Strawberry Cream Cupcake Desserts

by penji1

We had some friends coming over for treats last night so I thought about this recipe that I’ve been wanting to try and it seemed right since summer is here (or is here and gone, here and gone, due to the unpredictable weather!)  It’s a Pampered Chef recipe and usually those are a guaranteed success, both in taste and preparation so I decided to go with it and everyone really liked them.

crust:

1 1/2 cups mini pretzel twists (about 3/4 cup crushed)

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), melted

2 tablespoons sugar

cake:

1 (9 oz) white cake mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

filling, strawberries and garnish:

2 1/2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping, divided

2/3 cup strawberry ice cream topping, divided

1 cup sliced strawberries

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Place paper liners into wells of muffin pan.  For crust, place pretzels into a large resealable plastic bag and finely crush using a rolling pin.  Combine pretzel crumbs, butter and sugar and mix well.  Using a scant medium or cookie scoop, drop scoops of pretzel mixture into liners.  Press crust into liners using mini tart shaper or the back of a spoon.

2  Combine cake mix, sour cream, egg, water and vanilla and whisk 1 minute or until smooth.  Divide batter evenly among muffin cups using large or ice cream scoop.  Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely.

3  Meanwhile, combine 1 cup whipped topping and 3 tablespoons strawberry ice cream topping and mix well.  Gently toss strawberries with 1 1/2 tablespoons strawberry ice cream topping.

4  When ready to serve, attach open star tip to Easy Accent Decorator and fill with remaining whipped topping.  Remove paper liners from cupcakes.  Slice off tops of cupcakes using a serrated knife.  For each serving, place bottom of cupcake on serving plate; using a scant medium or cookie scoop, scoop filling over center of each cupcake.  Spoon a rounded tablespoon of strawberries and juice over filling; top with cupcake top.  Pipe whipped topping over desserts and drizzle with about 1 teaspoon slightly warmed remaining ice cream topping.

Makes 12 desserts.  To double recipe, use an 18.25 oz package of cake mix and increase water to 1/3 cup, double all other ingredients.

“Cheers To You” Graduation Gifts

by penji1

So this post could also be called “Fun at the Dollar Store” since I bought all of the items for this project at the Dollar store.  Some of my cute little neighbor girls just graduated from high school and I wanted to give them a little something to celebrate so I hit the dollar store for some inspiration and came up with the above!  I found those cute little tumblers that have flip flops on them and also the matching swizzle sticks for toppers in the luau section.  I filled the cups with candy such as gum, those little wax bottles full of syrup, Now and Later’s, ring pops, little bags of M&M’s and Reeses Pieces, and mini Kit Kats.  Then in the craft section, I found some Styrofoam rounds which are wider on one side than the other and which fit perfectly in the top of the cups.  I covered the Styrofoam on one cup with Jolly Rancher’s and on another cup with Baskin Robbins hard candies and then on the other two cups with Bazooka bubble gum using straight pins to attach them to the round.  Next I pinned mini Air Heads to the top of the round to cover it and then stuck the floral swizzle sticks in the top between the Air Heads.  Cute, quick, easy and not expensive!  Congrats to Brianne, Niki, Chantal and Sidney on graduating, I’m so proud of you!

7-UP Biscuits

by penji1

I found this recipe on Pinterest the other day and followed it to it’s origination point which is a blog called http://www.extremepersonalmeasures.com.  They looked great and easy to make and they were very easy to make and they are so delicious.  The melted butter in the bottom of the pan gives them a crispy bottom and then the rest of the roll is light and fluffy.  I made pot roast for dinner and these went along perfectly.

2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-up
1/4 cup melted butter

Stir sour cream into biscuit mix then stir in 7-Up. Makes a very soft dough. Sprinkle (generously) additional biscuit mix on board or table and pat dough out. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 9 inch square pan. Place cut biscuits in pan (16 was just about right, just a little tight in the pan) and bake at 450 degrees until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins #2

by penji1

I’m always on the lookout for lower calorie muffin recipes as I love to have a muffin for breakfast but don’t want too many calories.  This recipe comes from http://www.tasteofhome.com.  The muffins are about 134 calories each, which isn’t too bad.  I’m eating one as I type this and I don’t think anyone would be able to tell that they are lower in calories as they taste great!

2 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 egg whites

1 egg

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1 3/4 cups fat free milk

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

1  In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  In another bowl, whisk egg whites, egg, applesauce, milk, oil and vanilla.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips.

2  Line muffin cups with paper liners or coat with cooking spray; fill 3/4 full with batter.  Bake at 350 for 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes before removing from pans.

Yield:  36 muffins

Spinach Salad

by penji1

Found this recipe on http://www.foodnetwork.com, wanted to use the spinach that we got in the Bountiful Basket.  It was really good, hearty and filling.

dressing:

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

salad:

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 (8 oz) bag baby spinach (I used 2 bunches fresh from out BB)

1 roasted red pepper, cut into strips (I didn’t feel like bothering with the roasting so I just threw it in raw)

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1 can whole chunk tuna in water

1 orange, separated into segments

1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

1  Dressing:  In a small jar or container with a lid, combine all dressing ingredients and shake until combined.

2  Salad:  In a medium saute pan over medium heat, heat oil then add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions release natural sugar and become golden brown, about 20 minutes.

3  In a large bowl, combine remaining salad ingredients, topping salad with onions, oranges and almonds.

Tangy Blackberry Cupcakes

by penji1

I got a new cookbook called “The Cupcake Bible” which is full of awesome cupcakes recipes but I thought I’d try this one first since we got some blackberries in our Bountiful Basket.  The original recipe is called “Tangy Raspberry Minis” but I had blackberries and wanted to make full size cupcakes instead of mini cupcakes so I changed the title.  The mini ones came out cuter (at least in their picture) because the berry that you put on the top of the cupcake before you bake it didn’t sink down in like mine did ( which is why I put another berry on top) but it stayed right on the top peeking through the cupcakes and looking really cute, oh well!  These are the other neighbor treats I made yesterday.  It was a good baking day!

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

24 fresh berries

2 tablespoons coarse sugar

2 cups powdered sugar

6 – 9 tablespoons milk

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Line 24 mini (1 3/4″) muffin cups with paper liners; spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2  Whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl.  Beat sugar and butter on medium until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk; beat at low speed just until combined.

3  Spoon (or scoop) batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.  Place 1 berry on top of batter in each cup.  Sprinkle evenly with coarse sugar.

4  Bake 15 minutes or until light brown.  Cool in pans 5 minutes.  Remove to wire rack and cool completely.

5  Whisk powdered sugar and 6 tablespoons milk until smooth.  Add remaining milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to make pourable glaze.  Drizzle over cupcakes.

Yield: 24 mini cupcakes (I doubled the recipe and it made 18 regular size cupcakes)

Brown Sugar Brownies

by penji1

I believe I have expressed my love for both brownies and brown sugar before on this blog so how could I pass up a recipe with both?  They are really good, slightly different texture and taste than regular brownies, due to the brown sugar, but I really liked it.  I did a little bit of baking yesterday for some neighbors.  This recipe is from a magazine, can’t remember which one, but it was basically an advertisement for C & H Sugar.  They couldn’t be any easier to make!

1 cup packed golden brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 eggs

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used a 2 oz bar of Dove Chocolate Discoveries Milk Chocolate, but if I make them again I would use the dark chocolate)

1/2 cup flour

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

I also threw in 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease 8 x 8 x 2″ baking pan.  Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Beat in chocolate, then flour.  Stir in nuts (and chocolate chips).  Pour into pan.  Bake 25 minutes.  Cool in pan and cut into bars.

New Red Potato Salad

by penji1

We got a little over 3 pounds of red potatoes in our Bountiful Basket yesterday and Bob loves potato salad so I went online and surfed around a bit for a red potato salad recipe and found this one on http://www.allrecipes.com.  I used it as a starting point and modified it a bit to lower the calorie count so I’ll give you the original recipe and also the changes that I made.  The original recipe said that it yielded 12 servings and that each serving was 315 calories;  my modified version yields 10 one cup servings at 145 calories each, and it still tastes great!

3 pounds unpeeled red potatoes

4 eggs (I added 2 whole hard boiled eggs and 2 hard boiled egg whites)

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise (I used 1/4 cup light mayonnaise and 1/4 cup fat free sour cream)

2 tablespoons milk (I left this out)

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar (I used white wine vinegar to give it more zip)

1/2 cup sliced green onions (didn’t have any)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup sliced celery

I also added 1 tablespoon mustard

1  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes.  Drain, cool and then cut into 1″ cubes.  Place in a medium bowl.

2  Place eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat.  Cover and let eggs stand in hot water 10 – 12 minutes.  Remove from hot water, cool, peel and dice.

3  In small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, vinegar, green onions, salt, pepper and mustard.  Pour over potatoes, add eggs and celery and mix together.  Cover and chill approximately 2 hours before serving.

Lemon Crumb Muffins

by penji1

Another one from my big blue file of “recipes to try someday”, this one from the April and May 2008 edition of the “Taste of Home” magazine.  These are for my friend Jill’s wedding shower tomorrow morning.  They are topped with both streusel and glaze so I can’t imagine that they would be anything other than delicious!

muffins:

6 cups flour

4 cups sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

8 eggs

2 cups sour cream

2 cups butter, melted

3 tablespoons grated lemon peel

2 tablespoons lemon juice

streusel:

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup cold butter

glaze:

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice

1  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk eggs, sour cream, butter, lemon peel and lemon juice.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  (A note from me, the batter will be really, really thick!)  Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 3/4 full.

2  In a small bowl, combined flour and sugar for streusel; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  (A pastry blender works really well here.)  Sprinkle over muffins.

3  Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.  In a small bowl, whisk together glaze ingredients then drizzle over warm muffins.

Yield:  40 muffins (I halved the recipe and got 24 muffins)

Microwave Lemon Garlic Broccoli

by penji1

Surfed around on the internet today looking for a different way to do broccoli and found this on http://www.food.com.  It was easy and delicious!

1 (14 oz) bag frozen broccoli florets or 2 heads fresh broccoli, cleaned and cut into florets

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil (I cut it down to 1)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed or 1 teaspoon garlic powder (I used just 1 clove as it was pretty garlicy after 1)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1  Microwave broccoli and water in covered bowl on high for 5 – 6 minutes or til crisp tender.

2  While it is cooking, combined remaining ingredients.

3  Drain cooked broccoli.

4  Pour lemon garlic mixture over broccoli and toss to coat.

5  If using fresh garlic, cover dish and let sit for 2 minutes to allow heat to “cook” garlic.  If using garlic powder, you’re good to go!