Kitchen Adventures 2.8

Like most people just out of college or in their mid-twenties, I've been to a few wedding and bachelorette parties in my day. It inevitable with all the friends that get married either during or shortly after college. Last night we helped a friend celebrate her upcoming with a causal, laid-back bachelorette party. After dinner at Panda Garden, we met back at my place for cookie decorating, drinks, and games.

I had seen cute pictures from bachelorette parties and wanted to figure out how to make those cute cookies. My good friend Kara came through with heart cookies cutters in two sizes, so that gave us variety. If you turn a heart upside down, voila! You have the template for decorating a beautiful bra. And if you cut the tip off a heart before baking the cookie, you've got the makings of a bountiful booty. We had a great time decorating our cookies, talking, laughing, and hanging out. And now I have so many cookies left to decorate and eat! :)

I had a sugar cookie recipe from a different cookbook, but I lost that page so turned to a back-up. I had enough time to make the dough one day and bake it a couple days later, so I made the traditional "chill over night" sugar cookies. This recipe came, once again from the triple T youth group cookbook. This contribution is from Kim (and Molly) Hague, some good friends back home. Delicious!

Aunt Roxy's Old Fashion Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each so as to remain light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients. Chill overnight. Roll to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Makes about 8 dozen.
*Note that is 8 dozen round, not 8 dozen hearts. :)

Here are some pics, both before and after decorating.

Kitchen Adventures 2.7

Many of us have weekly activities we look forward to when a new week begins. I am fortunate to have several different sets of friends, who are most definitely different from each other. I love my girls night friends who meet at O'Connell's every week and play bingo and drink $2 Boulevards. There are girls I can tell about random things going on in my life or things I hear about on the news and whatnot. And with the inclusion of the boys at girls night (contradictory, I know, but it works) we always have rousing conversation going on somewhere at the table.
Another group I always look forward to seeing is my small group from church. We started meeting two years ago and through there are only three of the originals left, we have an awesome group that not only meets to discuss the Word and our study, but also to share in our lives socially. Usually, at least lately, the boys have outnumbered the girls, but last week was an exception. With no boys in attendance, we had a girls night. Of course we discussed out study, Lead Like Jesus (which I highly recommend), but we were also able to share about life situations that I'm pretty sure we would not have discussed had the boys been there. It was nice to just have that girl time studying together and also just fellowhihpping.
Unfortunately for the boys, they missed out on delicious snack. Of course, I am biased since I made it. :) But I must say, it is delicious! I'm still eating the fruits of my labor for breakfast and thoroughly enjoying it!
Since I had extra zucchini lying around from the farmer's market I trolled the Internet looking for some kind of zucchini dessert recipe. I already made chocolate zucchini cake and have made zucchini bread before, so I wanted to try something different. After doing a little searching, I came across this excellent recipe from cooks.com. It's a little different, but delicious! I highly recommend it!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
2 c. grated zucchini
4 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 c. oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 loaf pans. Grate zucchini
In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In another bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla.
Stir zucchini mixture into the flour mixture, just until blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.

Here are some pics of the finished product.

Kitchen Adventures 2.6

Sometimes you just need something quick and easy for dinner. I was feeling that way this week. I received a recipe card while shopping at Target months ago and finally made it this week. Of course they want you to use all their store brand items, but you could use whatever you want. This one has been good throughout the week. I don't know what it is about pasta and peas, but I'm loving that combo right now! Target also wants you to get your entire meal, so the recipe includes the garlic Texas toast and salad too. I did eat that combo and loved it, but you could have whatever sides you thought went well with it and be good.

Creamy Penne
Ingredients:
2 c. uncooked penne pasta
1 c. frozen peas
1/2 c. onion and chive cream cheese
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
Texas garlic toast
Salad greens with balsamic vinaigrette

Directions:
Cook penne in salted boiling water for 10 minutes. Add peas and cook 5 minutes longer or until peas and pasta are tender. Drain in colander.
Heat garlic toast following package directions.
Heat cream cheese and milk over medium low heat, just until bubbly. Put pasta back in original pot and pour cheese sauce over top, stirring to combine. Toss with Parmesan cheese and black pepper.
Serve with garlic toast and salad dressed with balsamic vinaigrette.

This was pretty delicious, I must say, and very easy to make. I made the entire thing while on the phone with a friend, so it is quick and yummy!

Kitchen Adventures 2.5

Last weekend was quite the busy one. Saturday included a trip to the farmer's market, a trip to the mall, and of course baking. Sunday was a church-filled day, which was great! I taught my 4 year olds (10 of them!) in the morning, did a little grocery shopping, met up with my friend Jessica Jones who was in town from Wyoming, then headed to Shaye's to make my side dish for the funLife event at church. Soulfest was a fun church potluck and social time, with water games, volleyball, and the band playing some awesome music. I unfortunately did not take pictures of any of the food I baked, but there will be some pics from Soulfest at the end!
Saturday's baking was a chocolate zucchini cake for the monthly birthday party at work. Each month we celebrate all the birthdays at once, and last week was our party. This recipe seemed perfect since our lone birthday-ee likes chocolate, and zucchini are plentiful this time of year. I picked some up at the farmer's market and used them for this recipe and another, which will be in a later post. I miss just going out to the garden and picking a zucchini to use, so the farmer's market is the closest thing I have to that! This recipe is one my mom sent me. Thanks Mom!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. sour milk
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. cloves
4 T. cocoa
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 c. grated zucchini
6 oz. chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the remaining liquid ingredients (this will be the first six ingredients total). Mix the dry ingredients together, then add to the wet mixture. Stir in the grated zucchini. Pour into a 9x13 greased and floured pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

The next baking endeavor occurred Sunday afternoon at Shaye's house. I needed to make a side dish for Soulfest, and after looking through my cookbooks decided on a recipe form the trusty Triple T youth group cookbook called Homemade with Love. This is actually a recipe my Nana submitted to the cookbook. I don't remember her ever making these, but they sure were good! By the time I got through the line, which was pretty early, most of them were already gone!

Parmesan Potato Sticks

Ingredients:
2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut in strips
1/2 c. fine bread crumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. melted margarine

Directions:
Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings in bowl. Roll potato strips in melted margarine and then dip in crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees until tender, approximately 35-40 minutes.
*Note: I had to make the crumb mixture a second time to have enough, but I cut my potatoes into tiny strips. Also, omitting the salt is probably fine as I felt these were fairly salty.

Though I have no pictures of the potato sticks, here are a few images of the activities from Soulfest.

My friend Kara rockin' the keys


Rousing volleyball game

Kitchen Adventures 2.4

Sometimes when I come home from work, especially at the beginning of the week, I wonder what to make for dinner. This is especially an interesting situation if I have not been to the grocery store and stocked up on food. Since I rely on friends and the bus system to get to the store, I try to make as few trips as possible. After getting home from the lake, I made a trip via bus and didn't feel like cooking when I got home, so I put it off until the next day. And since I am limited on what I can carry on the bus, I cooked with ingredients I had already that needed to be used.
A few weeks ago at girls night we got to talking about cooking, and I mentioned that I had tried to make hamburger gravy recently and it had not gone well. Since I had hamburger and some biscuits in the fridge, I decided this was the ticket for the week. Hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes was something we had at home, so I figured biscuits would probably be a good substitute since I had no potatoes to mash. I found a recipe online at http://allrecipes.com, so I'll share that here. As a note, I'm sharing the halved version, you can find the full scale version at the website.

Hamburger Gravy

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1/8 cup flour
1 pint milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. onion salt

Directions:
1. Place hamburger in a large, deep skillet. Crumble and cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Remove from heat and sprinkle flour over cooked hamburger. Stir until evenly coated and all fat is absorbed.
2. Place skillet over medium heat and pour in 1/2 of milk. Stir until gravy thickens. Add remaining milk until desired consistency has been reached and gravy comes to a boil. Season with salt, pepper, and onion salt.
3. Bake biscuits as directed, and serve gravy over biscuits.

It is better than it looks, trust me! And remember to season the gravy, it makes a difference!

Kitchen Adventures 2.3

Life has been quite busy recently! And, quite frankly, I didn't feel the urge to update, even though I have made quite a few things recently. After a relaxing trip to Table Rock Lake in Missouri with my family, it was back to the real world. The real world held a lot more responsibilities, though, as I picked up more duties at work in preparation for advancing to a new position. As of tomorrow, I will be the acting librarian at the Western History Collections, a special collection in the OU library system. It will be exactly one year after I started working there as staff assistant, and quite honestly I never thought I would get this opportunity. But, I'm taking it, and I'm excited! The new responsibilities are draining, though, so that has taken the blogging desire right out of me. And with a busy last weekend, there was just no time to post.
Fortunately, that has changed! The busyness of the last week has invigorated me to share, and I have much to share! I'll start with the oldest recipe and work my way up, and eventually they'll all get up here. :)
The first recipe is one I took with me to the lake. I got it from my friend Megan Barbeau and it's a good standby for using old bananas, which I had. They are always delicious, with or without frosting.

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 beaten egg
1 c. mashed bananas
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:
Stir the wet ingredients together until combined. Stir together the dry ingredients, then add to the first mixture and beat well. Fill greased cupcake tins 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Frost with powdered sugar icing and top with chopped nuts, if desired.

Kitchen Adventures 2.2

After getting home from a relaxing weekend at home (I know, too many homes!) I needed to make myself a little dinner for the week. I was not feeling up to cooking Monday when I got back since I had been sick for some odd reason earlier in the day. Once Tuesday night rolled around, though, I was ready to make up something delicious. I turned to another church cookbook, this time the "Favorite Recipes from Wheat State Manor Cookbook" put together by the churches that sponsor Wheat State back home. This recipe was actually a contribution by my mom. I don't actually make a lot of things my mom makes, and when I do they never quite taste the same. This one is pretty close, though. As I ate it, it brought back taste memories from the past. It's easy and delicious, the perfect combination! I paired it with some rolls and salad to balance it out.

Parmesan Pork Loin

Ingredients:
1 c. seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Pork loin, 1 inch thick slices
Olive oil
Margarine, squeeze bottle

Directions:
Combine bread crumbs, cheese, and seasonings in a bowl. Pour olive oil in a plate or bowl to use for dipping. Dip each slice of pork loin into olive oil followed by seasoned crumb mixture. Place on foil-lined baking sheet that has been lightly coated with cooking spray. Drizzle margarine on each slice of pork. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

*Note: I did not drizzle with margarine but instead just shook a few drops of olive oil on each slice. And the foil-lined plan is a great idea, it makes clean-up and removal of the pork slices so much easier.

Here is a picture of the finished product:

Kitchen Adventures 2.1

July is here, but it sure doesn't seem like a typical July! Apparently we are in a tropical weather pattern. That was readily apparent the entire weekend back home. None of us could remember a Fourth of July weekend where it rained every day, but that's exactly what it did. After getting home Friday late in the afternoon, the rain began late in the night and kept up pretty much the entire time until we made it halfway back to Norman. All that rain meant no fireworks show for our family this year. :( We shot off four fireworks out in the road before the rain picked up again. But the rain didn't stop all of the family from getting together to eat and celebrate our freedom. We ended up with fifteen people over for grilling and conversation. We will definitely remember this rainy 4th!

The rain didn't dampen the baking spirit, though. I decided to make the famous banana cake with nutella whip again along with a new recipe, Sunshine Pie. Unfortunately, I didn't trust my mom when she said I needed to line her pans with wax paper, and the first banana cake stuck to the pan. Thank goodness for cake balls to salvage the day! Karen and Ryan picked up frosting and dipping sauce, so I whipped up those delicious cake balls Sunday before everyone came over. Here's a sampling:


The sunshine pie was an experiment, and I learned a few things about zesting. It requires orange zest, and I got a little too into the zesting and got a little more than I needed, digging a little too deep. I would probably have liked the pie better without the zest/cool whip topping, but others seemed to like it. Just a pointer in case you decide to try it, don't get too zesty! :)

Sunshine Pie

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk, divided
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust (6 oz.)
Zest and juice from 1 orange
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

Directions:
BEAT cream cheese and 1/4 cup condensed milk with mixer until well blended. Whisk in 1/2 cup COOL WHIP. Spread onto bottom of crust.

WHISK orange juice, remaining condensed milk and dry pudding mix in medium bowl 2 min. Stir in 1-1/2 cups of the remaining COOL WHIP. Spread over cream cheese layer.

STIR orange zest into remaining COOL WHIP; spread over pie. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Size-Wise:
Since this luscious no-bake pie makes enough to serve 10, it's the perfect dessert to bring to your next gathering.

Special Extra:
To add a simple citrus fan garnish, cut additional orange, lemon or lime into thin slices. Stack 3 slices. Cut slit through slices to center. Twist slices from slits in opposite directions; twist 3 slices together for fan effect.

Make Ahead:
Pie can be stored in refrigerator up to 8 hours before serving.

*Note: I don't think I used any name brand products in this, I think it's just a recipe provided by Kraft foods so of course it uses their products.

Here are a few pics: