Homemade Quesadillas

I feel like though it is just about August 1st, summer is quickly coming to an end. I only have 6 more days of summer school left, then a week off, and then we head up to the beach for a week and then it's back to school. Where does the time go?

It goes by even faster with all of the small things I have to do to wrap up the last of the wedding details. Dan and I have also been all over the place at night, so finding dinners that work and aren't going to waste has been tough. Not to mention, this whole Market Basket fiasco has caused other stores, like my Shaws, to be overcrowded with customers. I wish the whole thing will be over soon so I can have my peaceful store back. This week I've focused on some quick dinners, so stand-by favorites of ours and I figured I'd try out some homemade quesadillas tonight. I wanted something that could be thrown together quickly since Dan is doing side work and we don't know when he'll be home.

Now, I've made your standard snack quesadillas that you just pop into the microwave, but I've never made more authentic-style quesadillas. Another thing I like about quesadillas is that I can personalize them to our own tastes. Mine has some chipotle spices with Colby Jack cheese, peppers, onions and corn. Dan's (yet to be made) will be either barbecue chicken and cheese or buffalo chicken and cheese. He's not into any Mexican-style flavors, so our house lacks some would-be phenomenal taco or fajita dinners. I like to get my chipotle in there whenever I can!

You can make these pretty much however you'd like. I used a rotisserie chicken for convenience and grabbed some tortillas. The rest of my ingredients I had at home.

Homemade Quesadillas

large flour tortillas
shredded chicken (or whatever meat you choose)
other toppings as desired (I used corn, peppers and onions pre-steamed)
shredded cheese of your choice
Garnishes of your choice (I used sour cream and salsa)

1. Preheat oven to 425. Place your desired ingredients on one-half of the tortilla. Fold the other half over. Spray a baking sheet with cooking oil and place tortilla on baking sheet. Spray the top of the tortilla with some oil as well and bake for 5 minutes on each side.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

What happens when you're laying around on a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do but relax? Aside from laundry (there's ALWAYS laundry), you start thinking about cupcakes. You start thinking that you could tackle something time consuming, something above and beyond standard cupcakes.

You don't think about things like that? I do.

I started browsing around Pinterest, looking at all sorts of fun cupcakes ideas. I was going to do something with fondant decorations, but I hate fondant. It can be a pain to work with and it just tastes nasty. If you can jazz up a cupcake with just frosting, or edible decorations that actually taste good, then definitely go for that. I knew I needed a great vanilla cupcake recipe. I think, before today, I have made vanilla cupcakes maybe once. I am not a vanilla person. Plain Jane vanilla does nothing for me, but to play around with the ideas I had found, vanilla was what I needed. The recipe I used was great! It will be my go-to vanilla recipe from now on.

So what can you do with Plain Jane vanilla cupcakes? Well for starters, make them vanilla bean. If it's going to be vanilla it better be vanilla bean. You can use actual vanilla beans or some vanilla bean paste; I used the paste. With all the little details I was going to be working in, scraping out  vanilla bean was something I didn't want to have to add to my to-do list. Then, you can add fun colors or flavors to the frosting. And then, find some yummy edible decorations that are cute and impressive. And then, put them all together and eat them. Don't forget to text pictures of them to your fiancé while he's at work too...

This is what you can do with vanilla bean cupcakes.
 

Despicable Me is one of our favorite animated movies. The minions may in fact be one of my favorite animated characters of all time. If you can't find Twinkies for these cupcakes (I almost couldn't), you could also use Milano cookies. And for the eyes, if you use white Smarties, be prepared that there are only 2-3 white Smarties per roll, so I had to open 16, yes 16, rolls to get enough whites for the eyes. I used black decorating gel, but you could use black icing, which I would use if I make these again. Also, for the balloon cupcakes, tying tiny pieces of a ribbon is a real pain in the....

Anyways, let's get to the vanilla bean cake recipe and then I'll explain what to do after for each cupcake.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
from Eats Well With Others
These make a little more than 24

3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 and 1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
a few tablespoons heavy cream or milk (I case you need it to think out the frosting)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcakes tins.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla bean paste.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time to the butter mix. Scrape down the sides as needed, beating after each addition.
4. Add the flour mix to the butter mix, alternating with the buttermilk. Start and end with the flour mix. Beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat another 10 seconds.
5. Use an ice cream scoop and scoop into cupcake liners, filling half way. Bake 18-22 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack and let completely cool.
6. For the frosting, beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. I added 4 cups, then added the vanilla bean paste (and flavoring if using). I added in about 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and beat. Then, I added one more cup of sugar. For the consistency I wanted, I ended up adding about another 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Play around with it until you get it the way you want it.
7. Frost your cakes and enjoy!

Can you see the vanilla bean flecks?

Ok, let's start with the Minion Cupcakes. I used half the frosting for this, because I made two kinds of cupcakes, but you can make a whole batch following the same instructions, just double everything.

You will need:

Vanilla cupcakes
Vanilla frosting
Blue food coloring gel
6 Twinkies
24 white Smarties candies
black icing gel or black icing

Beat a few drops of the blue food coloring gel into your frosting to get it the shade you like. Frost your cupcakes. I kept my frosting one level and didn't do a nice pretty mound.

I didn't take step-by-step decorating pictures so I'll describe it best I can. Cut your Twinkies in half. I made two large dabs of black gel, and then places the Smarties on top, squishing the gel so it made the rim for the glasses of the minion. Then I just made the mouth, earpiece of the glasses, the pupils, and hair with the gel. Then I stuck them on the cakes.

Building an army...

"Papoy"

Now for the balloon cakes. Mine have bubblegum flavored frosting on them. I use flavored candy oils when I flavor my frosting if I don't use natural ingredients. A 1/4 teaspoon goes a long way when using oils.

You will need:

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
Vanilla Bean frosting
1/4 tsp. flavoring oil (I used bubblegum)
Rainbow sprinkles
Dum Dum lollipops
Ribbon for bows

1. Beat the flavoring oil into your frosting and frost cupcakes. Pour on some sprinkles.
2. Tie a small piece of ribbon in a bow around an unwrapped Dum Dum lollipop. Stick it into a cupcake. Unwrap 2 more lollipops and place behind the first one, making it look like a group of balloons.

This one's pretty simple.

Lemon Chiffon White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I said I wanted to get back into baking, so two cupcakes in one week is a pretty good start! Now that our AC is back up and running, I can finally turn the oven on. Baking when your house is 87 degrees is not fun. Yesterday, I decided I was going to bake again, but I was planning for this weekend. I went through my recipes and got really, really indecisive. So, how did I cure my indecisiveness? I write down each cupcake name on a slip of paper and put them into a bag and picked one.

Seriously.

There were a couple that were really time intensive, so I was sort of crossing my fingers that I didn't pick one of those. This recipe was actually pretty easy. It was easy enough, that I decided right then and there that I was going to bake them yesterday. I had to run to the store for lemon extract, cake flour, and white chocolate. Because it was late in the afternoon when I decided to make these, I tried to speed up the process a little. The only way I did that was just by placing a fan next to my cooling cupcakes to help them cool faster so I could move onto the chocolate dipping and frosting. This frosting was a little softer than I wanted, I did about 5 cups of powdered sugar instead of the 6 it called for. I often times find the amount listed in a recipe is too much. Especially when the recipe said to use some cream to thin it out a bit. This frosting also has shortening in it, which I despise working with. As I was frosting these, Lana tried to jump at me, which caused me to shatter the glass I was using to hold my piping bag. So, with frosting all over my hand I had to grab her, remove her from the kitchen and clean up shattered pieces of glass all over the floor. There ere shortening streaks all over our broom, a few doorknobs, and some on Lana. Shortening is the worst to clean, it just stays greased over everything. I was finally able to finish these and share them with some friends last night. This recipe doesn't call for the white chocolate, but I've included it below if you want to dip yours in chocolate like I did.

Lemon Chiffon White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
adapted from Mini Baker

1.5 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 and 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large egg whites
yellow food coloring if desired (I used about 6 drops for my light yellow tint)

1 (4oz) package white chocolate baking squares
1/4 cup heavy cream

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp. raspberry extract
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves
6 cups powdered sugar
a few tablespoons of heavy cream
red food coloring if desired (did not use)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line about 20 spaces in your muffins pans.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the lemon and vanilla extracts and beat.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In another small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil and eggs.
5. Add the flour mix to the butter and sugar, alternating with the buttermilk mix. You should start with flour and end with buttermilk.
6. Add the food coloring if using. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat until everything is well mixed.
7. Fill each cupcake liner just over 1/2 full and bake 18-22 minutes. Let cool.
8. For the white chocolate, place the chocolate pieces and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 30 second increments until warm enough to mix together until smooth. White chocolate burns easily, so heat slowly!
9. Dip each cooled cupcake into the white chocolate. Let sit at room temp for a bit to harden up, or place in the refrigerator to speed up the process. I put mine in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
10. for the frosting, beat the butter and shortening together. Add the extracts and preserves and beat until fully combined. Add the sugar, one cup at a time, beating after each addition. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add cream if needed to soften it a bit and add food coloring if using.
11. Frost your cupcakes and serve!

I topped mine with pink and white sugar pearls.

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

I am anxiously (excitedly) awaiting the possible thunderstorms we are supposed to be getting. Twenty minutes into my cupcake adventure yesterday I discovered our AC was broken. It freezes up quite often, so I assumed that was the case. Ok, so I didn't discover it was broken, but I knew it wasn't working and assumed it had frozen. Dan discovered it was broken when he got home. That put quite a damper on my cupcakes. I was nervous about trying to frost them today since it's 82 degrees in the house right now. I was fortunate enough that the frosting held its own, so I could easily pipe it and then pop the cakes in the fridge.

So now, the cakes are cooling and me and the dogs are sprawled out in front of the fans. I haven't lived without central air for 14 years (I know, I'm spoiled), so while my whining is probably obnoxious to those without AC, I don't care. It's gross in here. You know what else is gross? The electric bill because of the AC.

I really want to get back into cupcakes and baking again. It's been far too long. I was looking for something summery and perhaps fruity. With the heat lately, the thought of a heavy chocolate cake wasn't doing it for me. I almost went with a lemonade cupcake, but then this key lime pie cupcake caught my eye. I had saved this recipe maybe 3 years ago. I know, most people find a recipe they like and make it shortly after. But I find and save hundreds of recipes, so some just end up getting pushed to the back (er, bottom if it's Pinterest). I wrestled with choosing this recipe because dealing with key limes can be a pain. I made a Key Lime Habanero Cheesecake 3 summer ago, and juicing key limes is a total drag. They're tiny and it takes a whole bag full to get even 6 ounces of juice. Seriously. But, I went for it anyways.

 

 

 

 

26 key limes later....

So there are a couple of things you can do ahead of time to make the process a little smoother. First, juice the limes ahead of time, you can always save the juice. Then, make the filling at least 2 hours ahead of time. I overlooked that when you make it, it has to chill for at least 2 hours. The you can bake the cakes, fill them when cooled and get right to the frosting. I made mine a 2-day process. These are great. The filling is pretty tart, so they go well with the sweetness of the frosting. The cakes were interesting. Maybe I did something wrong but quite a few came out pulling away from the liners and the tops were very sticky. The insides however, were light and fluffy. I'll have to work on perfecting that. They remind me of my margarita cupcakes, minus the booze.

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes
from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

For the juice for the filling and frosting:
1 bag key limes

For the filling:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
5 oz. key lime juice
9 oz. sweetened condensed milk

For the cakes:
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp. unsalted butter melted
1/8 cup sugar
2 and 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1.5 cups sugar
2 egg whites
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp. lime zest

For the frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
6-8 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. key lime juice

Extra graham cracker crumbs for decorating

1. Start by juicing the limes. You want about 6 ounces of lime juice out of them. Also, zest a couple so you get a tablespoon of zest. Set aside juice and zest.
2. Make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the mascarpone until fluffy. Add the key lime juice and sweetened condensed milk and beat for 2 minutes until mixed and fluffy. Chill for at least 2 hours.
3. Make the cakes: In a food processor combine 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, 3 tbsp. melted butter and 1/8 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of 24 cupcake liners in pans. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg whites and eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, buttermilk and vanilla. Add the dry mix to the butter and sugar, alternating with the milk (dry, milk, dry, milk, dry). Beat well and scrape down sides if needed. Divide batter evenly into cupcake liners on top of the graham cracker crust. I used a ice cream scoop. Don't over-fill or they overflow when baking!
4. Let cupcakes cool. Cut out the centers and fill with key lime filling.
5. Make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, 4 cups of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons lime juice. Add more sugar, 1 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistently. If it is too thick, add more lime juice.
6. Frost and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

What a weekend!

It started Friday, with Dan and I going on a dinner date then out for some drinks. Then Saturday was the 15th annual Tyler Ride! Being the 15th year, there wasn't anything majorly special about it...

....well except for the fact that my best friend got engaged! I couldn't be happier for Jaime and Tyler. Since I knew about for a while, my stomach was in knots for Tyler all day as I anxiously awaited the moment. With most of her family and friends there for the Tyler Ride, it was great that everyone got to share the joy of the moment. Between Jaime, Tyler and her parents in tears, I obviously began to sob as I recorded the whole thing (without sound, argghhh!). Celebrations continued into the night, which I bore the consequences of today. But, I capped off my weekend spending the day with my pups, getting more wedding stuff done and making some FABULOUS sauce. I'm about to make some cupcakes too. Couldn't be better!

I wanted a sauce that was homemade, but not blanching and peeling tomatoes homemade. I'll take the premade basics of tomato sauce, paste and crushed tomatoes. This recipe was perfect. I did increase the amount of brown sugar, since I like my sauce a little sweeter. I also loved the original recipe's step of just slicing an onion in half and adding it to the sauce for those who don't like onion. You still get the flavor, but no whining from the picky eaters, "You put onions in this?" (That would be Dan). You could even take it out after and chop it up to add to your own plate. I just left them in the crock.

When I use red sauce, I just like a little on my pasta. Just enough to give the pasta some flavor, and I always need some grated Parmesan to give it more flavor. Not with this sauce! I debated just ladling the sauce into a bowl and spoon-feeding myself with it. It's seriously that good. You can also ground sausage or pork if you want, or any combination of ground meats. I was a little weary of adding the butter to the sauce, but you have to. It's a must. It makes it that much better!

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce
slightly adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 medium onion, sliced in half
1 tbsp. brown sugar (or more to your liking)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. butter

1. Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain and add to crock pot.
2. Add remaining ingredients except for butter and stir to combine. Cook on low for 5 hours.
3. In the last 20 minutes, prepare pasta of choice. Add butter to crock pot and stir in allowing it to melt.
4. Serve over pasta!

Cracked Out Chicken Noodle Casserole

That's a pretty intense name for a casserole, but this one is well deserved. Today is a sweltering, heavy, 88 degrees, so unless you have central air like we have, maybe save this for a cooler day...

Does anyone else's dog do the following: Kick up pillows and cushions all over the couch to make themselves a little resting spot? Lana does that. Yesterday she kicked the pillows out from under Tess's head, and today we have this....

A sisterhood divided
 

That was about a half hour or go. Lana is now tightly curled into a ball in that spot and Tess moved to floor. Ever since Lana needed a bland diet of boiled chicken back in the winter, every time I boil chicken she sits in the kitchen and whines for a piece. You can prepare your chicken however you like, boiling is one of my least favorite methods, I like baking or sautéing chicken better. I will also use a rotisserie chicken if I need precooked chicken for a recipe, but to cut the time and dishes down, I boiled my chicken for this.

Oh, I almost forgot...

Our parents threw us a wonderful Jack and Jill last Friday! It was a fantastic night of fun and dancing and we were so happy that so many family and friends could celebrate with us. If it's any indication of how the wedding will go, then it's sure to be the party of the century! I spent all last week hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend who were here from California. We went to Hampton Beach to see the sights (and get lobster rolls), went to Kimballs in Westford to play mini golf and get ice cream, and went to Kimballs in Lancaster later in the week to have seafood (more lobster rolls for me!) and ice cream. Followed the Jack and Jill and then my dad's birthday celebration, which was a family clambake. Yes more lobster. I even had extra to bring home (to make lobster rolls). I'm a little lobstered out, if that's even possible!

This dish I seriously delicious. It's creamy and cheesy and packed with great flavor from the bacon and ranch. This is definitely going on my repeat dinner list!

Cracked Out Chicken Noodle Casserole
from Plain Chicken

4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
12 oz. egg noodles
2 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz. light sour cream
3 oz. bacon pieces
1 packet ranch dip/dressing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup crushed Fritos ( I did not use)

1. Preheat oven 350 and grease a 9x13 baking dish. Cook noodles according to package and drain.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken, soup, sour cream, bacon, ranch, and cheddar cheese. Stir in the noodles and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
3. Top with Fritos (if using), and bake for 25-30 minutes.