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Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Icing

September 1, 2008 by Lynsey Leave a Comment

At my work we are always looking for excuses to bring goodies and have “snacks” on any given day. The other day was one of our co-workers last day so that meant we had to send her off with a good farewell; so what better way to send someone off that cupcakes!?!?! I love cupcakes; they are so much fun and a great way to have cake in an easier version to eat. This specific recipe was pretty easy but all I did was get a cupcake mix; which is pretty nifty because it comes with the cupcake liners and everything, and then I spiced it up a little bit. I had quite a few things going on the night I needed to bake them so that’s why I used a little help from a box mix. They were so good but the icing it what made them; I love this icing and it will add that something special to any recipe…homemade or box. Everyone loved the cupcakes, they went over very well and needless to say I came home empty handed.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes-

1 Box Duncan Hines chocolate cupcake mix ( plus ingredients listed on box)

1/2 Cup chocolate chunks

1 Small box chocolate pudding

Icing-

1 Package (6 squares) white baking chocolate

1/4 Cup whipping cream or milk

1 Cup cold, unsalted butter

1 Cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Cupcakes–

Preheat oven at 350 F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Mix cupcakes as directed on box. Once mixed add pudding and mix in and then stir in chocolate chunks. Fill cupcake liners with batter and bake for time specified on cupcake mix box.

Icing-

Microwave chocolate and whipping cream in large bowl on high until almost melted, stiring every 45 seconds. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Cool 30 minutes or until room temperature, stirring occassionally.

Add butter gradually, beating with electric mixer on high until well blended. Add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.

Place in icing bag and pipe onto cupcake or spread onto cupcake/cake with a knife.

Icicng courtesy of Kraft Food

Cupcakes courtesy of a box mix and a little “spice” by Lynsey Lou

Spinach Chicken Nuggets

August 31, 2008 by Lynsey Leave a Comment

During one of my venture to The Fresh MarketI was browsing at all the wonderful and different items, as usual, and I saw some spinach chicken nuggets in the freezer section and thought that sounded pretty good. I thought that was a different idea and a great way to incorporate veggies into a simple and all time favorite and a great way incorporate a different taste into a classic. Once I saw this recipe I started thinking of ways to make up my own version spinach chicken nuggets; I looked at different chicken nugget recipes on line to see how they made theirs and to figure out what would be the best process to use. I finally came up with a recipe to work with and I tried it out.

It turned out pretty good; you really could taste all the flavors but one didn’t overwhelm the other. It was a great blend of all flavors. I believe I did over processed it in the food processor just a little bit but they still turned out great. Next time I make them I’ll process a little less to leave the chicken a little more like pulled/diced chicken rather than more of a spread. One thing I did find out by overprocessing this was…this would also be a great spread or dip for a party; serve with Triscuits or pita chips and that would be an awesome pair.

Spinach Chicken Nuggets:

2 Chicken breast

1 Tbs. cream cheese

1/2 Cup Spinach, coarsley chopped

Salt and Pepper

1 Teaspoon parsely

2 Eggs

Flour for coating

1/2-1 Cup cheese, shredded (I used parmesan)

Directions:

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once boiling add chicken breast and season water with salt. Boil chicken until cooked entirely through. Once chicken is thoroughly cooked remove from heat and drain water. Cut chicken in larger chunks then place in food processor, add coursely cut spinach, parsley, cream cheese, cheese, salt and pepper and process until everything is blended and until chicken is finely chopped.

Once processed, begin rolling chicken mixture into small balls.

Then roll chicken in eggs and coat in flour.

After coated, press the nuggets flat and then place in oil and fry on both sides until done.

Courtesy of Lynsey Lou

Swanson Mustard Honey Chicken and Rice

August 31, 2008 by Lynsey Leave a Comment

I was looking for a recipe that was simple, easy and very quick. After work I had quite a bit to do so by the time I got home it was pretty late and I needed to get something ready for supper pretty quickly. I started looking through cookbooks, on the internet and just thinking of stuff and I came across this recipe on Campbell’s Kitchen website. This recipe was very easy and so quick to throw together; plus it had all the veggies and starch in one. I was pretty impressed with this recipe; especially since there was so little to it.

Ingredients:

2 cups Swanson® Chicken Stock
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. Dijon-style mustard
Vegetable cooking spray
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves
1 large carrot, cut into 2-inch matchstick-thin strips (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion, sliced (about 1 cup)
hot cooked rice

Directions:

Stir the stock, cornstarch, honey and mustard in a small bowl until smooth. Set the mixture aside.

Spray a 10-inch skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until it’s well browned on both sides.

Add the carrot and onion to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender-crisp. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the stock mixture to the skillet. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens. Serve with the rice.

Courtesy of: Campbell’s Kitchen

Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

August 31, 2008 by Lynsey Leave a Comment

We are huge fans of breakfast foods; not just for breakfast but for any meal. My darling husband could eat breakfast 3 times a day everyday and never get sick of it. I love making new things but you can also never go wrong with the good, old classics like biscuits and gravy. I am always searching for a good white gravy that isn’t too complicated and is pretty consistent everytime it’s made. I’ve tried several gravy recipes and they either turn out lumpy, runny, or some other type of consistency that gravy just isn’t supposed to be. I can finally say after searching for an incredibly long time that I’ve found the perfect white gravy recipe that is great with sauasage in it but is equally as good without the sausage. Since I’ve come across this recipe I’ve made it 3 times; it’s so good and easy and comes out at the same consistency every time. This recipe is also very easy to half if you are feeding a small crew; like 2!

Buttermilk Biscuits-

Ingredients:

2 Cups unbleached flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda

1 Teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons shortening

3/4 Cup buttermilk

Sausage Gravy-

1 Pound bulk pork sausage

3 Tablespoons bacon drippings

1/3 Cup flour

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/4 Teaspoon black pepper

1/4 Teaspoon red pepper flaces (optional)

3 Cups milk

Directions:

To prepare the biscuits, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add the shortening and cut in with a pastry blender or fork to resemble coarse crumbs. Add the buttermilk and mix just until moistened; do not overmix.

Remove to a floured surface and sprinkle with additional flour. Knead 4 or 5 times. Roll 3/4 inch thick and cut with a floured 3 inch cutter.

Arrange the biscuits with edges almost touching on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.

To prepare the gravy, brown the sausage in a large skillet, stirring until crumbly. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon to drain, reserving the sausage drippings in the skillet. Add the bacon drippings ( I didn’t have bacon drippings so I just used vegetable oil) and flour, mixing well. Cook until the flour is gold brown, stirring constantly. Whisk in the milk. Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Return the sausage to the skillet. Cook for 15 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Serve with biscuits.

Courtesy of: “Beach Appetit” by The Junior League of the Emerald Coast

Fanned Potatoes

August 31, 2008 by Lynsey 1 Comment

Potatoes are such an easy and versatile vegetable to use for sides with multiple types of food. I love potatoes and I love trying new recipes using them. This recipe was so easy and very quick to put together. You could use pretty much any type seasonings you wanted to to change it up and to make it compliment the taste of the main dish. For this particular recipe I just used salt, pepper, butter and garlic salt to season; something very simple but it made the end result very good. This recipe isn’t just your average “baked potato” recipe; the inside of the potato is very soft more along the lines of a baked potato but the outer edges were a little crispy and gave the entire taste just a little something different. We thoroughly enjoyed these and I’m sure we’ll definitely be having these many more times.

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes-medium to large size

2-4 Tablespoons butter

1/2 Small onion, sliced

Salt and Pepper

Garlic Salt-(I use Lowry’s Garlic Salt with herbs)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Thinly slice potatoes, but do not slice all the way through, making the end result look like a fan. Rub the bottom of an oven safe dish with either part of the butter for spray with cooking oil. Place potatoes in dish; season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Spread onion slices over potatoes and dish and then set butter slices on top of potatoes. Place in oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until tender in middle.

Recipe Source: adapted from Recipe Zaar

Ham & Asparagus Lasagna

August 30, 2008 by Lynsey Leave a Comment

It has been so long since I’ve been able to sit down and actually post something to my blog. I have been cooking quite a bit but it juset seems like time has been passing by extremely fast. After I finish cooking and cleaning up the kitchen, I sit down and chill out for a minute and it’s time to go to bed. Thank goodness for 3 day weekends; I actually have time to sit down and update everything. This recipe is for ham and asparagus lasagna. I came across this recipe in Everyday With Rachael Ray. When I first told my hubby about this recipe that I came across he was pretty skeptical; but I guess if your the type of person that hears lasagna and thinks traditional is the only way to go then it is pretty easy to be skeptical. After I finally got him warmed up to the idea I got all the ingredients and decided to give it a try. It was a super easy and quick recipe. It’s one of those that is great for a night where you don’t have a lot of time to get something together but you still want to eat at home. If you don’t like ham or prefer a lighter meat I’m sure turkey would work just fine. I’m a pretty big turkey fan myself but I stuck with ham for this particular recipe and it turned out pretty tasty.

Ingredients:

1 Pound asparagus, cut into 1 in pieces

1 Pound lasagna noodles
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Small onion, finely chopped
1/3 Cup flour
4 1/2 Cups milk
1 Cup grated parmesan cheese
1 Cup grated colby and monteray jack mix cheese
1 Teaspoon grated nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
1/2 Pound deli sliced baked ham, cut into 1/2 ribbons

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the asparagus until just tender, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to a strainer. Return the water to a boil, add the lasagna and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a platter.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and simmer, whisking constantly, until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in half of the parmesan and half of the nutmeg; season with salt and pepper.

Spread about 1/3 cup of the cheese sauce in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Layer 4 noodles on the sauce and top with 3/4 cup cheese sauce. Sprinkle a quarter of the ham, a quarter of the asparagus, and 3 tablespoons of the remaining cheese over the sauce. Repeat the layering process three more times. Top with the remaining noodles, cheese sauce, cheese and nutmeg. Cover with foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for 10 minutes more. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Recipe Source: adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray

Pork Loin in Key Lime Sauce

July 27, 2008 by Lynsey 1 Comment

This was another part of my key lime escapade. I had a pork loin I needed to cook and I wanted to do something different than just salt and pepper. I thought with it being summer it would be nice to have a lighter, citrus-y taste with the pork.
This marinade is another recipe I discovered from Key West Key Lime Pie Co. I adapted this sauce recipe from Jim’s Key Lime Sauce.

Pork Loin in Key Lime Sauce

1 Pork Loin
1/2 Cup of olive oil
1/3-1/2 Cup of soy sauce
1/4 Cup of Worcestershire
1/4 Cup mustard
1/4 Cup key lime juice
Dash of garlic
Salt
Pepper to taste
Lemon and Lime slices

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Line pan/casserole dish with foil, place half of the lemon and lime slices on bottom of pan, put pork on top. Mix up remaining ingredients, except lemon and lime slices, and pour over pork. Place remainder of lemon and lime slices on top of the pork. Cover and cook for 40 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Uncover and place back in oven for 10 minutes more.

Recipe Source: Lynsey & Key West Key Lime Co.

Parsley Fried Squash

July 27, 2008 by Lynsey 1 Comment

Being from the south I can’t help but be a true southern girl. I definitely integrate some southern flare in a lot of my dishes. Southern style food, as we all know, is known for having a lot of fried style dishes and squash is not exception.
I have grown up on squash in various forms. It is one of my favorite veggies; I love it fried, boiled, on salads…pretty much in any form. We had gotten some fresh squash from my hubby’s dad’s garden and so I decided I would fry this batch up. Instead of doing the traditional cornmeal and flour I decided to add some herbs to give it a change. It turned out wonderful and the small addition of herbs made such a difference!

Parsley Fried Squash

Ingredients:
1 Cup milk
1/2 Cup cornmeal
1/2 Cup flour
Salt and Pepper- to taste
1/2-1 Tablespoon parsely
Oil for frying

Directions:

Preheat oil in medium to large skillet on low-medium heat.

Clean and thinly slice squash. In medium bowl combine flour, cornmeal, parsley, salt and pepper. In separate bowl pour milk. Dip squash in milk, toss in flour mixture and then place in frying pan.

Fry until both sides are golden brown.
Remove from oil, place on plate covered with a paper towel.

Recipe Source: A Lynsey Original

Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

July 27, 2008 by Lynsey 1 Comment

Cheese is a main staple in our house. We make so many things that includes cheese and we’re always looking for new recipes including cheese. I have made these before it was just a long long time ago. It is one of those recipes that we LOVED but it just kind of slipped through the cracks and I didn’t really ever think of making them.
We were having a surf-n-turf meal at our house and when I was putting the menu together I wanted to make a bread but something other than garlic bread or regular biscuits. DH and one of the other guys that was coming over LOVES the garlic cheese biscuits from Red Lobster so I knew that was a no fail recipe for this group. I looked around the internet for a little bit and came across quite a few recipes and decided on this one since it was quick and easy. I did find some others that I want to try that are a “from scratch” recipe but I just didn’t have the time to do that with everything else I had to get together.
These biscuits were awesome. They are so simple and easy to throw together; especially when you need a quick bread side.

Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 Cups Bisquick mix
2/3 Cup milk
3/4-1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 Cup butter, melted
1/4 Teaspoon garlic powder or garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 F.
Mix baking mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms; beat vigorously for 30 seconds. (If too dry add a little more milk) Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Mix butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Recipe Source: adapted from www.cs.cmu.edu

White Sangria

July 27, 2008 by Lynsey Leave a Comment

We were having a few friends over after work one evening. We were grilling out and I wanted a fun drink to sip on while preparing the meal and during the meal. We love sangria; when we get together it’s guaranteed we’ll get a pitcher or two to share. It’s definitely a no fail choice when we’re together.

This recipe was so easy to make and doesn’t really take a lot of time to prepare or chill. I halved the recipe since there were only going to be two people drinking it; but the full recipe would be great for a larger group.

White Sangria

1 Bottle sauvignon blanc
1/2 Cup brandy
3/4 Cup sugar
1 Lemon and 1 Lime, thinly sliced
1 Granny Smith Apple
1 Liter Sprite (or lemon-lime soda)
1 Cup frozen green grapes

Directions:

Combine the wine, brandy and sugar in a larger pitcher and mix gently to dissolve the sugar Add the sliced lemon, lime and apple. Chill for 2 hours or longer. Add the Sprite and grapes and mix gently. Serve over ice.

Recipe Source: Adapted from “Beach Appetit”, The Junior League of the Emeral Coast

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