Cupcakes

I am a little embarrassed to say that I have never made cupcakes or cake from scratch.  I've always used a box mix; it's just easier.  And they taste good, so why bother with baking from scratch?  I am hosting a girls day in a few weeks, and I have decided to serve cupcakes.  I made this incredibly cute cupcake platter at The Pottery Works in Lancaster, PA.

So do I make cupcakes from scratch?  Or do I stick with my regular box mix?  

Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I love mint, it's a very refreshing flavor that makes me think of spring.  I also love mint and chocolate together and I love cookies.  So why not put them together!? What I came up with was yummy mint chocolate chunk cookies made from scratch.  It's so easy to just make cookies or other baked good from a box or mix, but this recipe is really easy, almost as easy as cooking from a box.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter(1 cup), room temp
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 Andes chocolate mints, or any other brand, broken or cut into chunks

Start Cooking:
1.  Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Using a stand mixer or hand held electric mixer, cream together butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.  Then add eggs one at a time, making sure they are well mixed in with the butter and sugars.
3.  In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add the flour mixture to butter mixture, using the electric mixer to combine.  Once all the flour is mixed in, use a rubber scraper to fold in the mint chocolate chunks.
4.  Spoon onto cookie sheets, or use a cookie scoop.

5.  Bake for 9-11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cook on cookie sheet for 1 minute.  Then transfer to cooling racks.  Store in air tight container.

Tips and Hints:

1.  before chopping up the chocolate mints, put them in the fridge for about an hour.  It will make them cold and easier to handle(they won't melt while handling them!).  

2.  serve the cookies while warm, or heat for a few seconds in the microwave. Yummy!

Enjoy!

One Pot Meal

I love cooking, we all know that.  I love finding recipes, trying new foods, and sharing my findings.  But I hate cleaning up after cooking.  I hate dishes, and cooking creates lots of dishes.  So I set out to make a healthy complete one pot meal.  What I came up with was a pasta dish, all cooked in one pot.

Ingredients:
pasta, any style you like or have on hand
veggie chicken strips(or real chicken if you eat meat)
frozen veggies
tomato sauce
Italian seasoning to taste

Start Cooking:
1.  Use a large skillet with high sides and a lid.  Put pasta and enough water to cook the pasta in the large skillet.  Bring to a boil and cook until just under cooked.  Drain out extra water. Remove pasta from skillet.
2.  Add chicken to skillet and cook until done.  Then add the pasta back to the skillet.  Add tomato sauce, and frozen veggies.  Cover and cook until veggies are cooked and entire meal is cooked through.  Season to taste.  Serve with grated cheese, to taste.

Tips and Hints:

1.  Don't like chicken?  Or have another meat on hand?  Substitute ground beef, sausage, or other meats for the chicken.  

2.  This is a great meal to make up a big batch and serve a lot of people or have leftovers. 

Enjoy!

I'm renovating!

Well, I guess I should say my uncle is renovating.  And I'm helping, or trying to at least.  We are working on screening in my porch.  This project is proving to be a lot harder than I thought it would be, or at least a lot more work than I thought.  We worked for a few hours today and are about half way done.  My uncle will be coming back in a few weeks to help finish the project.

The screen is kind of hard to see in the picture, but it goes until the last unpainted poll on the right of the picture.  Our first panel was our worst, but we got it down by the third panel!
I'm looking forward to bug free meals on my new porch for the summer!