Bowties and Squash with Fresh Basil Pesto

by penji1

homemade fresh basil pesto

Yummiest dinner last night!  It started off with this homemade pesto recipe from the “Betty Crocker” website and went from there.  I made the pesto with the fresh basil from my garden and then cooked some pasta to put it on and then saw the bowl of squash sitting on the counter so I fried some up in a little olive oil and ta da!  Dinner!  Delicious dinner!

Fresh Basil Pesto

2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic

1  Place all ingredients in blender or food processor.  Cover and blend on medium speed about 3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape sides, until smooth.

2  Use pesto immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 5 days or freeze up to 1 month (color of pesto will darken as it stands).

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Chocolate Lasagna

by penji1

Chocolate Lasagna

This one was a hit with the adults and kids both.  It might have been my favorite if I was forced to choose.  It comes from a blog called “My Litter”.

1 (15 oz) package Oreos (not double stuffed)

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cold milk

1 (12 oz) container Cool Whip

2 (3.4 oz each) instant chocolate pudding mix

3 1/4 cups cold milk

1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

1  Crush Oreos in food processor or in ziploc bag with rolling pin.

2  Combine crushed oreos and melted butter then press into bottom of 9 x 13″ pan and place in fridge.

3  Beat cream cheese until fluffly.  Add 2 tablespoons cold milk and sugar and mix well.  Fold in 1 1/4 cups Cool Whip and spread over crust.

4  Combine both pudding mixes with 3 1/4 cups milk with whisk until thickened and spread over cream cheese layer.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Spread remaining Cool Whip over pudding and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Lasagna

by penji1

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Lasagna

This one was a huge hit with the kids.  I tried it and it was pretty yummy.  It comes from a blog called “Marty’s Musings”.  I will definitely make this one again.

cream cheese filling

16 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

16 oz Cool Whip

1 (14 oz) box chocolate or regular graham crackers

1 (12 oz) bag mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

3/4 cup cocktail peanuts

chocolate drizzle  (I didn’t have time for this layer)

1 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup heavy cream

topping

8 oz Cool Whip

1  Beat cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla for 2 – 3 minutes.  It will be thick.

2  Fold in 16 oz Cool Whip until light and fluffy.

3  Divide into thirds.

4  Chop peanut butter cups and peanuts and divide in half.

5  In a 10 x 15″ dish begin layering – first graham crackers, second cream cheese filling, third candy/peanuts, fourth graham crackers, fifth cream cheese filling, sixth graham crackers, seventh cream cheese filling.

6  Frost with 8 oz Cool Whip.

7  Sprinkle with remaining candy/nuts.

8  Melt chocolate and heavy cream in microwave, do not overheat.

9  Drizzle dessert with melted chocolate. 

10 Refrigerate 4 – 6 hours before serving. 

Strawberry White Chocolate Lasagna

by penji1

Strawberry White Chocolate Lasagna

Here is dessert lasagna #2 for the kids from church.  This is the only one that I did not try but those who did said it was great.  This recipe comes from a website called “Tasty Kitchen”.

1 (15 oz) package Oreos

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/2 packages (12 oz total) cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons cold milk

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

12 ounces Cool Whip, divided

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 (3.9 oz) package chocolate mousse pudding mix (I couldn’t find the mousse so just used regular chocolate pudding mix)

2 cups white and dark chocolate chips

1 (3.9 oz) package white chocolate pudding mix

2 cups cold milk, divided

1  Crush Oreos in food processor or in ziploc bag with rolling pin.  Pour crumbs into a large bowl.

2  Melt 6 tablespoons butter in microwave then stir into crumbs.  Press firmly into bottom of 9 x 13″ pan.  Refrigerate while working on rest of recipe.

3  Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and beat until combined.  Remove 1/3 of mixture to separate bowl for use later.

4  Fold 1 1/4 cups Cool Whip into remaining cream cheese mixture then spread over crust.  Layer 1/2 the sliced strawberries over the top.

5  In another bowl, whip chocolate mousse pudding mix with 1 cup milk then spread over strawberries to cover completely.

6  Sprinkle chocolate mousse layer with 1 cup white/dark chocolate chips.

7  Whip white chocolate pudding mix and and 1 cup milk.  Stir reserved cream cheese mixture into this then spread over chocolate chips carefully.

8  Layer remaining strawberries over this.

9  Top with remaining Cool Whip then remaining white/dark chocolate chips and additional strawberries if desired.

10  Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

Vanilla Dreamboat Dessert (AKA Vanilla Dreamboat Lasagna)

by penji1

Vanilla Dreamboat Dessert

I just got back from spending a couple of days with the Young Women and Young Men from church up in the mountains at our annual Youth Conference.  I volunteered to make dessert for Monday night, the first night that we were up there, and I was looking for something fun to make for them when I saw these dessert lasagnas and knew that would be ideal.  There were going to be about 40 people up there so I made 4 different 9 x 13″ pans of lasagnas.  This recipe comes from a blog called “High Heels & Grills”.  This one was really rich so a little piece went a long ways.

1 package regular golden Oreos, finely crushed, about 36 cookies (I think this is equivalent to a 15 oz package) (I crushed mine in my food processor)

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cold milk

1 (12 oz) tub Cool Whip, divided

2 (3.4 oz each) packages instant vanilla pudding

3 1/4 cups cold whole milk

1 bag white chocolate chips (I only used about 1/2 the bag)

1  In a large bowl, combine crushed cookies and butter and mix well until crumbs are fully coated.

2  Press crumbs into an ungreased 9 x 13″ pan.

3  Place pan in fridge while you assemble additional layers.

4  Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.

5  Add 2 tablespoons milk and sugar and mix well.

6  Fold in 1 1/4 cups Cool Whip.

7  Spread over crust.

8  In another bowl, combine vanilla pudding mixes and 3 1/4 cups milk and whisk until pudding starts to thicken.

9  Spread pudding over cream cheese layer.

10  Let dessert sit for 5 minutes so pudding can firm up.

11  Spread remaining Cool Whip over the top of the pudding.

12  Sprinkle chocolate chips over Cool Whip.

13  Place in freezer for 1 hour or fridge for 4 hours before serving.

Beach Themed White Fondant Wedding Cake

by penji1

Beachy Wedding Cake

Courtney and I made this beach themed wedding cake for our friend Stephanie who got married yesterday.  It was a fun cake to put together.  The cake is chocolate then covered in buttercream icing and finished with white Pettnice fondant.  The “sand” is graham cracker crumbs and the shells are Wilton white candy melts swirled with blue, pink and purple candy melts.  Cort made the Adirondack chairs and flip flops out of fondant and Wilton Shape-N-Amaze.  It was heavy!  I weighed it cause I was curious and it weighed 20 pounds!  Congrats to Stephanie and Blake!  We’re so happy for you both, thanks for letting us be a part of your big day.

Raspberry Lemon Truffle Cupcakes

by penji1

raspberry lemon truffle cupcakes

Another recipe from the Kneaders cupcake class, this time for Bunco at my house last night hence the sugar cube dice on 1 of the cupcakes.  I was running short on time so couldn’t make their from scratch recipe of the Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes (I’m sure I’ll get to it at some point and when I do I’ll add it to this post) so I just made regular cupcakes from a box of lemon cake mix, adding the juice and zest from 1 lemon to the batter.  Once again I’ll give you all the recipes for the fillings and frosting and then walk you through assembly.

Raspberry Filling

5 ounces frozen raspberries, thawed and drained (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup raspberry preserves or jam.

Combine ingredients and refrigerate.  (It was pretty chunky so I ran  it through my PC manual food processor to smooth it out a bit.)

Lemon Truffle Filling

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup water

2 egg yolks, beaten

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup white vanilla baking chips or chopped white chocolate baking bar (6 oz)

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1  In 2 qt saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and flour.  Gradually stir in water until smooth.  (I used a whisk.)  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.  Reduce heat to low, cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

2  Remove from heat.  Stir about 1/4 cup hot mixture into egg yolks until well blended.  Stir egg yolk mixture into mixture in saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.  Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

3  Remove from heat.  Stir in butter, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Place 1/3 cup hot filling in 1 qt saucepan; cool remaining lemon mixture 15 minutes.  Stir vanilla chips into hot filling in 1 qt saucepan; cook and stir over low heat just until chips are melted.

4  Beat cream cheese on medium until fluffy.  Beat in melted chip mixture until well blended.  (It didn’t say to do this but I assumed you were supposed to so I beat the rest of the mixture still in the 2 qt saucepan into this as well.)

5  Let cool completely before using.

Whipped Raspberry Cream Frosting

2 cups raspberries

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1  In a medium bowl. gently mash 1 cup whole raspberries.

2  Stir in 1 cup whole raspberries.  (I mashed both cups as it was too chunky to pipe onto the cupcakes, I also reserved some raspberries to put on top of the cupcakes.)

3  Beat cream and sugar on high until soft peaks form.

4  With a spatula, gently fold raspberries into whipped cream.

Assembly

Bake cupcakes and let cool completely.  Make all fillings and frosting.  Remove cupcakes from liners and dip bottoms in white chocolate then replace in new liners.  (I didn’t have time for this step so left it out.) Cut a circle out of the top of each cupcake, about the size of a quarter, fill hole 1/2 way with the Raspberry Filling then replace cupcake circle on top of filling.  Pipe Lemon Truffle Filling around the top of the cupcake then pipe the Whipped Raspberry Cream Frosting on top of that.  Top with 1 whole raspberry.  Delicious!  (Almost forgot, the sugar cube dice are so easy, just get some edible food markers and draw dots on the sugar cubes.)

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

by penji1

pasta with roasted tomatoes

“Cooking with Courtney” yesterday, we made this pasta and zucchini bread, both delicious!  This pasta comes from the “All You” website, very easy to make and a really good flavor especially for a pasta without a sauce.

8 plum tomatoes, cored and quartered

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 pound rotini pasta

1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese

1  Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, gently toss tomatoes with pepper, thyme, salt and olive oil.  Spread in a single layer in a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides) or a 9 x 13″ pan.  Bake, without stirring, until tomatoes are tender and edges are beginning to brown, about 30 minutes.

2  Boil pasta according to package directions.  Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid and return pasta to pot.  Add tomatoes, any accumulated juices and reserved pasta cooking liquid to pot and stir to combine.  Top servings with Parmesan cheese.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

by penji1

German choc cupcakes

Courtney and I went to a cupcake class at one of our favorite local restaurants called “Kneaders” where we got to make 3 different kinds of cupcakes and this was one of them.  Bob requested them for his birthday treat on Sunday.  It was a little bit challenging and it was time consuming too!  Their recipe for cupcakes did not turn out for me at all so I just made regular cupcakes from a Devil’s Food cake mix because I figured by the time that we layered it all up with the filling and the toppings that it wouldn’t matter if the cupcakes were from scratch or not and I was right, they were delicious!  Here are the recipes for the fillings and toppings and then I’ll walk you through assembly.

German Chocolate Filling

1 cup sugar

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/3 cups (one 7 oz package) flaked coconut

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1  In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, yolks and vanilla.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

2  Stir in coconut and pecans.  Transfer to bowl and, stirring occasionally, allow to cool to room temperature.

(Mine never really got thick enough, it was pretty runny so I think maybe I didn’t cook it long enough so I would say don’t start timing your 10 minutes until the mixture is actually hot and really starting to cook but if your mixture is runny too then just put it in the fridge until it sets and you can work with it.)

Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla or 1 teaspoon almond extract

4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

1  Cream butter for a few minutes in mixer with paddle on medium.

2  Turn mixer off.  Sift 3 cups sugar and cocoa into bowl.  Turn mixer on low until sugar and cocoa are absorbed by butter.

3  Increase mixer to medium and add vanilla, salt and milk or cream and beat for 3 minutes.  If frosting is too stiff, add more sugar.  If frosting is too thick, add more milk/cream.

Chocolate Ganache

12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (or use chips)

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon flavoring, such as espresso or bourbon (optional) (I didn’t add any flavoring, just wanted that straight up chocolate flavor)

1  Pour chocolate into a bowl.

2  Stirring constantly, heat whipping cream, butter and vanilla in saucepan to just about boiling, but don’t let it actually come to a boil.  You should see bubbles forming around the edges of the pot.  If you’re using a thermometer, heat it to about 180.

3  Immediately pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and use a whisk to mix it completely smooth.

Assembly

Bake cupcakes and let cool completely.  Carefully peel cupcake liners off of cupcakes.  Dip the bottom of the cupcakes in chocolate (we used chocolate candy melts for this).  Carefully shake excess chocolate off then place dipped cupcake back into a clean liner.  Slice tops off of each cupcake, right where the “muffin top” starts.  I just scooped a dollop of the German chocolate filling onto the bottom of the cupcake and then replaced top, pressing gently to secure (in the class we piped the filling on but I don’t think that’s necessary especially since it get smashed when you put the top back on).  Frost in a circular pattern with the chocolate buttercream then drizzle chocolate ganache on top of the frosting.  I topped with a pecan half and a sprinkle of coconut, in the class we topped them with toasted coconut and chopped pecans.

Chicken Salad with Mango and Apple

by penji1

chicken salad

Here’s a quick and easy recipe that you can throw together for a fast lunch or dinner.  It comes from the “My Recipes” website.  I changed it up a bit to make it a little less curry and a little more sweet.  I ate mine on Dave’s Killer Bread while Bob made lettuce wraps with his.

1/2 cup plain low fat Greek style yogurt

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey (I used blackberry honey so I left out the curry to make ours a little sweeter)

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

salt and pepper

3 cups (about 8 oz) shredded skinless rotisserie chicken (I used a Costco can of chicken)

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced

1 mango, peeled, pitted and diced (forgot to buy one)

1 rib celery, diced

3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

1  In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, honey, curry powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cover and chill until ready to use.

2  In a large bowl, toss chicken, apple, mango, celery and onion.  Add dressing and toss well.  Season with salt and pepper.