Tag Archives: Cooking

Super Yum Yum

08 Wednesday Jan 2014

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photo (50)You know my deal about cooking.  I only do it if it’s easy.  Well this holiday I made a couple of winners that I found on Pinterest and wanted to share with you.

* 8 Can Taco Soup – I actually skip a can (the chicken … canned chicken sounds gross) so for me this is 7 Can Taco Soup!  This could not be easier.  You take a bunch of cans of food (specific ones not just any that you happen to throw in your cart), drain whatever is in them and then plop them in a big ol’ pot.  Done!  I’ve actually made this twice once with and once without the taco seasoning packet.  I like it better without but remember I’m a huge wimp when it comes to anything spicy.  Someone on the blog suggested substituting a ranch dressing packet for the taco seasoning.  I actually had planned to do that on my last batch but totally forgot to purchase it.

If you are fancy you could add a dollop of sour cream, a couple of slices of avocado and some tortilla chips.  If you are me you can just ladle it right out of the pot and into your mouth.  I love soup and I love mexican food so this is the perfect lunch or dinner for me.  Today I’m eating it for both!  Yum yum!

Ingredients:

  • 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (14.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1 (15.25 oz.) can sweet corn, drained
  • 1 (12.5 oz.) can white chicken breast, drained
  • 1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 (10 oz.) can green enchilada sauce
  • 1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
Directions:
  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large pot.
  2. Heat until warm, stirring occasionally.
  3. Serve.

* Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats – You read that correctly.  Already sounds delicious doesn’t it?  When you click on the link to go to the original blog post of this amazing concoction you will notice that the fancy pants woman made cute little cupcakes out of the krispie treats.  She even made the effort to top them with some fancy schmancy icing.  I did not do that.  I made them like a normal person would make rice krispie treats and packed them into a pan and cut them into squares.  Worked great.  Tasted better.  Seriously for how little effort it takes to add some vanilla and cake mix to your krispie mixture the additional wow factor for your taste buds is amazing.  Do it.  Wow your taste buds.  They deserve it.

Ingredients 

  • 6 tbs margarine* (3/4 of a stick)
  • 3/4 cup yellow cake mix
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups Rice Krispies
  • 1/2 10oz bag of marshmallows (5oz)
  • 1 tbs sprinkles

Instructions 

Melt margarine in the microwave (about 45 seconds). Mix in marshmallows and return to microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Mix in cake mix and vanilla until combined. Add in sprinkles and 2 cups of Rice Krispies with a spatula. Add in the third cup of Rice Krispies.

Fill each well-greased pan with the Rice Krispie mixture and press it in gently with the back of a spoon. Cool for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

(I don’t have any pictures of any of this so enjoy some more dog pictures.  They are cute and sweet too.)

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Dirt Soup

21 Thursday Nov 2013

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photo 1 (12)It’s getting chilly.  It even rained this morning a rarity in Southern California.  It’s soup weather!  I love homemade soup.  It’s so yummy and soothing.  It just makes me happy.  I made a vat (I can only make a large volume of soup.  It’s a full crock pot or nothing.) of chicken veggie the other day.  It was delicious.  I was looking for something new for my next soup yumminess and had decided to try to be healthy so I figured I’d make some lentil soup.

My friend Giovanna makes delicious lentil soup.  I watched her once and I swear all she did was put water, chicken, lentils & squash chunks in a giant pan and stirred it once in a while until it was done.  It’s delicious.  I figured I could do that!  To be on the safe side I looked up a few recipes online.  Then I ditched them all and did my own thing.  Now I have 3 large containers of soup that tastes like dirt.  Blah.  I failed but I have to eat the dirt soup because I made it and I’m not in a position to be able to toss perfectly good food out the window just because it’s a little “earthy.”

One of my friends is ill.  I offered to bring her some dirt soup (you know … pawn some off on her).  She declined.

For your reference here is how you make dirt soup:

* Take your lentils and lay them out to pick out “dirt and sticks” per all the instructions you read on the internet.  Decide that is dumb and after looking at it for a second or two scoop up all the lentils and put them in a bowl.  You are trying to be healthy and this is the source of protein in this soup so use a lot of them.

* Soak the lentils for 20 minutes then forget about them and realize you soaked them for about 3 hours instead.

* Toss the lentils, that have now tripled in volume and seem overwhelming but what the hell, into the crock pot.  Add 3 bags of frozen veggies.  I like to choose 3 different types so there is a lot of variety in case I don’t like something in one of them.  Pour in salt free chicken broth until the crock pot is nice and full.  Add some sort of variety seasoning thing just because it seems like a good idea.

* Turn it on high for two hours.

* Decided two hours isn’t enough because somehow the lentils are still crunchy.  Keep the crock pot on high and go to bed and read your book.

* When you are sick of reading your book and just want to go to sleep get up and turn off the crock pot.

* In the morning put the soup into containers and stick in the fridge and/or freezer.

photo 2 (12)* After exercise that night pull out one and warm up a bowl full.  Consume.  Realize you made dirt soup.  Feed some of the vegetables to the dogs to make it go away faster.
Supplement your dinner with some saltines.

Dirt soup.  It’s what’s for dinner.

(Pictures of the soup would be boring.  Think veggies floating around in a brownish liquid with weird pea colored things popping up now and then.  I’ve added pictures of the dogs for entertainment.  Please enjoy the adorableness of Riggins, Asscher, Clover & Mckenzie.)

Mini Marshmallows Two Ways

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

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A few posts back I alluded to some Oreo balls I made for my nephew’s birthday.  Because of that cooking frenzy I have a bag of mini marshmallows sitting on my counter.  In case you do too here are two things you can do with them!  By the way I suggest not thinking too hard about what marshmallows are made of or you will not want to eat them.

photo 2LEGO OREO POPS – I have made my fair share of Oreo and cake balls (if you want to see someone do these right head on over to Bakerella’s site).  Balls are easy.  You tap into your inner kindergartner to make balls out of food and then dip them in chocolate.  If you want to get fancy you can add sprinkles or chocolate drips over them.  Making cake balls is a pain in the bum.  Oreo balls allow you to skip 4 or 5 steps and end up with something similar.  Within my set of friends some prefer cake balls, some prefer Oreo balls, and some can’t tell the difference.  When I asked my sister what kind of cake her and my nephew wanted for their birthday she said that Logan had requested cake balls.  I negotiated that down to Oreo balls and a cake.  To make the “balls” extra special I decided to make them into Lego heads.  Logan’s love for Legos knows no bounds.  After a quick search on Pinterest I figured out how I wanted to make them (if you want to see Lego pops that turned out better than mine search on Pinterest and you will find a ton).

To make Oreo balls take a package of Oreos (I’ve used Trader Joe version when I knew kids allergic to something in normal Oreos would be eating them) and stick them all in the food processor.  Zap them until the are just crumbs.  Then add a brick of cream cheese and zap that together until it looks like play dough.  Brown, yummy, play dough.  I wrap up the sugar blob in wax paper and stick it in the refrigerator for a while.  This is a good step for both cake and Oreo balls.  The “play dough” can get really gooey really fast.  Chilling it helps make rolling balls easier.  After a bit I took the blob out and rolled out some barrel shapes until I got annoyed with them and changed over to just making balls.  Now for the marshmallows!  Take a mini marshmallow and cut it in half.  Glue (using chocolate) one 1/2 to the top of each barrel.  If you want any pops put the sticks in now using more “glue” to help keep them stable.  Stick all those in the freezer.  Once they get hard it is easier to move on to the next step.

The “covering in chocolate” step is always where I run into trouble.  This is what holds me back from making super fancy shapes.  That and a complete lack of patience.  Grab some candy melts (I used yellow because Lego heads are yellow) and melt them down to a liquid form.  This is my fail point.  I can not get the right consistency.  This time I think I was screwed up by some water that was left in the bowl I grabbed to melt in.  Water is chocolates enemy.  I had to ditch that batch and start over.  Once you get something that is liquid enough dip in your Lego heads and/or balls to coat them.  I place them in the freezer one more time to help set them up.

At this point the balls are done!  Ta Da!  If you went crazy and decided on making Lego heads then grab an edible pen and draw on some faces.  If you are me the edible pen you bought is crap and won’t work.  As a last-ditch effort I grabbed some yellow scrapbooking paper, drew some faces, cut them out, and “glued” them to the pops (using chocolate).

Oreo balls or Lego heads or whatever shape you want to make are always a hit!

photo 1 (1)PRETZEL S’MORE BITES – I had seen a recipe for these on Pinterest and they looked yummy.  I had a dinner party to go to earlier this week so I decided to give them a try.  I didn’t actually follow the recipe (shocker).  If you want really chocolaty treats use the Pinterest recipe.  Here is what I did.

Place a layer of pretzels on a covered cookie sheet.  Place 4 mini marshmallows on top of each one.  I got bored and started just putting 3, one in each pretzel hole.  4 is better.  It gives the top pretzel more to stick to.  Place the sheet in an oven (350 is what I did) until the marshmallows get all puffy and sticky.  It won’t take long.  Grab some more pretzels and smash one onto each marshmallow pretzel pillow.  Melt some chocolate melts and then grab each pretzel sandwich and dip it in.  For fun and color add sprinkles before the chocolate sets up.  Stick in the fridge before packing to take to your party.

These were a big hit!  I’m told that I’m allowed to name them “kid approved.”  Adults love them too although one friend said she would do without the sprinkles because they just fell off and rolled all over the place.  Another friend said I had improved on the already delicious s’more treat.  I give credit to the salt on the pretzels.  Salt just makes everything better despite what my heart doctor says.  These are also Wendy approved since they are quick and easy to make.

There you go!  Next time you have some mini marshmallows handy think of this post!

Gluten-Free (or not) Pie

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

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photo (9)One of my good friends has decided to go gluten-free.  Between her lack of gluten and my inability to digest meat and anything spicy plus my hatred toward seafood, it’s amazing the two of us can find anything to eat together!  What is gluten-free?  Well glad you asked!

Gluten is the protein that is found naturally in wheat, rye, barley, and any grain that comes from those evil culprits (Oats are still in question.  I’m not really sure how that is possible but apparently it is.)  To be considered “Gluten-Free” by the FDA, and therefore be able to carry those words on its labels, a product must have less than 20 ppm (parts per million).  According to the FDA site “this is the lowest level that can be consistently detected in food using valid scientific analytic tools.”  How they have tools to detect it and a definition to live by and still can’t figure out if oats are good or not is beyond me.  Apparently that “level” of gluten can be tolerated by most people with celiac disease so is considered “a-ok.”  Don’t tell my friend that.  If she knew that things labeled “Gluten-Free” actually have small traces of gluten she will go on an all fruit diet or something like that.  She is a stickler for food rules.

What is celiac disease you ask?  Let me tell you.  Celiac disease is a digestive and autoimmune disorder.  A person with celiac disease can’t tolerate gluten.  Their body creates antibodies against the protein and in doing so attack the lining of the small intestine.  That just screws up everything since the person can’t absorb what they need from their food with their pissed off intestine.  As you can imagine that causes both serious and annoying problems.

I like gluten.  Wheat is delicious.  I would rather become a vegetarian than be gluten-free.  Here is a text I sent to my friend this past weekend:image (12)

I think that sums up my views nicely.

I was going to have dinner yesterday with my friend and in doing so needed to make something she would eat (without me having to lie about the ingredients).  I had wanted to make a pie for a while so I decided to do that.  Don’t ask me why I wanted to make a pie.  Summer fruit just screams pie and I’ve never done it before so I wanted to give it a shot.  Maybe it was a little elaborate for a last minute get together with a friend but I wanted pie damn it.  Leave me alone.

I used this recipe –

Gluten Free Peach Blueberry Pie

With a few minor Wendy tweaks:

  • I didn’t make the crust.  I’m not crazy.  Look at those ingredients.  What am I going to do with a bag of white rice flour?  Plus xanthan gum, like grapes, is banned from my house because of its toxicity to dogs.  Although I tend to feel if the recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon or less you can just leave it out.  I was smart and headed to Whole Foods and bought a package of gluten-free pre-made pie crusts!
  • I read the recipe wrong and put in two teaspoons of orange juice and decided that was ridiculous so added another.  Then I realized it was two tablespoons so I added a tablespoon for good measure.
  • I know I used a 1/4 cup of sugar because I had just used that measuring device for Dragon’s food this past weekend and I knew exactly where it was.  I washed it out first … honest.
  • My plan was to use the second pie crust as a “top” but that didn’t work out well.  Apparently it’s easiest to work with gluten-free pie crust when it is really cold which is different from the package that says “room temperature” so it wouldn’t do what I wanted.  Instead I cut out little doggie bones (It was that or a Halloween theme.  Those are the cookie cutters I own.)  I REALLY wanted to put some flour down to help roll out the ball of dough (ball because I gave up screaming and mashed it all into a ball) with my bottle of wine (I don’t own a rolling-pin).  I controlled myself.  What’s the use of going through all this trouble to make something gluten-free just to throw wheat flour all over it at the end?

I thought it was pretty yummy but remember I have very plain tastes.  The gluten-free crust wasn’t horrific but I’m sure “regular” crust is tastier so do that if you can.  It isn’t overly sweet, which I like.  If you like sweeter I suggest slapping on some ice cream and going a la mode style!  Use full dairy ice cream and sprinkle some wheat flour on top for an extra gluten kick!

 

 

Delicioso

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

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I didn't take a picture of my dish. It kinda looked like this. Source.

I didn’t take a picture of my dish. It kinda looked like this. Source.

For someone who claims she doesn’t like cooking I sure have a lot of recipes on this blog.  Things haven’t changed.  I still don’t like cooking but you know what I do like?  Mexican food.  YUM YUM!  One night I was out with a friend and she asked where I wanted to go to eat.  I suggested a Mexican restaurant across the street from where we were seeing a movie.  She looked at me with disdain only allowed a friend who has to constantly put up with the simple juvenile taste buds of a dining partner and said, “aren’t we having Mexican tomorrow with everyone?”  My response, “So?”  If you give me a choice I’m going to have a fajita and a margarita on the rocks with salt and some guac and chips.

Staples in my limited supplied fridge and pantry (I actually don’t even have a pantry) include corn, black and refried beans, salsa, tortillas, avocado, tomatoes, and hot sauce.  In fact last night I had a burrito for dinner.  And when I say burrito I mean I slapped some refried beans on a tortilla and nuked it for 20 seconds before adding hot sauce and avocado slices.  Delicioso!  When I saw a recipe for a one-skilled enchilada recipe come through my email from one of my favorite bloggers I wanted to give it a try!  So I did!

photo

Nothing to do with enchiladas. Cutie pics of the 2 dogs staying with us right now. Lousy and Lordy.

She (Jillee) calls it a skillet enchilada (click to see her original post and recipe along with lots of other fun things she blogs about).  I call it “Fake Enchiladas” because lets face it … they aren’t really enchiladas.  They are more like enchiladas that got in a horrible accident and you scooped up the remains and served them to your family (appetizing).  Since I don’t do well eating red meat I choose to use shredded chicken that I had cooked earlier in the week.  I also swapped out black olives for avocado because avocado is the most delicious thing on the entire planet earth.

The pluses of the recipe –

  • It is super-duper easy and only gets one pan dirty.  I’d make it for those facts alone.
  • It’s yummy.
  • It’s filling.
  • It seems like it would be a really good family dinner.

The minuses –

  • I can’t eat it.  The enchilada sauce is too spicy for me (I realize it isn’t really spicy at all) and my stomach was very angry at me for eating it.
  • If you get enchiladas at a restaurant you can also order guac and a margarita and not have to make it yourself.

So there you go.  I wanted to like this more than I did but my stomach and I weren’t on the same page.  I’m sharing it with you since it seems like the PERFECT working mom go-to-dinner.  Let me know if you make it and how it tasted.

Camping Menu

08 Monday Jul 2013

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photo (12)This past holiday weekend my Dad, Mom, Riggins and I drove my folk’s motor home to my sister’s families house in Oakhurst, CA (just outside of Yosemite). From there we drove a short distance to Bass Lake to spend the 4th of July at a campground. My dad does a great job of reserving early so we get the perfect camp site that can easily fit all of us and is just a short walk to the lake.

For the camping portion of our trip I was in charge of the menus. Partially because I volunteered but I also think my family didn’t want to hear me moaning and groaning about my stomach hurting after each meal. My stomach tends to get angry at 1/2 the things I try to eat. My taste buds and stomach DO NOT get along! Like any good social networker I turned to Pinterest for fun, yummy, and camp appropriate recipes. I thought I’d share them with you:

Lunch #1 – Tuna Macaroni Salad. (I skip the onion — because I don’t like it.) I actually make a batch of this at home every once in a while and eat it for lunches for a week. It’s super yummy. I usually use “Smart Pasta” because I like to fool myself that it makes it better for me. For the camping trip I used vegetable bowtie pasta and it was pretty delicious. Honestly the only reason why I used that kind of pasta, is because the day I went shopping was super hot and I was sick of running errands. By the time I got to Target (my last stop before the grocery store) I had given up and decided God put grocery stores inside Targets for a reason and who was I to question him?

Dinner #1 – Grilled Chicken and Fruit Foil Dinner. This one I have to be honest … I didn’t really follow the recipe. The grocery store didn’t have pears so I substituted with plums and apricots. The plums were delicious while the apricots where a bit tart. I also didn’t use dried sage leaves because I’m just not that fancy. Foil packs are the perfect camping dinner. You pile in some food into foil, wrap it up, and stick it in the coals. Tada! Dinner! I didn’t know how long to leave them in so made up a time when my dad asked me. Probably 45 minutes ish … maybe it was 30. I don’t know. Chicken scares me so I tend to over cook it. Just check it every now and then and pull it out when it seems good. I really liked these but they definitely didn’t win any “best of” awards.

Dessert#1 – Campfire Cones. Hells ya! These were the bestest in the westest. Take a sugar cone, stuff it with yummy stuff (we used pieces of marshmallows, pieces of Hershey bars, and strawberries), wrap up in foil, and throw on coals for a bit (no idea of the time … we let them cook until we couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to eat them). I like these better than S’mores (gasp). They were a big hit.

Lunch #2 – Lunch boxes. We needed something we could take down to the lake to eat so my sister and I sneaked (I originally wrote “snuck” but spell check didn’t like that word. I Googled it to see if it was right and just happened to be on the Google images page from a previous search. A TON of boobies came up. Why? Explain please. What am I missing? Snuck. How is that equal nudie time? Am I missing something obvious????) away from the water pre-lunch to put together our individual lunch boxes. We used regular Tupperware and cupcake liners (not the silicone ones — regular paper ones). Depending on who you were your box contained some of the following:

  • cheese slices
  • crackers
  • apple slices
  • spinach & kale dip (If my dad asks you kale is just lettuce. It was tough enough getting him to continue to eat the dip after he learned it was made with yogurt. He wouldn’t be able to handle the honesty of kale.)
  • trail mix
  • pepperoni
  • turkey lunch meat

I dropped in a little bubble container (party give away size) in each one (different colors) to be able to identify whose was whose. Go on to Pinterest and search “lunch boxes” and you will see some real food art! We weren’t that fancy. We plopped ingredients in individual cupcake wrappers and shoved them in a container.

Dinner #2 – Sweet and Sour Turkey Meatballs Foil Dinner. The link to this recipe isn’t at all what I used but it was how I thought of the dinner so I’ll give them credit. In lazy mode I had my dad purchase premade/precooked turkey meatballs. Why not? It just makes the entire dinner prep that much easier! My mom and I put 4 meatballs on foil, topped them with a handful of pineapple, some red onion and sweet and sour sauce. Then we wrapped them up and stuck them in the coals to heat. That’s it! These dinners were really good and everyone’s favorite (except my Dad’s who doesn’t like pineapple. Add that to the yogurt dip mishap and he may not allow me to be in charge of the menu ever again.).

Dessert #2 – Campfire Cake. Sooo …. I’ve done this now …. don’t have to do that again. They were good but not at all worth the effort. First my mom and I took the time to scoop out the oranges. A task I’m afraid we both failed at. My mom insisted there had to be a way to get all the pulp out while I had long since given up and said “good enough” at a certain point. She finally fell in line with my thinking and we semi dug out the pulp in enough oranges for everyone. image (15)Somehow my dad and I choose the juiciest oranges on the planet and a good portion of juice and pulp ended up all over the front of my shirt and shorts. I was afraid the bugs would find me even more delicious with orange sauce so I covered myself with bug spray to keep them off the scent (it was too much trouble to go change). I did this spraying out side in the open which I learned was necessary from a small incident the night before when I sprayed myself in the motor home and set off some sort of secret fire alarm thing that my dad didn’t even know existed. Ooops. Back to the cake. I poured in cake mix, wrapped it up, and stuck it in the fire. Honestly they weren’t great so I give these a big thumbs down. Just make the cake the old fashioned way and be done with it. You also end up with a bowl full of orange guts. I was a good little girl and ate oranges during dinner that night and lunch the next day. My dad managed to gulp down some juice as well. Post camping lunch when I put them on the table for everyone to eat my dad let his real feelings show upon cleaning up when he said, “let’s just throw this orange shit away.” Done!

Snack – Cowboy Caviar. I’ve told you before this dip is delicious and I’ll tell you again … it’s delicious. As far as I’m concerned no party, social gathering, or camping trip should be without it. Make it. Eat it. You’ll be happy you did.

So there you go! Some of these will make it on the next camping trip menu while others will be ditched making room for some new ones. What camping meal do you like that I can try next time?

A Cupcake Story – Guest Blogger

01 Wednesday May 2013

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Anna and her family. 2010.

Annemarie and her family. 2010.

While writing my blog I’ve given you a number of recipes and cooking tips all with the caveat that I don’t cook, don’t bake, and don’t like it.  I realize this makes me a horrible source!   I wanted to let an expert give you her advice.  Well maybe not an expert baker but an expert mom for sure.  Annemarie is one of my dearest friends.  Not only is she a wonderful mother to her two boys, she is also a great friend.  Add the fact that her husband is super sweet AND will serve me wine while telling me all about it makes them the perfect family!  Honestly I could write all day about the fun Annemarie and I have had over the years but if I did that we’d never get to her guest post.  I’ll skip those stories so Annemarie can take over …

A Cupcake Story

I am a dessert-first girl.  I LOVE my sweets so today we’re talking cupcakes—actually, one special cupcake.  For the better part of the last 10 years I had been on a quest, a cupcake quest.  You see, my two boys have food allergies. My 7-year-old, Benjie, is allergic to peanuts. Josh, who’s 10, has multiple food allergies. His toughest allergies are to dairy (milk, cheese, butter, etc.), eggs, and all nuts. Pretty much everything I bake is dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. From the beginning, birthday parties were challenging.  Josh can (almost) never eat the birthday cake, so it was up to me to find a replacement. I started experimenting on cake recipes when he was 1.  In the beginning he seemed okay with the bland vanilla cupcakes I made, but I wanted more.  I wanted him to jump up and down when he heard, “It’s cake time!” I wanted his cake to be as yummy as the one that held the candles.  I went back to my kitchen and tried again, and again.  When I’d find a cake recipe that showed promise, I would make my allergy-friendly substitutions—rice milk for milk, vegan Egg Replacer for eggs, Spectrum Shortening or Earth Balance for butter.  The cakes were all “just okay” and Josh could take them or leave them.  I gave up for a while.

Then I discovered that I could make Rice Krispie Treats with Spectrum Shortening or Earth Balance and Josh loved them! These became our go-to, all-occasion party treats. They were tasty and easy to make. I brought them to school to celebrate the boys’ birthdays and everyone was happy.  The treats easily transformed into hearts, pumpkins, dreidels, or Christmas trees.  They were fantastic…until they weren’t. After a blissful Kellogg’s year Josh had burned out on his dairy-free Rice Krispie Treats and I was back in the kitchen experimenting.

Next was the year of the “Perfect Sugar Cookie”. You know those sugar cookies, the ones in the shape of flawless flowers and beautiful butterflies. They have that smooth, satiny, multi-colored icing. I found an amazing sugar cookie recipe that Josh and I both loved. It was delicious even with my dairy and egg substitutions. Then, I went to Michael’s and brought home all the equipment to decorate the cookies just so. I watched dozens of You Tube videos to get the icing techniques down. And it worked! Those cookies wowed the crowd and I didn’t even have to qualify them with, “They’re dairy-free and egg-free. That’s why they taste like that.” There was just one problem. They took hours, sometimes days to make and decorate. It was just too much, especially when we had parties every other week. Eventually, I reassigned the Perfect Sugar Cookie to very–special occasion treat only.  It was back to the kitchen for me.  I was determined to find something just as good, but simpler. And I did!

A few months ago, I came across a quirky little recipe that was supposedly created during the great depression. It requires no eggs, no milk, and no butter because those items were rationed at the time. I tried the cake recipe and it wasn’t bad. On top of that it was ridiculously easy. I tweaked it here and there, adding more chocolate and more sugar.  It was pretty darn good but it didn’t become THE CUPCAKE until I added chocolate chips. Wow! The chocolate chips made this cupcake a winner! It’s super-chocolaty, almost brownie-like.  I pair it with a homemade vanilla frosting but it’s delicious even without the frosting.  It’s  a big hit, with everyone except Josh that is. He doesn’t like chocolate! I know, what? I’m experimenting on a lemon cupcake for him now. I’ll let you know how it works out.

I, for one, love this cupcake. Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Vegan CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP UntitledCUPCAKES

  •  1½ cups flour
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder
  • 1¼ cups sugar*
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup soymilk (or water, or any milk of your choice)
  • ½ cup Enjoy Life dairy-free mini chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a muffin pan with 12 liners.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
  3. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl and stir to combine.
  4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until you get a smooth batter.  Do not beat.
  5. Stir in chocolate chips.
  6. Fill the muffin liners about ⅔ full.
  7. Bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

*This cupcake tends to be super sweet, especially if you add frosting.  If your palate doesn’t like things too sugary, feel free to reduce the amount of sugar or ease up on the frosting

Vanilla Frosting – Adapted from The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook by Cybele Pascal

  • ½ cup dairy-free vegetable shortening**
  • ½ cup (1 stick) dairy-free margarine, softened**
  • 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • ¼ cup rice milk, or whatever milk you like
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the shortening and margarine on medium speed for about 1 minute.
  2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Pipe onto cool cupcakes and finish with extra chocolate chips.

**I use Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening and Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks for the shortening and margarine respectively. If you like, you can use all shortening or all margarine.

Before I go, I want to give a shout-out to Wendy and Riggins for inviting me here today.  Wendy is my dear, dear friend.  We share a love of wine & cheese–as a meal, much-too-much TV, and all things arts and craftsy. I am honored to be blogging in her space today.

Pinterest Recipe Update

19 Friday Apr 2013

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image (4)I first posted some of my successful Pinterest cooking experiments awhile back. I’ve tried a few more and wanted to get you the 411. There are some really funny blogs out there of Pinterest fails. The theme being, the blogger will attempt something off Pinterest and then showcase their failed creation. They are hilarious. They also make me feel pretty cocky. After all, my attempts have, overall, turned out pretty good. If I’m to be honest with myself (and who likes to do that) it is because I’m picking easier things than these comedian bloggers. I’m having an annoying day … on my last nerve and boarding on a menace to society … so let’s just give me this one … okay?

CAULIFLOWER FRIED RICE – I made this last night. Giovanna was coming over to study Algebra and those nights demand food and tea (which we sometimes substitute with wine). More on Giovanna’s night in a second. First dinner. I had NO FAITH at all that this would turn out. None. Zero. Zilch. I could not have been more wrong. This stuff is DELICIOUS and actually does taste like fried rice. Perhaps a little earthier tasting but could easily fool a child and my dad (if he didn’t see you making it). What a crazy healthy meal! I’m so impressed with this I can’t push it hard enough on you. Try it. I’m going to be honest with you … I didn’t measure anything. I had shredded (via my trusty food processor) a small head of cauliflower and was planning to use it all. I just estimated ingredient amounts around the mound of white faux rice. Worked like a charm. A few other tweaks, I hate onions so didn’t use them. I hate egg yolks so just used whites. Finally I added shredded chicken. Delicious!

Okay back to Giovanna. I had told Giovanna how adorable our houseguest Lousy is and had no doubts that he would love my fellow dog loving friend. When she came in I had Lousy and Riggins outside and once settled I went to go let them in. Riggins made a beeline for one of his favorite people with Lousy close behind. I, being human with only two legs, was a bit further behind. Next thing I know all hell was breaking loose in my

Pictorial proof that Lousy is actually a cuddle monster.

Pictorial proof that Lousy is actually a cuddle monster.

dinning room. Lousy had gone into kill mode and was mean growling and biting in Giovanna’s direction. The poor woman leapt onto my dinning room table to save herself. By the time I got there Lousy had felt his duty was done and had left the room. When I called him back to scold him (Giovanna still on the table — I really wish I had a picture of that) he strutted in like he was the star and was shocked when he was forced to lay down on his side with my hand at his throat. He totally didn’t understand why he was being marched back outside where he was forced to stay alone for the rest of the night. Every time I checked on him he was sitting exactly where I left him looking toward the back door with sorrowful eyes. My assumption is that Lousy thought Giovanna was an intruder and went on attack to save the house, his bff Riggins, and me. Not a bad quality for a dog …. unless that intruder is actually one of your really good friends. Although it isn’t surprising for a dog to be protective of his space, humans and things it is a little odd that Lousy is so bonded considering it isn’t really his house, his brother, nor am I really his human. I also stand by my statement that Lousy is one of the cuddle-ist dogs I’ve ever meant. If he had his way he would spend all day in my lap. Lesson for all — if a dog has teeth he/she can always bite, so be careful. Learn the signs of a dog in distress so you know when to back off and when all else fails be sure you have a dinning room table nearby to climb up on!

BROCCOLI GRAPE HARVEST SALAD – I made this. It was okay, not great. I left out the grapes which I suppose could have been the big problem. Grapes/raisins are poisonous to dogs so my house is grape free. I’m also not sold on the “yogurt can be used as a substitute for mayo” thing. Yogurt is disgusting and makes me gag. Mayo is sent down from the gods to make salads and sandwiches delicious. Now that I look at the recipe again I didn’t really follow it at all. Maybe it is better if you actually do what they say.

PEANUT BUTTER COCONUT CUPS – These were freakin’ awesome! Peanut butter, oats, and coconut … oh my! It’s like someone took items from my favorite food list and stuck them in a food processor and then smashed them into a cupcake tin! Add chocolate and the dream is complete! I used milk chocolate and didn’t care about it being raw or whatever it is they suggest. You already know I keep coconut oil for slathering on my body and don’t cook with it. I used olive oil, but just a tiny bit. Finally I didn’t have maple syrup so used honey … and, as usual, gave up measuring as soon as the first ingredient hit the bowl. These things are a good time …. you should make them.

ZUCCHINI FRITTERS – These were yummy too. You could probably call them hash browns and trick your kids and my dad (if he didn’t see you make them). A little cakey but there is a good chance I put too much flour in them. They did well in a Tupperware and put in the fridge to eat the next day. Thumbs up on veggie hash browns!

ROASTED CHICKPEAS – I was looking for a popcorn replacement and came up with these. They take an annoyingly long time but if you can wait they are delicious. I did nothing it said short of use chickpeas, oil, and an oven. For seasoning I used some California Mix I picked up at Ralphs. Fancy … I know.

CROCK POT BAKED POTATOES – The fact that these even have a recipe is hilarious. BUT I can never get my baked potatoes made the old fashioned way or even the nuked way, to turn out well. These were delicious! Seriously … super yummy. My stomach had been really causing me issues a week or so ago and baked potatoes with veggies on top was the only thing that sounded good. Stop shrinking back due to your hatred toward the evil carb-by baked potato. They have some good qualities and if you are going to eat them might as well make them good! I added olive oil & some salt before wrapping them up in tinfoil. These are one of the recipes where I think afterwards, “huh .. that worked … shocking.”

There you go. Maybe you can try some of these this weekend. Have fun and stay away with any dogs that have teeth!

 

The Right Tool for the Job

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

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“Wait a second,” you say, “you haven’t finished your 39 Acts of Kindness yet.  What’s up?”  Well loyal reader I’m still going strong.  Sitting next to me is a stack of Bombs of Niceness ready to be sent on their way.  I just can’t tell you about them until they have time to hit their targets!  You will know about them soon enough.

photo (4)While we wait I thought I’d tell you a little story about my lack of skills when it comes to anything cooking or food prep related.  A few weeks ago I decided to have cucumber sandwiches for lunch.  These consisted of cucumber slices with turkey and cheese in between them.  Fun, tasty, tiny and healthy.  While at the store picking up my ingredients I remembered I didn’t have a veggie peeler so I picked up one in the kitchen essentials aisle and headed home.  Once home I washed off a cucumber and grabbed my new tool.  Then I stared at it.  Then I tried to make it work.  Then I stared at it again.  It didn’t seem to want to work the way I remember veggie peelers working.  I tried to force it to work but wasn’t very successful so I stopped and stared at it again.  Then I realized it was a wire cheese cutter.  As I shook my head at my own stupidity I had a wave of deja vu.  Turning toward the drawer these kind of devices are stored in, I searched for a second before I found another wire cheese cutter.  All of a sudden I remembered.  I had done this exact same thing before.  Now I owned two wire cheese cutters and still no veggie peeler!

This past weekend while getting ready for my tea party (more on that here – https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/39-acts-of-kindness-17-18-19-20-21-and-22/) I picked up an honest to goodness veggie peeler so I could skin the cucumbers before making delicious mini cucumber tea sandwiches.  Once again I washed the cucumber and stared at the tool in my hand.  It just seemed like a lot of work.  So I dug into one of my cabinets and pulled out the food processor that made quick work of those cucumbers slicing them super thin skin and all!

Now I own two wire cheese cutters slightly bent from trying to use them incorrectly and 225455_10200844949345991_1477030400_none pristine veggie peeler that has never seen a veggie!  Oh Wendy … so bright and yet so naive when it comes to kitchen related duties.

In other news Bud’s daddy picked him up today.  Before he left the three of us went on a long walk in the trails around the Rose Bowl.   I hope Bud had a fun Doggie Vacation with us.

Lesson in Failure

27 Sunday Jan 2013

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Before I dive into how I failed let’s start on a positive note.  Look who read my post (https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/beautiful-inside-and-out/) and responded!  Well her or someone with access to her Twitter account.62314_10200476591017263_1938208159_n (2)

That’s right!  Ann freakin’ Curry.  Isn’t that exciting?  It made me giddy!  Her response reminds me that I sent Dr. Drew a link to a post where I not only talk about him but told you ‘all to subscribe to his podcast (https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/the-best-medicine/).  That’s worth a shout out by him right?  Just a tiny one?  Fine.  I’m done with him.  … … … Oh who am I kidding?  I still love him!  He is a lickable dreamcicle with a creamy center made of logic and medically sound advice.  Despite his shunning me I will continue to believe everything he says without question.

Now back to the topic at hand and why you tuned into this broadcast — to hear about my failure.  Well my friend last night was a homemaker/crafter disaster zone in my house.  It was only a matter of time before Pinterest wronged me.  I had such a good record happening and the run was bound to end at some point (read about successes https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/if-i-can-do-it-you-can/.  Speaking of successes I made this the other day and it was delicious – http://skinnyms.com/slow-cooker-macaroni-and-cheese/.)  Last night I decided to make my mom a birthday cake.  Easy enough right?  Wrong.  I was smart enough not to make the entire thing from scratch and instead went for the cake mix + can of soda technique.  I’ve made cake this way before so I know it works.  Not to mention I was experiencing an extreme headache due to caffeine withdrawal and this gave me an excuse to buy a six-pack of delicious caffeine rich soda.  It just taste like chocolate cake with a kick of diet coke.  It isn’t the real southern soda cake, which includes a long and tedious list of ingredients (well to me it is long), but instead the So. Cal fake version.  I DID decide I was going to make the coke glaze to put over it (recipe here – http://mayflaum.com/2011/06/08/the-chocolate-cola-cake/).  That was my first fatal mistake!

Now while I was in the grocery story I did glance over at the unsweetened cocoa powder that the recipe calls for.  4+ bucks.  Are they insane?  I’m not paying 4+ bucks for something I need 1/4 of a cup of.  Now I realize to you 4+ bucks may not seem like a lot but let’s remember I’m unemployed with zero income.  I had regular cocoa at home.  I’d make that work.  Mistake number two.  Liquid sugar.  That’s what I made.

In my attempt to make up for the sweetness my cocoa was adding I didn’t include as much confectioners’ sugar.  It seemed so logical at the time.  Looking back, mistake number three.  I just made really watery liquid sugar.

For some reason when I poured the cake into the suggested pan size it seemed like the cake was going to be more of a flat bread since the batter barely covered the bottom.  No worries.  I’m smart remember?  I just shoved the cake from that pan into a nice small 8×8 one.  Mistake number four.  The cake was 1/2 the size which meant I had twice as much liquid sugar.  I mean glaze.  Twice as much glaze (it soooooo wasn’t glaze).

Finally when the cake came out I didn’t pop it out of its pan and onto a cooling tray where any extra sugar-water could artistically drip down the sides.  Not that I own a cooling tray.  Nah.  I just poured that concoction right over the top of the cake and watched as it quickly drizzled and then ran and then pooled down the sides between the cake and the pan.  Mistake number … I’ve lost count.

Because I’m a genius who deserves a treat I waited a bit and cut myself a big ol’ slice.  Admittedly it didn’t look right or at least nothing like the picture.  In fact it didn’t seem to have any glaze on it at all.  Once I cut into it the whole thing seemed a bit goopy, which was odd because the cake was definitely well cooked.  After 1 bite I realized all the glaze — ALL OF IT — was now soaked and soaking the bottom of the cake.  My lovely birthday surprise for my mom was now essentially a diabetic inducing chocolate bread pudding.  Blah!  Looking back all my mistakes seem obvious.  At the time I was oblivious to my own stupidity.

In between cake cooking, eating, and gagging I was attempting to make her a beaded bracelet.  This should have taken me all of 15 minutes.  Instead I strung all the beads only to realize it was way to big so took off most of the beads to start over (there was a fancy charm in the middle so it had to be centered).  Then I made the entire thing only to realize, as I tried to put it on, that I had used two different size clasps on each end.  So I cut the wire and started again from the beginning.  After remaking the entire thing I was thrilled to have it completed only to realize I put a jump ring (which I hate doing as I’m no good at it so was reeeeeaaaaallly careful to do it well) on the center charm (this allows the charm to fall the correct direction) when it wasn’t needed.  That means the center fancy charm would always hang sideways.  I was done.  I added it to my present as is.  I told my mom I’d be happy to remake it once it started to bother her but it wasn’t going to happen last night!

Finally I decided to fold a pocket in the wrapping paper to store my Mom’s card (like this – http://navybeanonline.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-make-pocket-wrapping-paper.html).  Not hard right?  Apparently difficult for me.  It took me waaaaayyyy too long to make a silly little fold.  The first piece of wrapping paper fought me and then ended up being too small.  The second piece of paper I finally got to work and then realized the “pocket” was too deep.  I used it anyway.

I gave it all up and went to bed.  Sometimes that is just the right answer!