta

For the dressing:
2 freshly squeezed lemons
1/3 c of olive oil
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper

To assemble:
4 scallions, minced, white and green parts
1 cup of pine nuts
3/4 lb of feta, 1/2 inch diced not crumbled
basil leaves julienne

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Toss the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper on a large cookie sheet covered in foil. Roast in oven for 40 minutes or until browned turning with a spatula once.

Cook the orzo in boiling chicken broth for 7 to 9 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the roasted vegetables, scraping all of the liquid and seasonings from the cookie sheet into the bowl.

For the dressing combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and pour on the pasta and vegetables. Let cool to room temperature and add scallions, pine nuts, feta and basil. Serve at room temperature.

This was so tasty!!! You can mix up the vegetables too, add what you like. It definitely needs the feta, and the dressing though.

Tasty dinner I whipped together

Now that school is over I plan to blog more on here, sorry it's been so long, I haven't had much time to cook but I do now. So let's start with something I just threw together for dinner with things I had in the fridge and cupboard.

Ingredients:

1 box of pasta, I used Penne
1 Onion chopped
6 slices of bacon cooked

1 container of Philadelphia Cooking cream, I used Italian Herb and Cheese, I absolutely love this stuff, if you can catch it on sale, stock up.

Boil Water for the pasta. While you are waiting for the water to boil, cook your bacon in a skillet.

Once the bacon is cooked removed and drain, then crumble. Cook onion in the bacon grease. Add your cooked pasta with the bacon and the cooking creme and a can of diced tomatoes if you'd like. Cook it all together until heated through. Voila.. quick, easy and tasty dinner.