Nothing says Valentine's like White Chocolate and Red Velvet

Thank you Bakerella! I found these delicious little chocolate covered cake balls and immediately screamed..."awwww Valentine's Day," in my typical overly screechy, nerdy voice. These were TASTY, plain and simple. These little nuggets of goodness are red velvet cake with cream cheese icing dipped in white chocolate. What's not to love?!

Confession: I tried to make these look adorable like Bakerella can by placing them on lolly pop sticks. This was a catastrophe!! I quickly had to abort the mission. And, immediately the cuteness factor of these lovely little cake balls plummeted. My dipping skills are zero to done and they ended up looking a little ploppy and werid, but tasted delectable. I brought 40 to my weekly small group, and left with 2, which I made sure I grabbed so I could take a picture.

With that said, I WILL make these again in all sorts of varieties, and I think I know what I goofed up on with the lolly pop sticks. We'll get to that in a bit.

Here's the Recipe: (Courtesy of Bakerella, word for word)

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

Here's What I got:

Yummy little bits of love:


Confession 2: Being that honesty is the whole gist of my blog, I wanted to show you pictures of the massive cake balls plummeting to their death after sliding down the lolly pop sticks, the chunks of red velvet cake that ended up in the white chocolate, etc. But, I made these at the boyfriend's house and my camera was dead. Luckily I snagged these two so I could at least get one picture!

What I Learned:
- When a recipe says "chill for several hours," chill it for several hours, not 30 minutes because you waited to long to make them for an event or because you are too impatient. Not that I know this from experience ;)
- Next time I will roll the cake balls much smaller
- I will also put the lolly pop sticks in the smaller cake balls and, again, CHILL FOR SEVERAL HOURS, that way they adhere to the stick.
- I will use a dish with more depth for chocolate coating. The bowl I was using was too large, and too shallow.
- People love these, make them. (And sneak a few for yourself)

Thanks for stopping by!
Kara

I'm from the Lou and I'm proud...of gooey butter cake!

If you are from St. Louis, you know what I'm talking about. Four simple words:

ooey
gooey
butter
cake

By far, this is one of my favorite desserts in existance, so I made one. And, yes, I cheated and made it with a boxed cake mix. The reality is I had to make it for a dinner and forgot untill WAY late in my Saturday plans, otherwise we would've started from scratch. Also, sorry for the lack of pictures. I was scrambling around like a crazy face!

Note: Aunt Kathy, make this. You'll love it.

With all that being said, Ooey Gooey Butter Cake is a soft, yummy, yellow cake gooey explosion, and here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

Bottom:
1 (18.5 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Top:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix cake mix, melted butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 eggs with a spoon. Pat into a 9 X 13 inch pan. Mix cream cheese, 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla with an electric mixer. Slowly beat in confectioner's sugar. Pour over cake layer. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool.

Here's What I Got:

Two parts goo, One part delicious:


Pouring the yummy cream cheese mixture on top of the cake mixture:


When you are done with that, make sure you get in on that cream cheese deliciousness:


Bake till golden brown around edges, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and ENJOY!


Here's What I Learned:
- I will cook 5-8 less minutes in my oven, that sucker overcooks quick!
- Apparently, according the the group I made this for, the cake is delicious dipped in chocolate fondue!
- I love St. Louis

Hope you enjoy! Thanks to those of you who have sent me recipes...keep 'em coming!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mini Meatloaves...I Love Muffin Tins

I seem to be on a "this would look cute small" kick, so I made some mini meatloves in muffin tins, and I thought they were wonderful! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, one of my favorite daily hits. I added a few extras and threw them in muffin tins. Quick & Easy!

Here's the recipe (found here):

INGREDIENTS
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, cheese, oats and salt. Add the ground beef, mixing well, and form this mixture into eight miniature meatloaves. Place these in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. In a separate small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Stir thoroughly and spread over each meatloaf. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.

What I did Different:
- I used seasoned breadcrumbs instead of the oats. My mom has always made it this way, so I figured go with what you know!
- I used colby jack instead of cheddar. I shredded it off the block, rather than use the bag stuff
- I eliminated the mustard, not my favorite flavor
- I, DUH, put it in muffin tins to bake

Here's what I got:

The mushy gushy ugly meat goodness:

I spooned the meatloaf into tins. The recipe makes 15 mini meatloaves:


For the topping, just mix together some ketchup and brown sugar:


Here they are finished. It only took about 30 mintues to cook:


Sorry I don't have a picture of them on a plate. We had to rush to the hospital that night to visit one of my boyfriend's students. We ended up bringing them the meatloaves, cream cheese mashed potatoes, and cheesy rice. They loved it!

What I Learned:
- Things look cute in muffin tins
- Adding green pepper and onion was a good idea, it gave it more flavor that the recipe called for. I used my new "mini food processor" from aldi to chop up the veggies and it worked great! I stored left overs in a freezer bag. I will use them when I make a BBQ chicken pizza.
- I'd make this again!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful February!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lowcountry Cookies

You know I love Paula Deen, but I also love coconut and pecans. So these LowCountry Cookies seemed like the perfect, right-up-my-alley kind of dessert. And they are incredibly easy!

I had no clue what "lowcountry" meant. So, of course, I went to Wikipedia for an answer:
"Lowcountry cuisine is the cooking traditionally associated with the South Carolina Low Country. While it shares features with Southern cooking, its geography, economics, demographics, and culture pushed its culinary identity in a different direction from regions above the fall line."

This region includes Savannah, which of course is why it's one of Paula's recipes.

Here's The Recipe (found on food network):

Filling:
1 (16-ounce) box graham crackers
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup or 3 (1/2-ounce) cans shredded coconut

Topping:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 4
tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons milk

For the filling:
Line a 13 by 9-inch pan with whole graham crackers. Melt the butter in saucepan and add sugar. Beat the egg and milk together; add to butter mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add the nuts, coconut, and 1 cup graham cracker crumbs. Pour over the crackers in the pan. Cover with another layer of whole graham crackers.

For the topping:
Beat all the ingredients together and spread over top layer of crackers. Chill. Cut into squares.

Here's What I Got:

I got prepped for the filling by lining my pan with graham crackers and measuring out all my ingredients:

They might as well put this picture in the dictionary under "Paula Deen":

The combined butter, egg, milk, graham cracker crumbs, pecans, and coconut. This stuff was seriously good to lick off the spoon:

Get ready to drown the crackers in pecan gooey goodness:

Looks mushy, tastes delicious:

Create another layer of graham crackers over the filling:

Who doesn't love icing?! This stuff was EASY. Just combine quick and pour:

The icing poured right on top of the second layer of graham cracker:

It's time to chill!! You have to get these things cold so they stick together. If you happened to be in St. Louis over the weekend, a garage works perfectly as a fridge!

The finished product. DELICIOUS!

What I learned:

- Do everything the EXACT same way next time. These were VERY sweet but oh-so-good.

- You must keep them stored in the fridge

- Dip left over grham crackers in the icing while you are waiting for the bars to chill

- I saw a review of this recipe that recommended using chocolate and marshmallows instead of the pecans and coconut to make smores cookies. I think they would be awesome!

This was a fun recipe to make over the weekend with my Mom. Stay tuned.... caramel cinnamon rolls coming soon!! (I took a bread making class, watch out!)

Thanks for stopping by!

My Favorite Coffee Cake...In Muffin Form?!

I am really striking out lately on presentation, as you will find out in just a second. But I'm learning and that is what this is all about. Next time, these lil' guys should just look killer.

So, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my mom's recipe for sour cream coffee cake. It's deliciously unhealthy and yummy. It's basically pound cake that you justify eating for breakfast by calling it coffee cake. So, I thought to myself, how cute would it be if they were made in little muffin tins instead of the standard 9 x 13. I was trying to be adventurous, and it turned out ok. I just had a bit of trouble with the topping. However, for round one (an experiment) I think it went well and I WILL make these again after adjusting the recipe to what I've learned.

WARNING! NOT POINTS FRIENDLY ON WEIGHT WATCHERS. But, nice small single servings so you don't over indulge.

So....
I don't remember the recipe. I will post it once I find the piece of paper. I do know it has all the goodness you could ask for in a cake, eggs, butter, sour cream, flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, salt..etc. It makes a REALLY THICK batter (which tastes really good on it's own) and then you mix together brown sugar and cinnamon to put on top. YUM.

Here's What I Got:

Don't they look yummy and adorable in the oven?! HA! Just wait till I try to take the suckers out:


The beginnings of the crumbly top nightmare. ALL OF THE TOPS FELL OFF!!!
So, I had to reaffix them or try and crumble up the cooked topping and put it back on the muffin.


They look a little bit better when you put them in a basket with a cute napkin:


Here they are the next day when I did some "recrumbling action." I took these to a work meeting, and everyone enjoyed them. Hooray!


What I learned:
- I cooked these a shade too long, probably only by 3 minutes or so
- I filled the muffin tins too high with batter. This caused the topping to stick to the outer rim of the muffin tin as it cooked, and pulled it off of the little cakes when I tried to get them out
- I need to press the topping into the batter.
- Next time I might try and make the crumbles I do for apple pie. With these crumbles, you cut in butter with flour, sugar and cinnamon. I think would help it "stick" better. Here's a picture from Thanksgiving so you can visualize:



This weekend, I might tackle scones or mini meatloaves!
Thanks for stopping by!
Kara

Shepherds Pie...Oh My!!

I told you I would post anything, good lookin' or not, so here goes....

When I get home at 5, I tend to turn Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals on. I like to watch how quickly she can chop things and most of the time her creations look quite delicious. Now, I always thought Shepherds Pie sounded gross, but on Monday I saw her make this delicious looking Smokey Turkey Shepherd's Pie and I realized all Shepherds Pie consists of is meat, veggies, and mashed potatoes. Sounds easy enough right?

All I can say is... 30 minute meals my behind!

This is defiantly not a dig on Rachel Ray, or the show, I love it but boy she moves a lot quicker than I can, and let's just say my Shepherd's Pie did not turn out even close to good looking, but at least it tasted good (boyfriend approved) and it fit into my daily points allowance on weight watchers with a few substitutions. Only 7 points for 1/9 of the casserole.

Here's the Recipe:
- 3 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed
- Coarse salt
- 2 tablespoons EVOO - extra-virgin olive oil - 2 turns of the pan
- 1/4 pound smoky bacon or turkey bacon, chopped
- 1 1/3 pound ground turkey breast
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, available in small cans on spice aisle of market (You may substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons each sweet paprika and cumin combined)
- Coarse black pepper
- 2 tablespoons, 5 or 6 sprigs, fresh thyme leaves
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 ribs celery from the heart, chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream, divided
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 10 to 12 blades fresh chives, chopped or snipped

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, salt it, and cook the potatoes until tender, 12 to 15 minutes.

Heat a deep, large skillet over medium-high heat. Add EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, to the skillet. Add bacon and brown it up, then add ground turkey to the pan and break it up. Season the turkey with smoked paprika, salt and pepper and thyme. When turkey browns up, add: onions, carrots, celery. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, then add red pepper and peas cook another 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook flour 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and combine. Add 1/2 cup of sour cream and combine. Simmer mixture over low heat. Preheat your broiler to high.

When potatoes are tender, add a ladle of cooking water to the egg. Drain potatoes and return to the warm pot to dry them out a little. Add remaining 1/2 cup sour cream, butter, half of the chives, and salt and pepper. Smash and mash the potatoes, mashing in the beaten, tempered egg. If the potatoes are too tight, mix in a splash of milk.

Pour turkey mixture into a medium casserole dish. Top turkey with an even layer of smashed potatoes and place casserole 5 inches from hot broiler. Broil the potatoes until golden at edges and remove the casserole from the oven. Garnish the casserole with the remaining chives and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

What I did differently:
- I used extra lean ground beef instead of Turkey. The grocery store was out of ground turkey for the second time in a row! boo!
- I used reduced fat sour cream
- I used fat free chicken broth

What I did wrong:
- You say potato...I say disaster! PUT THE POTATOES ON FIRST THING. I was a little bit absent minded and forgot about the potatoes till mid way through the beef cookin' process. Not only did I put them on late, but I did not have NEARLY enough potato for the liquids you add in according the the recipe. I should've sliced up two more potatoes. Having the potatoes go on late wasn't all bad because it let the beef mixture thicken up a bit, but boy were they RUNNY!

- Broiler Boo Boo...I have never used a broiler. Remember, I'm really new to this cooking thing. Let's just say my pie was very very crusty on top! I left it in there waaaay too long.

- I am very happy the the tragedies of the recipe had nothing to do with my substitution

Here's What I Got: (Warning...looks gross, tastes great...trust me)

Meat Mixture Simmering:
The bacon and smokey seasonings in this really made my kitchen smell wonderful.


Potato Soup instead of Mashed Potatoes:


Ready for some toppin'...


Those are not delicious cheesecake brownies, that is one charred set of soupy mashed potatoes!


Luckily, it peeled off quite easily:


Salvaged Finished Product: YUM!


What I Learned:
- Don't leave anything in the broiler for very long!
- Next time, I'll start my potatoes early and be generous with the amount used
- Seasonings REALLY make a recipe delicious. The Thyme, Cumin, Paprika, and S&P make this seriously jam packed with delicious flavor
- BACON MAKES ANYTHING BETTER!

Let me know if you've had any similar tragedies ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Kara

Spaghetti Squash, I just can't make up my mind...

I know I'm late to jump on the bandwagon but tis the season for healthy eatin so....I made spaghetti squash for the first time and it was quite the easy process, after I got the darn thing cut open! I'm just no so sure I'm hip to the flavor. I'm thinking it's not the squash itself that is putting me off. It's what I put on top.

I topped mine with butter, salt, pepper, and some Parmesan cheese. What do you think would be better? Tomato based sauce, Italian dressing? What do you put on your spaghetti squash? I'm thinking a garlic and olive oil sauce with tons of chopped up cooked veggies could be yummy. I saved the leftovers, I think that's what I may do.

Here's what I got:

That's one big squash!


I cut the squash in half length-wise. This would have been very comical for someone to watch. Luckily, I live alone.


Here's what all the guts look like.


According to the directions that come on a little sticker when you buy the squash, I placed in a dish, cut side down, with 1/4 cup of water, covered with plastic wrap and microwaved for 1o minutes. You can also bake, but I was on my way to bowling with friends so there was no time!


You spoon out all the seeds and goop and then pull the sides off with a fork. It shreds out just like pasta.


What I learned:
- Get Saucy! I have GOT to put something else on here besides just some Parmesan cheese.
- Ask for help! What should I put over all this squash?!

Thanks for stopping by!