Monster cupcakes
Posted: April 20, 2011 Filed under: Cakes/Cupcakes, Dessert 3 Comments »Another fun fun fun idea from the 2nd edition of Hello Cupcake, What’s New Cupcake! I had such fun making these monsters. I used a small round tip for the string monsters, leaf tip for the girly monsters (seemed fancier…LOL) and a small star tip for my furry monsters! They came out great! I would suggest a stiff frosting for this one good for piping as they do sag and drip as more frosting is added. A good stiff piping frosting works best here! But have fun with it, the monster ideas and colors are endless!
See this video for help:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KP8yHKjUAo
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
12 vanilla cupcakes baked in coordinating frosting and liner colors
12 mini vanilla cupcakes baked and liners removed
1 can or 16 ounces of your favorite stiff buttercream dyed to match your liners
24 mini lollipops unwrapped
24 peach or green apple gummy rings
24 brown assorted candy coated chocolates (Mini m and m’s)
12 assorted color candy-coated chocolates (mini m and m’s)
Directions:
Spoon 2 tbsp of the vanilla frosting into a small ziplock or piping bag. Divide the rest of the remaining vanilla frosting among three bowls and tint each a different bold color. Spoon each color of frosting into a ziplock or piping bag (I also used tips here too)
Insert a lollipop stick through a gummy ring, pushing it through the candy from the center to the outer edge. Bring the gummy ring up around the lollipop, like a bonnet, to make the eyes. Continue with all lollipops and gummy rings.
Pipe a bit of frosting onto each lollipop and secure one brown m and m on each for eyes.
Next, start working with the cupcakes. Place a small dollop of frosting on top each larger cupcake. Take and place the smaller cupcake flat side down onto the dollop of frosting to secure it on. Make sure it is on there well and wont fall off!
Begin piping on your monsters. For the star monsters, I piped small stars all the way around the monster making sure to pull out and up as a I moved to create hair! For the leaf monster, I piped small yellow leaves all over the monster. For the string monster, using the small round tip, pipe strings all over the monster. This one you can have fun with. The messier you get the better he looks. Let the strings fall down the side of the monster too!!
Insert 2 lollipop eyes into each monster. I also added a red m and m for a nose on each as well!
Spaghetti and meatballs??????
Posted: April 19, 2011 Filed under: Cakes/Cupcakes, Dessert, Italian, Pasta 5 Comments »Is it? Or is it not? I loved this cupcake idea in the Hello Cupcake book. I have tried a few of their ideas, but this by far is my favorite. I love how cute and cleaver this is. it would make for a great dessert after an Italian meal, for April Fools Day or for any fun reason!! This was easy to make and only required a few extra ingredients.
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
10 vanilla cupcakes baked in white paper liners
1 can or 16 ounces of your favorite buttercream
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 drops yellow food coloring
11 hazelnut chocolates (Ferrero Rocher), unwrapped
3/4 cup low-sugar strawberry preserves (low-sugar has the best color for this)
2 tbsp grated white chocolate
Directions:
Tint the vanilla frosting with the cocoa powder and yellow food coloring and spread a thin layer over each cupcake. Arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter so they are touching and close together.
Spoon the remaining frosting into a piping bag (I used a small round tip, but you can just snip the end of the bag). Press out the excess air. Pipe the frosting all over the cupcakes to make the spaghetti, piling it high and allowing some of the spaghetti to hang over the edges.
Place the hazelnut chocolates and the preserves in a medium bowl and toss. Spoon some of the preserves on top of the spaghetti. Place 1 hazelnut chocolate on each cupcake and 1 on the platter. Top the cupcakes with the remaining preserves and sprinkle the grated white chocolate over everything.
Baked tilapia with garlic and evoo
Posted: April 18, 2011 Filed under: Fish/seafood, Light and healthy, Low Carb, Meatless, Quick Leave a comment »Another quick and easy fish recipe for lent. Found on my iPhone all recipes spinner app, this was not only easy but very tasty! I had just gotten 2 fabulous tilapia fillets from the seafood market and was excited to find this recipe. I did take some of the reviewers suggestions to add a bit of parm cheese on top and broil for a few minutes towards the end. That was perfect!
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
2 4 ounce tilapia filets
2 cloves garlic crushed
1.5 tbsp of evoo
1/2 an onion chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 tbsp parm cheese
Directions:
Rub the fish with the crushed garlic, then place them in a shallow dish. Spoon the evoo over te fish until they are coated. Place the onion on top of the fish. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (I did only an hour and it was fine)
Preheat oven to 350. Transfer to a new shallow baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper and cayenne pepper as desired. Bake for 30 mins. During the last few minutes turn the broiler on and top with parm cheese. Broil until the cheese is a golden brown. This creates a nice crusty top. Serve immediately!
Salmon Quesadillas
Posted: April 7, 2011 Filed under: Clean eating, Light and healthy, Low Carb, Meatless, Mexican, Quick 1 Comment »We were in the mood for Mexican this past Friday but with it being meatless I needed to come up with a fish quesadilla. I had some salmon to use up as well so salmon quesadillas were it. I found several recipes online and came up with this recipe.
Apparently I deleted the picture off my computer before I put it in this post! Sorry!
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
1 yellow pepper chopped
1 onion chopped
1-2 cups spinach
1 tbsp minced garlic
sea salt and gr pepper
1-2 salmon filets grilled and shredded
1/2-1 cup mozzarella cheese, sharp cheddar, or goat cheese-We prefer goat cheese
2 10 inch ww tortillas
evoo or butter for tortillas
greek plain yogurt or sour cream to top
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook salmon as preferred and shred.
Heat pan with a bit of evoo or butter. Once warm add garlic, onion and pepper and saute until soft. Once vegetables are softened, add spinach, cover pan and let the spinach wilt about 1-2 minutes. Add in shredded salmon and warm.
Butter or oil one side of the tortilla, lay flat on baking sheet and top with salmon mixture to one half. Top with a bit of cheese. Fold over. Repeat with 2nd tortilla. Bake in oven for 5-8 mins per side or until golden brown on each side.
Remove from oven and let rest 1-2 minutes. Cut and top with greek yogurt or sour cream. Serve immediately!
Lemon poppy seed scones
Posted: April 6, 2011 Filed under: Breakfast, Brunch, scones 3 Comments »Once again we had a week of guests visiting. This time my sister and her family were here along with my dad and aunt. I needed lots of morning goodies for everyone. So of course I whipped up our favorite scones. This time along with some of our other favorites, I made lemon poppy seed as my niece and nephew love lemon muffins, so I thought they would love these! Boy did they! They were gobbled right up! I used my favorite base recipe and added in lemon zest and poppy seeds!
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Zest of one large lemon
1 tbsp or more depending on preference of poppy seeds
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
Additional sugar for sprinkling
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
In a food processor, combine the flour, ½ cup of sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt. Pulse briefly to blend. Add in the cold butter pieces and pulse again briefly until the mixture resembles coarse meal and the butter pieces are no larger than peas. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
In another small bowl or a liquid measuring cup, combine the lemon zest, egg, egg yolk and heavy cream; whisk to blend. Add the liquid ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula or wooden spoon just until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir them in.
Knead gently to be sure the dough is evenly mixed, being careful not to overwork the dough.
Place a 2½- or 3-inch round biscuit cutter on the lined baking sheet. Scoop some of the dough inside the cutter and pat down gently to form a 1-inch thick round. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing the rounds 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.
(To freeze before baking, flash freeze at this point. Place the baking sheet with the shaped scones into the freezer and chill until frozen. Transfer to a freezer-safe plastic bag and store until ready to bake.)
Bake in the preheated oven until light golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. (If baking from the freezer, add approximately 5 minutes to the original baking time.)
