April Fool's Day Cupcakes

Don't these cupcakes look delicious? I mean, check out that tasty swirl of smooth whipped frosting! I bet it will be soooo sweet and creamy.

That's what my coworkers thought too, until they bit into them and discovered they were:

Recipe # 22: Meatloaf cupcakes with cream potato frosting

Here they are straight out of the oven:

These cupcakes were created for our company potluck, which happened to fall on April Fool's Day. It was my way of getting back at my coworkers for the disaster of the first potluck. For the first potluck I made some tasty vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and berries (below), and NO ONE ELSE BROUGHT ANYTHING. I made three dozen cupcakes, and the others couldn't even manage to pick up a veggie tray or bag of chips. But, that didn't stop them from gobbling up my tasty treats.

Regardless, I got to play a nice trick on my officemates. Unfortunately, one of my favorite people in the office (who also happens to be one of the nicest ladies ever) was the first person to bite into my creation. I had told them they were carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. My coworker got a bite ready on her fork, and said, "I'm so excited for these! I love carrot cake, and you always do a good job baking." I felt guilty as she put the bite in her mouth, then proceeded to immediately spit it out in her hand.

The next person who fell for the trick is the guy in the office who will eat anything. He's sort of a human garbage disposal. He ate a bite, made a weird face, then ate the rest of the meatcake like it wasn't a big deal.

After the secret was out, people microwaved my treats and enjoyed them as mini-meatloafs. They were actually pretty tasty, and I might use the recipe for a full-sized meatloaf in the future.

Here is recipe #23, Moist Vanilla Cupcakes (I'm not going in order, obviously), the cupcakes from the first potluck.

I topped these bad boys with cream cheese frosting and berries. Ironically, my "moist" cupcakes came out a little dry, but the toppings made up for it. I am pretty sure this is my own fault though, because I overbaked them a bit. Since this recipe was so easy and I usually have all the ingredients on hand, I will probably try it again and see if it becomes my go-to cupcake recipe.

Roasted veggies

Recipe #14: Oven Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus

For Valentine's Day this year we decided to go to Sunday brunch instead of a dinner. But, I still wanted to make a tasty meal on V-Day instead of going through our normal Monday routine of eating pork burritos at Cafe Rio. So, I made these tasty roasted vegetables using what I had on hand. I only had russet potatoes, so I reduced the cooking time by about 5 minutes, because I once heard that red potatoes need to cook longer than russet potatoes.

The reason I chose this recipe was because it featured my favorite herb, rosemary. 

The vegetables were a nice complement to my simple pan-fried honey balsamic chicken (recipe coming later).

Superbowl snacks: BBQ Chicken Sliders and Potato Skins

Recipes #9 and 10:  BBQ Chicken Sliders and Potato Skins

It's not a secret that I don't really care about football. Our team, the Panthers, finished last in the conference, so I tuned out long ago. But, what I do care about is food, especially football-watching food. I love the type of food eaten during games, aka "bar food." This includes the following: chicken wings, nachos, onion rings, potato skins, cheese fries, chili cheese dogs (yes, Tiff, I will eat a chili dog during a game), dips of all varieties, pizza, etc.

So, planning a Superbowl menu was a challenge, because I wanted to make/eat it all. Since it was just Matt and I, I had to limit it to a couple items, barbecue chicken sliders, potato skins, and margaritas (those were for me; Matt had beer).

I know I'm supposed to be using other people's recipes (and not my own) for the purpose of this blog, but calling the chicken sandwiches a recipe is a stretch--it's basically just chicken and sauce on a bun. So, here's my version. I always use Sweet Baby Ray's sauce, because it's my favorite.

BBQ Chicken Sliders
Ingredients:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts 
• 1 can of chicken broth
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp of "jarlic" (jarred garlic--feel free to use fresh if you want)
• 1 cup of barbecue sauce(or more, depending on your preferences)
• Dinner rolls, hamburger buns, or whatever you want to use to eat your meat

Directions:

Cook chicken breasts, broth, salt and pepper, and garlic in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. Drain liquid off chicken, and shred. Add BBQ sauce to your liking. Put on a roll/bun. Eat.

I basically follow the same recipe for pulled pork, but instead of broth I use a can of Coke. The acids in the Coke break down the pork and make it really tender, and the sugars caramelize and give it a nice sweet flavor. I haven't tried Coke on my chicken.

For the potato skins, I followed this recipe, and served them with ranch dressing instead of sour cream:
Potato Skins

For the margaritas, I followed the directions on the bottle of margarita mix (Costco brand).

What a Ham!

First off, I'd like to mention that I forgot to add the recipe number in my last post. So, from now on, I will make sure to keep a countdown of the number of recipes I have left. This post will be about my second recipe of the year.

Last week, I bought a spiral, fully cooked half ham (still on sale from the holidays). With just the two of us to eat the whole 7 pounder, I had to be a little creative with the leftovers. Don't get me wrong, I love a good ham sandwich, but ham is such a versatile ingredient. We used it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I cooked the ham up in a oven bag, slathered in a mixture of about 1/4 cup light brown sugar and 2 Tbs. maple syrup (fake stuff, what I had in the pantry). I cooked it for about an hour and a half at 300 degrees, just to heat it through. I'm not counting this as one of the 100 recipes, because I really just heated it up.




As a side dish, what I will count as my second recipe, I made corn pudding. I was first introduced to corn pudding by my grandma long ago. She made it for Christmas dinner this year and I was reminded of its goodness. If you've never had it, corn pudding is sooo good. I could seriously eat it all day, every day. I think it is technically classified as a spoon bread. It's like cornbread, only softer and you eat it with a utensil. I found the recipe here. It's really easy, you just mix everything together and bake.

(I am not counting this next recipe) The next morning, Christian and I made a potato hash using the leftover ham. It was a filling and delicious brunch. We just made the recipe up as we went along.

Ham and Potato Hash

1 1/2 lbs russet potatoes
1 cup cooked, diced ham
2 green onions, chopped
2 fried eggs

Peel and dice the potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Heat 2 Tbs. vegetable oil in a hot skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes and cook 25 minutes, covered for the first 10 minutes. Add ham and cook a couple minutes until the ham caramelizes a little. Remove from heat and stir in the green onions. Top with a fried egg and serve with a piece of toast!

My next post will include two more hammy recipes.

Recipes made: 2
Recipes left to make: 98

Gnocchi Mac n' Cheese and Panko breaded Chicken Strips

Recipes #1 and #2:  Gnocchi Mac n' Cheese and Panko breaded Chicken Strips

This past weekend I broke one of my own cooking rules*--I made some substitutions in a first-time recipe. I partially blame my local grocery store for not carrying a variety of cheeses (their most exotic cheese was monterey jack), but it was really my own fault because I was too lazy to drive to another store.

So, my first home-cooked meal of 2010 was Panko Chicken Strips and Gnocchi Mac n' Cheese.

It's the grown-up version of chicken nuggets and that nasty blue boxed crap Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. The aforementioned substitution was the cheese in the Gnocchi Mac n' Cheese; I had to use cheddar instead of the decadent Gruyere and Fontina. I also used chicken strips instead of nuggets, because I wanted to make myself feel like I was making a meal for an adult, not a toddler.

The verdict? While it definitely wasn't the fanciest meal, Matt and I agreed that it was pretty tasty. The gnocchi was a lot fluffier than macaroni, and the sauce was really rich. The gnocchi, which I bought pre-made, is made of potatoes, so I expected it to be really dense and sort of like potatoes au gratin, but they were very soft and surprisingly noodle-like.

The chicken was good, but not amazing. It is a good generic chicken tender/nugget recipe, but it might disappoint someone who wants more spice or something out of the ordinary, and they definitely needed some salt. The panko breading is a lot crunchier than your normal breadcrumbs, and the buttermilk made it very tender (I think? Or maybe something else made them tender?), but if I made this again I would use my mom's famous "meat rub" as the seasoning.

Now that I think about it, I probably should have made some sort of vegetable to balance out my fatty meal. But, since this is my first recipe post, you can cut me some slack. Comfort food is definitely needed every once in a while (or more often).

So, 2 recipes down, 98 to go! Here's hoping my cooking and photography skills improve!


*In case you were wondering, here are my cooking rules (subject to change as I learn more or get lazier):
1. Always pour yourself a glass of water (or other drink of choice) before you start cooking. It gets hot in the kitchen and you'll likely get thirsty after sampling your creation. I usually put a straw in my beverage so I don't have to touch my glass with messy hands.
2. Never try out a new recipe on guests, unless your guest is your 24-year-old brother. In that case, he'll eat anything.
3. When trying a new recipe, always follow it exactly (or as close as you can) the first time. You can tweak things and make substitutions the next time you make it.
4. Have a backup plan, and improvise if necessary. Your cake that stuck to the pan and came out in chunks? It's now a trifle.
5. Read the recipe all of the way through before you start. You don't want any surprises.
6. Wear an apron, even if you're just making some Rice Krispy treats in the microwave. If you feel fabulous, whatever you're cooking will seem extra-decadent.