Cake Pops: Funfetti Cake Ball Edition

Yay for long weekends! Since I have some extra time, let me continue with my girls night recipes! Since my cake pops were so tasty the first time I made them, I decided to try making them again with a different flavor (and without the sticks). So, I decided on funfetti cake mix with funfetti frosting (i.e. vanilla frosting with pastel-colored sprinkles). You can look at the cake pops link for the recipe and instructions, but I wanted to add a few more pictures for clarity (and appeal to the taste buds!).

First, this is what the cake balls look like prior to being covered in chocolate: not too pretty, a bit rough around the edges, although I love that you can see the little multi-colored sprinkles characteristics of all funfetti cakes:

Here they are after having been dipped in chocolate and sprinkles! I think these looked visually more appealing than the red velvet ones...or maybe they just look more fun with the multiple colors:

At any rate, while I LOVED me some chocolate-y red velvet cake pops, the light, almost lemony white funfetti cake balls are my new favorite. I hope you give them a try!

Pomegranate Martini

Hello, fellow food lovers! The next few blog posts will probably be spread out a bit...school has started up again, and this year I am starting my master's degree program, so I am already fairly busy. However, I did want to share a couple of treats that I made for my "Weekend Before School Starts" girls night with my sister, sisters-in-law, and cousin. The first is a first for the blog, since it is a beverage. I give you: the Pomegranate Martini.

I found the recipe here: http://www.martinirecipe.net/pomegranate-martini-recipe.html and am so glad I did! Here are the ingredients:

1 oz vodka (or citrus vodka, if you have it)
1/2 oz Cointreau orange liqueur (or triple sec)
3 oz pomegranate juice
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
lemon slice, for garnish

1/2 cup of sugar (for rim)

First, pour the 1/2 cup of sugar onto a plate. Make sure that the sugar is spread out enough that the entire rim of your martini glass will be covered. Wet the tip of your finger with water and run it around the rim of your martini glass. Set top-side down into the sugar (the sugar should stick to the rim where the water touched). Set aside.

Mix the vodka, pomegranate juice, orange liqueur, and lemon juice. I have read that martinis actually should NOT be shaken, so be sure your pomegranate juice has been chilled for a cold cocktail. Pour the mix into the martini glass.

Finally, chop up a lemon, and add a half slice to the edge of the glass as a garnish.

Drink and repeat (just be sure to keep re-sugaring your guests' martini glasses, as my sister was disappointed when her second drink was mostly sugar-free :p). Taste-wise, I had no complaints from any of my guests and was pleased with my own drink-making abilities! The pomegranate tasted sweet, and was a nice change from your standard cranberry cosmo. And of course, you can't help but feel sophisticated (if a bit tipsy) with a martini glass in hand. 

So grab some friends and some pomegranate juice, and enjoy (responsibly)! 

"Chipotle" Burrito Bowls

I feel almost sacrilegious blogging this, but...today I attempted to make a Chipotle burrito bowl at home. To give you a bit of context here, my husband and I *LOVE* Chipotle. My husband discovered this heavenly burrito establishment when he was still in college and ate there at least once a week (sometimes more), since he lived right down the street from one (he's still a slender guy, too, for all that!). Then, as part of our second date, we went to Chipotle for lunch. I'd only been there once, and hadn't been overly-impressed (I just had a taco salad--lettuce, pinto beans, salsa, cheese--and so didn't see what all the fuss was about). BUT, I wanted to look like a regular burrito-eater to impress him (because clearly, an affinity for burritos is what men look for in a woman), so I ordered a vegetarian burrito: rice, black beans, salsa, sour cream and cheese, and guacamole. And holy crap was that thing good! The rice, guacamole, and tortilla really make the whole meal, and from that moment on, Taco Bell had to watch its back (in terms of my keeping my stomach's affection--Chipotle is not actually making threats against Taco Bell, in case that was unclear).

 Mmmmmmm.......

Since that moment, two things have happened. One, I married the most amazing man in the world. Two, we have made regular visits to Chipotle, celebrating Chipotle Saturday every week, ever since. We always go for lunch, we order the same exact thing each time (he is a chicken burrito lover, whereas I heart my veggie burrito), and the employees know our order and often comp us for our drinks. Once, my husband was out of town during one of our scheduled Chipotle Saturdays. I still went, but sent him an email from my burrito, saying that his burrito was missed. I even attached a picture:

Yes, the frown is made out of guacamole...as an English teacher, I reserve the right to personify my lunch.

ANYWAY, the idea is, Chipotle is a ritual for us, and it felt kind of wrong to attempt to re-create something so sacrosanct. But, we're on a budget now as we save for a house, so I decided to take on the challenge after all. This is a recipe for a copycat Chipotle burrito bowl (vegetarian). I figured that, so long as I wasn't messing with my husband's specific burrito of choice, we'd be ok ;).

So, let's begin with the foundation of our lovely burrito bowl: our rice. I found a recipe for the rice here: Chipotle Copycat Lime Rice. I doubled the recipe, and I would use the following ingredients:
-2 teaspoons of veggie oil for cooking rice (if specified by your package of rice)
-1 tablespoon of veggie oil for mixing at the end
-1 and 1/3 cups of basmati rice
-1 lime (juice and zest)
-1 tablespoon cilantro
-1 teaspoon of salt
-3 cups of water

*Note that I say "would use." I read PAGES of comments about how sticky the rice turned out due to too much or too little water in the basmati rice. I ended up using 4 cups of water (about 2 cups per 2/3 cup of rice), but that was just too much, and my rice ended up a bit mushy. So, I would use 3 cups instead (1.5 per 2/3 cup of rice) to fix that. I also did not zest the lime and used half the juice in my guacamole and salsa when I should have had a separate lime reserved for that purpose. Otherwise, the rice was actually really tasty and close in flavor to Chipotle's!

(Had to add in a quick shot of the lime--the view is gorgeous, but the smell was heavenly!)

To make, cook your basmati rice according to package directions (mine said to rinse the rice, cook the grains in a bit of oil, THEN add in the water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes). Just be sure to use the amount of water specified above. When finished, fluff with a fork and add in the cilantro, oil, lime zest and juice, and salt. Set aside.

Next prepare your salsa. I always get the mild salsa from Chipotle, which is more of a pico de gallo. To make, mix together the following:
-1 large, chopped tomato (or 2-3 roma tomatoes)
-1  medium red onion, finely chopped (I had some leftover vidalia onion, so I used that--still delicious)
-2-3 tablespoons of cilantro (or more or less to your taste)
-1 Jalapeno pepper, no seeds, finely chopped
-Salt to taste
-Lime juice (1/2 a lime, squeezed)

The ratio of tomato to onion in the pico de gallo should be pretty close to 1:1, with perhaps a bit more tomato. And if possible, make the salsa an hour in advance of your meal to give the flavors a chance to meld together a bit prior serving. Set aside.

The last part of the meal that needs to be prepared is the guacamole. If you have an avocado masher, this is extra fun (it's like a mini-potato masher, so it fits inside your little prep bowl), but a fork will do just fine if not. You will need the following:
-1 RIPE avocado
-cilantro to taste
-lime juice (the other 1/2 of the lime from your salsa)
-garlic powder to taste
-salt to taste

The star of the show, of course, is the avocado. Make sure it is ripe, or it will be impossible to mash and make into a smooth guacamole. Use the avocado masher or fork to mash into a green mush (I know it doesn't sound appetizing, but guacamole is another one of those foods I would take with me if I were stranded on an island. It is also a source of good-for-you fat, so love the green mush, people!). Squeeze in your lime juice, then add as much cilantro, garlic powder, and salt as you need to flavor it to your liking. In fact, you may want to add them one at a time and taste your guacamole between each addition. Because you need to be sure that it is flavored sufficiently. This is definitely not an excuse to eat additional guacamole. Ahem.

Finally, heat your beans on the stove (I simply bought a can of black beans from the store--you could absolutely cook up a batch of your own if you were so-inclined, however!) and shred some fresh cheese of your choosing (I used colby jack). Then, assemble in the following order:

-Rice (about 1 cup)
-Black beans (about 1/2 cup)
-Salsa (about 1/2 cup)
-Cheese (about 1/4 cup)
-Guacamole (all of it!!!--ok, just kidding. But at least 1/3 cup)
-Sour cream if desired

I had to dive into this right away, and it was worth all the prep work--my husband even said it was really good, and this is one dish where I KNOW he would tell me if he disliked it! Of course, nothing will ever beat Chipotle's burritos for either of us, but if you're looking to save some money by eating in and still enjoy the delicious-ness that is Chipotle, give this recipe a try. Enjoy! :)

Panko-Breaded Tilapia in Wine-Butter Sauce

Today was a great day for cooking! I honestly didn't much care what my main dish today was--I just needed something to go along with my cheesy broccoli rice casserole. I had planned on just making salmon (it's basically the only fish I have ever made well--until now, of course), but the cheapest cut I could find at the grocery store was $10. Right next to the salmon, however, was a comparably-sized filet of tilapia for $4, and it was pre-breaded with panko bread crumbs. I bought the tilapia and figured I would find something to do with it later.

Then, while I was waiting for the cheesy broccoli rice casserole to cook, I located this recipe for Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce. And, since the grocery store was already kind enough to bread my fish for me, I really only needed the sauce ingredients. But, in case you are not so lucky, I will include ingredients for both the fish and the sauce below:

-2 filets of tilapia, about 4 ounces each (or, one big one that you can cut in half yourself, as I did)

-1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs (these are found in the Asian foods aisle)

-1 egg (lightly beaten)

-1/2 cup of flour

-1 lemon (or teaspoon of lemon juice)

-1/4 cup white wine (and extra to serve along with the meal ;) )

-2 tablespoons of butter

-Salt to taste

-Parsley (fresh or dried) to garnish

First, if you need to bread your fish, arrange your flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs in three separate bowls. Dip your fish filets into the flour, then the egg, and finally, the bread crumbs.

Next, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat until melted. Add your breaded tilapia filets and cook for three minutes. Flip the filets and cook for three minutes on the opposite side. At this point, my broccoli casserole was still happily cooking away in its 350 degree oven, so I took the tilapia (now beautifully-browned on both sides) and placed it, skillet and all, into the oven to finish cooking the inside of the fish. My two filets took about two minutes to finish cooking, but you basically just want to make sure your fish flakes easily with a fork--then you know it is done!

Finally, plate the fish and prepare the sauce. In the skillet (now empty of fish), mix together the wine, remaining butter, lemon, salt, and one teaspoon of flour (to thicken the sauce). Let the ingredients simmer for a minute to meld the flavors and cook off a bit of the wine, then pour over the top of your tilapia filets. Sprinkle with parsley if desired, and serve! The fish and the sauce were beautiful together: buttery and melt-in-your-mouth tasty. And, I can now proudly say that I know how to make TWO types of fish! So if you haven't already, give tilapia a try--with a nice butter sauce and glass of white wine, it is impossible NOT to enjoy!

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole

And now, for a culinary stroll down memory lane! Every time my family celebrated a holiday with my dad's side of the family, my Aunt Gayle would make this DELICIOUS cheesy broccoli rice casserole dish. I cannot tell you what any of the main dishes or other side dishes were from any family gathering I have attended--but I can honestly say that I remember looking forward to eating that casserole every single year.

My sister has tried to contact my aunt for the recipe--and I know at one time, we did have it--but we lost our original copy, and my sister has yet to hear back from my aunt. So, I decided to track down a recipe that at least seemed close to see what I could accomplish. And so I give you: Broccoli Cheese Casserole. Note that I modified the ingredients to make the recipe resemble my aunt's version:

• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 can of chicken stock
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) package chopped frozen broccoli, thawed (again, I like the microwave steamers--minimal effort and better taste!)
• HALF of a 10.5 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
• HALF of a 10.5 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 (16 ounce) jar cheez whiz
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then get your rice going. The package instructions of the rice will tell you to cook the cup of rice in 2 cups of water. Instead, I cooked mine in the can of chicken stock to give it more flavor. Following the package instructions, I brought the chicken stock and rice to a boil, then simmered it for about 12-13 minutes, until the liquid had been fully absorbed.

While the rice is cooking, chop your onion and saute until transparent in the tablespoon of butter. Pop your broccoli steamer bag into the microwave and cook according to package instructions (about 5.5 minutes).

Finally, mix it all together: the two half cans of soup, the cheez whiz, the milk, the onion, the rice, and the broccoli. Add salt and pepper as desired, then place in a 9 x 13 casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes (or until bubbly and slightly golden on top).

You might want to let it sit for a few minutes once it is out of the oven to allow the rice to absorb a bit more liquid (as you can see, the addition of the milk has the casserole looking a bit soupy below):

But after sitting out for a few minutes, the casserole thickens! Now, this recipe tasted VERY close to my aunt's, so I was very proud. However, it wasn't exact. If I were to make it again in the future, I would add more onion, cut back on the cheez whiz a bit, and just add a whole can of the mushroom soup instead of the half can of each. I might even add an extra half cup of rice, since it was so wonderfully creamy. Regardless, it was warm, cheesy, and delicious (my husband even went back for seconds, which is how I gauge the yumminess of any given recipe), and so I declare the recipe a success. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Banana Bread French Toast with Mashed Potato Pancakes

Growing up, we HATED eating up the leftovers from the previous night's dinner. Now in part, this is due to the fact that neither my sister nor I could cook all that well at the time--it was enough to get through the meal the first time, let alone face it twice. Of course, had I known that you could make the recipes I am about to share with you, we would have skipped the original meal altogether!

First, I had a few remaining pieces of Sarah's Banana Bread leftover from about a week and a half ago. As you can well imagine, the bread was starting to get a bit stale--so, I decided to make some banana bread french toast! To make this, you will need the following ingredients:

-Stale banana bread (week old or so)--sliced 

-2 eggs, lightly beaten

-Splash of milk

-Pinch of salt

-1 tablespoon of sugar

-1 teaspoon of cinnamon

-1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

-1 tablespoon butter

First, mix all ingredients except for the butter and banana bread in a shallow dish (I used a pie tin). Place the slices of banana bread face down in the egg mixture and allow to sit for 3-5 minutes. This will give the bread some time to soak in the egg mixture. Flip the bread over and allow the other side to soak in the mixture for about three minutes as well. In the mean time, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Finally, place the slices of banana bread into the skillet. Let them sit for 2-3 minutes, and when they are lightly browned on one side, flip the slices over. Cook for an additional minute or two, until the opposite side is brown. See below:

 When both sides are browned, remove from the skillet and plate!

Mmmm...buttery, eggy, banana-y goodness! Serve with powdered sugar. You can choose to use syrup, but between the bananas, chocolate chips, and sugar, this dish is already pretty sweet. My husband was not a huge fan (as I mentioned in the banana bread blog entry, he likes banana bread--just not bananas). According to him, "It was too banana-y; [the french toast] accentuated the banana-ness." I will take that as a compliment!

The final, delicious leftover is pictured below with two cheesy, mashed potato pancakes, which I will explain next:

Now onto the potato pancakes! I found the idea for these watching a Rachel Ray show and checked out the recipe online. I usually read through the comments at the bottom of any recipe (people often comment about their challenges while making the recipe and ways to improve upon it), and the comments on this one left me a bit apprehensive. Most of the posters struggled with the potato pancakes falling apart, just staying mushy and not solidifying, etc. and, having failed to make a tasty boxty (an Irish potato pancake) in the past, I was worried I was going to waste my time and potatoes this morning. However, I am proud to say (and my Irish ancestors should be as well), that I made AWESOME potato pancakes this morning. And soon, you will too.

A quick word on this recipe: these are not traditional potato pancakes. They are not made from shredded potatoes destined from the start to become potato pancakes, and they have no flour. Otherwise, they are potatoes, cake-shaped, and made in a pan, so they still count! Here is what you need:

-2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes (I used my pierogi filling extras from an earlier blog entry)
-1 egg
-1 tablespoon butter

That's seriously it. How easy, right?

First, mix together your mashed potatoes and egg. You ideally want to use leftover mashed potatoes, because you want them to be cold and a bit stiff for the recipe. Freshly-cooked potatoes are fine too, just give them some time to cool off in the refrigerator before you use them.

Next, melt your butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Using a large spoon, gather up a heaping spoon's worth of mashed potatoes and drop them in the skillet. Flatten the potatoes into a potato patty about an inch thick, then repeat for another two patties (or as many as will fill your skillet, if you chose to make yours smaller). I was able to get 5 potato pancakes (about 3-4 inches in diameter) total out of my mashed potato/egg mixture.

See? They just look like little heaps of mashed potatoes:

Here is the key to perfect mashed potato pancakes: once they are flattened, put the lid on your skillet and leave them alone for 8 minutes. I am not kidding on this. Do NOT NOT NOT try to move them at all during those 8 minutes. Read my blog, facebook stalk someone, reflect on the mysteries of life, but leave the pancakes alone! If you try to move them before the 8 minutes are up, they will not be able to crust up on the bottom and become pancake-y, and you will have a weird, half-pancake/half-mashed potato combo that will not impress anyone. So leave them be.

Once the 8 minutes are up, however, get a spatula and carefully flip the mashed potato pancakes over. Note that the top and middle of the cake are all still mashed potato, however--and, hence, not solid yet--and set the pancakes back into the skillet carefully to cook the other side. I stupidly forgot to check the time once I flipped them back over, but I know they cooked for at least 6 minutes on the other side too. This is how the potato pancakes should look after the flip--just look at that color!

If you want to cook your pancakes in several batches, or just have several dishes to make, you can always keep these warm in the oven (I technically made these and then went back and made the french toast). Just preheat your oven to 200 degrees and place your pancakes on a rack so that the air can circulate around them (keeping them crisp and not soggy).

When you're ready to eat, plate them and serve with a little side of sour cream or applesauce. My husband wasn't a fan of the french toast, but he did eat three of these and loved them. So give them a try, and remember that you CAN enjoy your leftovers!

Pierogies with Kielbasa

For a couple of weeks now, I have been wanting to try making pierogies from scratch. In part, this is because my husband and I are both part Polish, and I thought he might enjoy a more authentic meal...and in part, it's because my younger sister has fallen in love with Polish food, and she never comes to visit me. So I figured this might entice her to come over, Mickey Mouse style:

We shall see if it works. I found a recipe for potato, onion, and cheese pierogis here: Pierogies and invited Sarah over to cook with me and end the night in a double date dinner with my husband and her boyfriend. (The night turned out even better when her boyfriend offered to make us the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, recipe care of America's Test Kitchen. And holy cow were those ever good! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Dinner before dessert.)

Ingredients: 

Dough (we doubled the amount for extra pierogies)

-2 cups of all-purpose flour (and extra for rolling out the pierogies)

-1/2 teaspoon of salt

-1 large egg

-1/2 cup of sour cream, plus extra to serve with the pierogi

-1/4 cup butter, softened and cut into pieces

-Extra butter for frying

-1/2 of a medium Vidalia onion

Filling

-Butter for frying

-other 1/2 of vidalia onion

-1/2 bag of red potatoes, peeled and cubed

-4-8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

-Salt and pepper to taste

And so it begins. First, prepare the dough. To get the best consistency, you want your 1/4 cup of softened butter really REALLY soft. To the point that it should melt if you just look at it the wrong way. Since we doubled our batch, we saw firsthand how big of a difference the consistency of the butter made. In our first batch, the butter was soft, but still very solid and kept its shape when cut into pieces. In the second batch, the butter was practically oozing out of its wrapper. The result was that the butter in the first batch still had tiny little butter chunks in it, did not mix as well with the dough, and made the dough dry. We made the mistake of adding water, which created a sticky mess when it came time to roll the dough out. The second batch, however, rolled out smoothly and with no problems. So let that butter soften!

Anyway! To make your dough, mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg in a separate bowl, then add to the flour and salt and mix together. Next, add in your sour cream and REALLY SOFT butter, mixing until both ingredients are fully incorporated and the dough loses some of its stickiness. Wrap your dough in plastic and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

While the dough is refrigerating, make your pierogi filling. First, whip up a batch of mashed potatoes: place your peeled and cubed potatoes in salted, boiling water and boil until soft. Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Here is where you can add your personal favorites: Sarah will add anything from cream cheese to sour cream in her potatoes. I typically just add butter and milk to mine (though I would like to try some cream cheese in them when we make them again in the future). You could also add in chives or bacon bits. For this recipe, we added 1/2 the vidalia onion sauteed in butter (until it turned translucent), about 6 ounces of cheese, and a stick of butter. The potatoes were smooth enough that we didn't need milk (and didn't want the potatoes to get too liquidy, because that could make wrapping them in the dough more difficult). A little salt and pepper later, and we put the potato filling in the refrigerator to cool, as well.

Next, assemble the pierogies! If you followed my advice on the soft butter, this will go by fairly quickly. Simply flour an even surface (we rolled out our dough directly on the counter), flour a rolling pin, and roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness or thinner (just make sure you can get the dough back off the counter again!). Using a glass or cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles, approximately 3 inches in diameter. With our pain-in-the-rear-end dough, we were able to cut 12 circles. With our awesome, non-sticky dough, we were able to get at least 15.

Place a tablespoon's worth of the potato filling in the center of each dough circle and wet the edges of the dough with either egg or water. Then, press the edges of the dough together around the potato mixture, using a fork to help seal the edges. Complete this step for all dough circles; they should look similar to the ones below:

Finally, on to the cooking! Pierogies are cooked in two steps: boiling and sauteing. Fill a medium sauce pan with water and bring to a boil. Salt the water, then add in about a third of your pierogies (so you don't overcrowd the pan). The pierogies will sink to the bottom, and when they float back up to the top, they are done. They will look sticky and glisten at this point, like below:

When you have finished boiling all of your pierogies, it is time for the final cooking step: the saute. Melt some butter in a large skillet (and you can choose to add the other 1/2 of your vidalia onion here for a little added flavor) and again be sure to cook in batches so as not to overcrowd the skillet. Add in enough pierogies to fill the skillet, and cook over medium heat until lightly browned on each side (our cooking times varied thanks to my electric stove, but by the end, it didn't take more than a minute per side to brown the pierogies). You may need to add an extra bit of butter here and there between batches to keep the pierogies from sticking to the pan.

And you're done! We chose to serve our pierogies with kielbasa. See below:

Close-up of browned pierogies (no kielbasa):

And with kielbasa:

If you or someone you love is Polish (or if the idea of stuffing mashed potatoes inside of pasta and cooking it in butter sounds pretty tasty to you), then give homemade pierogies a try. Thanks again to Sarah for being an awesome fellow cook, and as always, enjoy!