Somewhere Over the Rainbow

You never know where you are going to find your next good idea. I am always thinking and when I get some alone time, mostly while driving home from work, I like it quiet. Yes, I know most of you that know me are laughing wildly that I just said I like it quiet, but really, most days on my way home from work, I am in complete silence. No phone, no radio, just me and my thoughts. It is kind of a decompression time for me. Our house is usually a beehive of activity and mostly noisy activity, so those minutes on my ride home are peace, even though it is peace going about 75mph down I-80. I come up with some good ideas on these rides home, but not today.

This idea was found and thought of while in the dentist office. Actually it was in the waiting room while the kids were in with the dentist, but still. So I am sitting there, in my peace (quiet), and I was reading a children's themed magazine when I came across these cupcakes. They were part of a St. Patrick's Day article, but I thought these could be used any time at all to make someone smile.

If you work the batter to the edges of the liner, it WILL work!

Rainbow cupcakes. Hmmm....that's gonna take some work. I often shy away from recipes that are multiple steps or take a lot of effort, but I thought these were so cute that they would be worth it. Sometimes you find things that are just worth the effort and I really do think these are. Everyone that had one smiled. That alone made it worth the effort.

Even though you will fill these up pretty high, they will
turn out perfect!

Here is what I did:
1 box white cake mix, follow the directions on preparing the batter.
1 can of white frosting. I used cream cheese frosting from Aldi, my favorite place
Food coloring
Jelly beans

All of our batter bowls.
She can't wait to lick
those spoons!

Let's keep this as simple as possible.
Prepare the cake mix as it says on the box.
Get out six bowls and scoop equal amounts of batter into each bowl. I used my 1 cup measuring cup and just scooped.
Get out the food colors and add each of the following to a bowl.
Red, easy, it comes that way.
A tiny bit of red plus more of the yellow=orange.
Yellow, again, easy, comes that way.
Green, easy.
Blue, easy.
equal parts of blue and red=purple, easy.

Adding the layers one color at a time.
Be careful not to mix the colors
when you are working the batter
to the edges.

Now line the cupcake pan with paper liners and start with the end of the rainbow, purple. Put a little scoop into each tray and kind of smooth to the edge of the liner. This is the time intensive part.

This is what the batter should be like
when it is to the edge, but NOT mixed
with the color underneath.

Do this step again with the blue, green, yellow, orange and finally the red. Really it wasn't that bad.
Your cupcakes will be pretty full to the top. I was really worried about what was going to happen and if the overflow would be bad, but they turned out perfect!
Bake as the box directs for cupcakes.
Remove from pan to cool.

Perfect for Easter or
anytime you could
use a smile.

Once cooled, I frosted them with the white frosting and topped with the little jelly beans. They were cute, so what the hell, right? You gotta look around the house and use what you have. You'll be amazed at what you can make.

That's it. The kids loved them. Payten had a great time helping by licking off the spoons for all of the colors and my friends at work got a smile out of them too, which made them totally worth the effort.

They're Grrrrrapes!

These are so easy that we made them!

This week was St. Patrick's Day and of course, at work, we have to have some sort of celebration. Every celebration at work always revolves around food. It makes people happy and almost makes them think they are having fun at work. I said almost. The theme was Grazin the Green and it was a potluck where you had to make or buy something green. See the theme here?

I wracked my brain trying to think of something different, something that I haven't brought into work before and something that people will like. Hhhhmmmmmm...what do people like? My friend, Tracy, had written some ideas onto the sign up sheet to spark peoples interest and sure enough, one of those things sparked my thoughts. Green grapes! Grape salad! That's easy, right?

So began my quest for green grapes. I was at Aldi, which I LOVE and do an overwhelming majority of my shopping at, and they only had one package of grapes left, so I thought, I will just run to Dominick's. It's across the street and on my way home. Payten and I run in there after our shopping spree at Aldi, after she conned me into two packages of jelly beans, we finally made it over to the produce. Our Dominick's produce section is very large and they usually have a wide selection of items. I thought this was going to be a quick trip, grapes, in and out. Well two bags of jelly beans later, I am looking at these green grapes, if you can even call them that, and I was thinking, how in the world can they have this on their shelves? I stood there looking around in total disbelief at what they had there for green grapes, rather, brown, moldy, mushy fruit fly infested, grapes, not to mention the price they wanted for these so called grapes.

Take that Dominick's!

We were outta there. Paid for our jelly beans and hit the road. Now I need to make this salad and I need grapes. Thanks to Jewel and my friends at work the next day, I had decent GREEN grapes. I brought those grapes home and on the busiest of days, baked cupcakes, rather Jasen finished baking the cupcakes, I went to yoga and at about 8:45p.m. started my grape salad.

Being a working mom, that squeezes absolutely everything I can into one day, I am always happy to have the EASIEST least time consuming recipes. If it tastes goods, my family likes it, it is simple and quick to make, I love it. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. Let's face it, we all want tasty food that anyone can create and in a short period of time.

Back to my story, so it's 8:45p.m. and I have to whip up this salad.
Here is what I did:

4lbs of green grapes washed and dried. When I say dried, I took a paper towel and blotted them before I picked them off of the stems.
2-8oz packages of cream cheese, soft
(I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
1-16oz container of sour cream
(I used the light sour cream)
2 cups of white sugar
2 tsp of vanilla

The ingredients below are optional. I have never had the salad with these in it, but I assume it would be good.
8oz chopped pecans
4TBS brown sugar

My always willing, taste testers.

OK, wash the grapes.
In a large bowl, mix the soft cream cheese, sour cream, white sugar and vanilla. Beat this very well until it is really smooth. I'm talking smooooooooooooth as gllllaaaaaasssssss. (Jasen and the kids have been saying smooth as glass for everything lately, I guess I have been easily influenced.)

Grape picking, child labor.

Now, blot the grapes on a paper towel as you pick them off the stem and throw the into the, smooth as glass, mixture.

Finally, fold them in, so that they are well covered. You don't want any naked grapes.

Cover and refrigerate before serving.

For the optional step that I don't do:
After you fold the grapes into the smooth as glass mixture, then sprinkle with the brown sugar and pecans and mix again, cover and pop them in the fridge. Again, I don't make it this way, but I assume it would tasted good.

Now one final thing. Auntie Elaine has made her debut to this blog with her heavenly cupcakes, which I also brought to our Grazin the Green event. I owe this recipe to her too. She is amazing when it comes to quick delicious little treats. A+ Auntie Elaine!

I Think It's Called a Qwe-chee.

Let it stand 10 minutes???
But we are starving mom!

Quiche. Sounds fancy, right? That is if you know how to say it. Every single time I hear the word quiche, I think of my good friend Karen. Karen was in the midst of planning her wedding and they were getting ready to choose their menu. There was an array of appetizers to choose from, delicious dinner selections and of course, the lovely cake for dessert. I am sure any of you that have planned a wedding or some large event similar has been faced with the daunting task of choosing what to eat. Karen and Justin went for the tasting event and came home with rave reviews on the food. They loved it and that made her wedding planning a lot easier. Of course, we were all excited to hear how it went and what was good and what did they pick. As any bride to be, Karen was really excited to tell us all about it and she started with the appetizers. She raved about how good they were and that there was this thing on the menu she had never heard of before, mini quiche, but Karen didn't say quiche. Karen said, I think they are called qwechees. Qwe-chee. Yes, qwe-chee. We all sat there with blank faces and all of a sudden it hit me! QUICHE! Oh My God, you are talking about quiche! I immediately burst out laughing and said it's quiche! Seriously, this is one of my all time favorite Karen moments other than at her bachelorette party when we got into the car and she told me to stop driving so fast. We were still in the parking lot, car in park. Karen, I love you and I also love qwe-chee.

Since, I love the quiche, I decided I was going to try and make one. It couldn't be that hard, could it? Just because it has a fancy name doesn't mean it should be that hard. It is only a qwe-chee after all. I have the pie crust, I have eggs, cheese and veggies, why not? I started off as I always do when embarking on something new, I hit the internet for ideas. You know a point of reference, a starting point.

I have my tried and true favorite sites, bettycrocker.com, allrecipes.com, kraftfoods.com and of course good ole google. I google everything, but for this particular endeavor, I went to kraftfoods.com. I got there and they had an array of different recipes. I usually go through a couple different ones and pick and choose things I like from each recipe and meld them into my own. That's what I did for my delish qwe-chee.

Here is what I did:
1 frozen in the pan pie crust, make it easy on yourself, just get the frozen but thaw it out before using
5 eggs
1/3  cup of milk, I almost always use skim, unless the Vitamin D is all we have
1/3 cup of miracle whip
1/2 to 3/4 cup of shredded cheese of choice, I used cheddar
fresh chopped veggies of choice, I used 1/2 of large onion, 1 green pepper, and some broccoli
1/2 lb of sausage, browned you know the kind, like Tennessee Pride or Jimmy Deans in the big roll

Ok first, brown the sausage and when it is almost done, throw in all of the chopped veggies. Mix them up and let them cook for about 3-5 minutes. Just enough so they aren't so crisp.

Beat the eggs, milk and miracle whip until it is all mixed very well.

Stir in the veggies and sausage and then add the cheese.

Now take your thawed crust and poke the bottom with a fork. You don't have to pierce it completely, just poke all around the bottom. I guess it is supposed to help it bake or something, not sure why, but I did it and it worked.

Pour the egg mixture into the crust. Trust me the 5 eggs will fill it. Any more and you will have an over flowing eggy mess on your hands.

No jiggle in the center, golden, this baby is done!

Place it onto a cookie sheet, bake on the center rack for 40-45minutes at 375. You will know this is done when the center is set and it is a golden color. Give it a good jiggle, if the center moves, it's not done, if it is firm, take it out.

Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Happy Qwe-chee eaters!

There you go. Qwe-chee or quiche depending on your mood. We also had fruit on the side and the kids loved it, so that means it was a hit in our house. We will definitely be having qwe-chee again.

Heaven or Hell? You decide.

Just waiting to be devoured.

Alright, it is January 24th and all of my posts have been about sweets. Many of you may be thinking, hasn't she made any New Year's resolution's? Why is she torturing us like this? What is wrong with her? Well my answer is, no, I have not made a single New Year's resolution and again, no, I am not torturing anyone. Nothing is wrong with me and I am just indulging you in some sweet treats. No master plans to make all of my friends fat as I try to stick to my "lifestyle change". (Imagine the sound of an evil master mind's laugh here)

Anyway, this one isn't even mine, so you can all send a big thank you out to Miss Kim, our babysitter. Not only does Miss Kim put up with the crap my children serve up on a daily basis, but Miss Kim comes up with some absolutely terrific recipes. Yes, Miss Kim is a "lifestyle change" killer and I trust my kids with her everyday, thank you very much!

There are times when I pull up and get out of the car to smell from the front walk the delicious aromas of wonderfully delicious things cooking up inside of this woman's house. Christmas time is especially dangerous because she finds time to make cookie platters for all of her friends and neighbors. These aren't your traditional one or two type platters either. She has every different kind of cookie or bar on this tray. I look forward to it every Christmas season and again, the smell when you walk into the house. Aaahhh, pure heaven, until the high pitch shrills coming from my children's mouths viciously snap me back into reality.

Now some of you may find this next recipe from Miss Kim to be pure heaven or on the other end of the spectrum pure hell. I still can not decide for myself on this. I think I am in limbo somewhere in purgatory. On one hand this is so deliciously good, the butter and sugar combating the slight salt, aaaahhhh, pure heaven, right? Then you have to weigh in the addictive nature you will develop after eating just one, pure hell I tell you. So there you have it, right in the middle, purgatory.

Although I feel torn inside between pure heaven and hell, I still plan on making this again and soon. I have all of the ingredients in the pantry and they are just beating down the door trying to get out. So without further a do...Carmel Corn.

Here is what I did:

Who knew styrofoam
could taste soooo good?

2 bags of puffed corn, not popcorn, but that airy puffed Styrofoam type puffed corn
1 1/2 cups of butter
2 cups of packed brown sugar
2/3 cups of Kayro syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

Bring the butter, brown sugar and the Kayro to a rapid boil and then time for two minutes, continually stir it. I actually turn on the timer to be sure and make sure you scrape down the sides to get the sugar granules down. It will be looking frothy by the end of the two minutes.

Then turn off the heat and add the vanilla and the baking soda and mix it good. It will continue to have a frothy look to it.

Have the puffs in a large roasting pan. I actually start off with them split into two pans because it makes the initial mixing easier otherwise it is spilling out all over the counter. (The first time I used the throw away kind and the second time I used two real roasting pans. It made no difference either way.)

Once you have the puffs into the two pans, pour half of the frothy carmel into each of the pans and stir to coat, then combine them all into one pan and give it one more turn.

Bake for an hour at 250, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes.

Spread onto two cookie sheets lined with wax paper to cool, but please, give this a try when it is fresh out of the oven warm. You will want to die it is sooooo good.

So there you have it people. I think this is Miss Kim's own little way of torturing me for all of the crap my kids give her through out the day.

Thank you Miss Kim for everything you do. I truly appreciate your hard work, patience and your super yummy recipes.

Butter Dipped and Sugar Coated, Need I Say More?

I'm on a diet. Wait no, Weight Watchers claims it has to be a lifestyle change, which I agree with, but I still call it a diet. When I have to continually watch every tiny morsel of food I put into my mouth, it's a diet. There are no if ands or buts about that.

It never fails that when I really really crack down on my lifestyle change, I crave sweets. They are my downfall by far. You want a brownie? Sure. You want some ice cream? Sure. You want some candy? Sure. You get the picture. Sweets are my thing, which is why I think I love baking so much. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Baking could be one of my favorite things to do because #1, I love sweets, #2 it makes the house smell soooo good and #3 when you are done, you have this wonderful sweet treat! See, it's great, except for the clean up, which I have already made very clear I hate doing.

Back to the reason for this post. Baking and sweets. Back in the fall, yes, I already know I am behind, I picked up the kids from the sitter and she said try this and held out this little sugar covered ball of baked goodness. Me being me didn't even bother to ask what it was, thank God I don't have any allergies, saw that it was covered in sugar and popped it in my mouth. AAAAAAAAAA tiny rays of sunlight came down from the sky and there I was floating into baked goodness heaven! What was it you ask?

Here they are in all of their sugary delicioius glory.

Mini Donut Holes. YUM! Imagine bite size butter, sugary, cinnaminy heaven. That is what these tasted like. They were so good, I thought I would give them a shot. They couldn't be that hard to make, could they?

My sitter forwarded me the recipe and here I am thinking how could these be better? Well it was fall at the time and what is ready in fall? That's right, pumpkin. Since we had just been to the apple orchard where they have wonderful pumpkin donuts, why not make these donut holes pumpkin too?

So here is what I did:
Donuts
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 can pumpkin, NOT the pumpkin pie stuff in a can
1/2 cup milk, I always use skim
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour

Yummy sugary coating
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the oven to 375 and grease the mini muffin trays. I use the baking spray.

The little Pip making sure
that they are being mixed
properly.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter and nutmeg in a large bowl.
Stir in the milk and mix in baking powder, pumpkin and flour until just combined, so don't go crazy mixing, just until everything is combined. IF YOU ARE NOT A FAN OF PUMPKIN...just leave it out. They are still VERY VERY good!!!
Fill the mini muffin tins half way full.
Bake at 375 for about 15-20 minutes, they will be slightly brown. Don't over bake or they will be dry and no one likes a dry donut hole.

In a separate bowl melt the 1/4 cup of butter for the coating.
In another small bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon for the coating.

Remove the muffins from the pan, dip into the melted butter and roll into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, set onto a cooling rack.

Let cool and serve, but I will tell you, these were absolutely delicious warm!

These are some what time consuming due to the butter dipping and sugar coating, but they are totally worth the work. I am not a fan of time consuming recipes, but if the outcome is delicious, I will do it. These are worth it. I promise.

Give them a try and let me know if you think they were worth the effort.

Nuts for Nuts

Nuts don't always excite me. It's true. I'm not that nuts for nuts, but I was at a little girls gathering for snacks and pizza at my friend Karen's house and the subject of nuts came up. As you can imagine, a kitchen full of girls talking about nuts, there were a few imaginative comments, but these nuts kinda got my interest.

Everyone there that has had these nuts was going on and on on how delicious they are. Since I am not nuts for nuts, I was skeptical. Very skeptical, but like most things, I thought, I will give them a try.

Here is what I did:
In one bowl, whisk an egg white and 1 TBS of water.

In another bowl, mix 1 cup of sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp of salt.

I used 2 bags(1 1/2 cup bag) of pecan halves.

Pour both bags of pecans into the bowl of water and egg white mix. Stir until they are all well coated.

Pour the nuts into the bowl of sugar, cinnamon and salt and stir well until all of the nuts are coated.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and lightly wipe with a paper towel.

Dump the nuts onto the sheet. Spread out on the sheet.

Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, turning the nuts a few times through out baking time.

Done.

I stored them in a ziploc bag once they were entirely cool. Make sure they are cool or else you will get soggy nuts. Soggy nuts in any capacity is a bad thing.

So there you have it. Easy peasy, right?

Now this is where I thank Miss Wendy, Karen's sister. She is the mastermind behind these nuts. She has single handedly ruined my diet with these nuts, as they are one of the most delicious things I have had. Jasen loves them, the kids love them and this is the second time this weekend I have made them. Try them, you will be nuts for nuts too.

P.S. There is not picture of these nuts because they didn't last long enough to photograph them!

Auntie Elaine's Just Like Heaven Cloud Filled Cupcakes

Just Like Heaven Cloud Filled Cupcakes

Two words, two ingredients. Yes, it is true! Two main ingredients. Believe it or not.
Number one, chocolate cake box mix and the 3 eggs, oil and water that the box calls for.
Number two, Cool Whip.

Told ya so!

Give credit where credit is due.
Thank you Auntie Elaine for
giving us these wonderful
cupcakes!

So my sister-in-law, Elaine, who I consider to be one of the hardest working, dedicated mothers I know, has been making these little delights for years. When I say delights, it is an understatement. When I first laid eyes on them, I thought, really, chocolate cupcakes, no frosting, only Cool Whip and those are supposed to be good? You have to be kidding? No frosting? No way!

Boy was I ever wrong. These are delicious in every way. They are super duper simple to make and they taste AWESOME! For real.

Here is what I did:
Make the chocolate cupcakes according to the box. It's can't get much easier.
Let them cool on the wire rack.
When cool, cut the tops out into a cone shape going down into the cupcake.
Reserve the top.
Fill hole in cupcake with a dollop of Cool Whip.
Replace the lid of the cupcake. Do not smash the lid all the way down.
Refrigerate.
Serve cold, they taste best that way.

It wouldn't be baking
if I didn't have a
little taste testing,
bowl licking cutie
at my side.

Period. Donezo.

I thought I would keep this post short and sweet, just like it is to make these, short and sweet. Thank you Auntie Elaine for opening my eyes to these wonderful treats straight from the clouds of heaven!