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Tropical Dream Cupcakes

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

So I had this idea for a cupcake, I had been tinkering with the idea of strawberry cupcakes with Malibu butter cream frosting. I decided that the last time I had a strawberry cupcake it was too strong and fake tasting. Today was the day I decided to come home and give this recipe a try. I have to say I LOVE THEM!!!

Cupcakes

1          Strawberry boxed cake mix
1 c.     Pineapple (used crushed in natural juice, I got about 1/4 cup of just juice out and put the fruit in the mini-processor)
1/3c. Oil
3         Eggs

Mix and bake as per box instructions. I didn’t want there to be stringy pieces of pineapple in my cupcakes so I used the food processor to get more of a puree. I am sure you could do this either way.

Once the cupcakes are cooled frost!

Frosting

6 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 c. of Coconut flavored rum (may take more or less)
1 tbl of clear vanilla
1.5 sticks of butter at room temp
Pinch of salt

Beat the butter with a mixer slowly add powdered sugar alternating with the liquid. I actually started with 4 cups, 1 stick and 6 TBL of rum but it wasn’t enough for the 20 cupcakes (yeah this time I didn’t get 2 dozen). If you thought that wasn’t going to be enough I would use 2 lb sugar, 2 sticks of butter, the same run & Vanilla and do the rest of your thinning with milk.

Now frost those bad boys and ENJOY!!

Tags: buttercream, Cake, cooking, cupcakes, dessert, FOOD, strawberry
Posted in FOOD, From the Kitchen | Comments Off

Lemon Ginger Sorbetto

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Last summer I made Lemon Ginger Sorbetto probably for the same reason I am making it now. I needed a lemon and had to buy an entire bag. Last year I worked so hard scraping the freezing concoction every 30 minutes while this year I cheated and used the ice cream maker. Gotta love technology. This is a very refreshing and pallet cleansing dish. Even my mom liked it!

Really what you need:

1 Cup Sugar
6 Tbl Honey
3 Cups Water
1 Cup Lemon Juice (about 8, but you can measure and I filled in with the bottled stuff)
2″ peice of ginger

What you need to do:

Boil/heat water so it will dissolve the sugar. Add the honey. LET IT COOL! Meanwhile grate the 2″ piece of ginger into a nice little square of cheese cloth. TWIST, TWIST and TWIST to squeeze out 1 TBL of ginger juice. Once the hot liquid is cool (and by cool I recommend putting it in the fridge till it’s COLD) stir it all together and dump into your ice cream maker (follow its instructions) OR put into a shallow dish and scrape with a fork every 30 minutes.

So what’s really fun to do? Hollow out several of the lemon halves, make nice thin strips of lemon peel with a few and save your self a slice or two. Freeze the 1/2 lemons to make cups and serve your sorbetto in that with a lemon twist and mint leaf on the side.

Tags: cooking, dessert, FOOD, lemon, refreshing, sorbetto, summer
Posted in FOOD, From the Kitchen | Comments Off

Blackberry Lemon Shake-Ups

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

I was watching a local station while visiting Nashville last week and over the lunch hour saw some recipes for summer time beverages. Well it’s been hot down there for a while but it was perfect timing for this Indiana girl.

What normally happens is they use crazy ingredients you don’t have, expensive ones you won’t buy or they leave out some sort of detail. Of course here it was the details. So after some testing, I know such a sucky job to have here is what I came up with.

Ingredients
3       oz of Vodka
3.5   oz of sweet and sour -see below (store bought is good too)
1       oz of Blackberry Sangria -see below
4 mint leaves and 1 for a garnish

Pour ingredients into a shaker, SHAKE and pour into tall ice filled glass.

Take the garnish mint leaf and spank it (you know place it in your palm and smack with the other hand) now lay it on top of your drink. You could asd a splash of diet 7UP. ENJOY!!! *This is a revision. At first I was making 1/2 as much, straining and serving in a chilled martini glass. VERY elegant but difficult to balance and it was to good to sip.

Blackberry Sangria
1 cup frozen blackberries
1/2 cup of boiling water
1/4 cup sugar – this can be adjusted to your sweetness likings

Place blackberries and sugar in heat safe container add boiling water. Let sit until dissolved. Place in blender and liquefy. I also used this same recipe with frozen strawberries, KLT enjoyed it.

Sweet and Sour
1 part simple syrup (2 parts water & 3 part sugar)
1 part lemon juice

Tags: FOOD
Posted in Beverages, Everyday Life, FOOD, From the Kitchen, mixology | Comments Off

Casey Moores, Phoenix AZ – Review

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

So we decided that upon our “late” arrival to PHX we’d skip the pizza joint and try an irish pub for dinner. I had discovered a place called Rula Bula but once we got into the shuttle the young male driver asked us what kind of place do we like? He followed it up with “party type bar” or a “local joint”. OH YEAH those are words we are always looking to hear. LOCAL JOINT PLEASE! So we ended up at Casey Moore’s which is an Oyster House. That explains the menu.

It was a pretty dark and local joint, you could just tell by all the people sitting at the bar having a good time.

KLT had the halibut dinner special that came with veggies and rice and I had a burger with swiss cheese and fries. VERY good food. Service however was slow. The menu is full of seafood. There was nothing seemingly Irish about the place and nothing on the menu but beer was Irish. There meals seemed to be well thought out and detailed for a pub. But hey that’s a bonus for us, right?

I am not sure this is the kind of place you’d want to visit during the school year, unless of course you like the college campus bar atmosphere.

Tags: AZ, Casey Moore's, FOOD, Phoenix, PHX, pub, Restaurant Review
Posted in Everyday Life, FOOD, Restaurant Review, Vacation | Comments Off

Banana Paletas

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Last summer I discovered Mexican Popsicles, Paletas while watching TV. There was a restaurant that sold them in any flavor you wanted. Funny that place is in Nashville, TN. Las Paletas. When it’s hot out everyone wants something cool and refreshing but what I discovered was that fruit bars and diet ice cream bars were not all the healthy and were loaded with calories. So I thought I would give this Paletas thing a try.

So easy! You will be glad you took the time to make them. I actually have 3 or 4 molds so that I can make a big batch of them all at once. Today let’s explore Banana Paletas. Bananas are a good source of potassium which is probably important as you wear yourself out working in the blazing heat.

Here is all you need:

Popsicle mold (4-6)
2             ripe bananas
1/4 c     Sugar
1 t.         Vanilla
1 c          Milk (I used 2% cause that is what we like)

Today got lazy and put it all in the blender.

Sometimes I just mash them in a measuring cup and stir until sugar is dissolved. It’s really hard to credit this recipe to anywhere because everywhere has it. So you are asking yourself “Where is the Tammy addition?” Well it’s actually in the assembly of our paletas. What goes with bananas? Chocolate and Peanut butter. So fill the molds about 1/4 full then drizzle in chocolate syrup and softened peanut butter (about 15 seconds for a tablespoon in the microwave). Add more paleta mix and drizzle again if you like. You will not be disappointed.

Tags: banana, cooking, dessert, FOOD, frozen, paletas, popsicle, summer
Posted in Everyday Life, FOOD | Comments Off

Strawberries and Chocolate Shortcakes

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

So I am really far behind. I can’t really come up with a reason except that I just lost my motivation. Suddenly things are picking up around here and instead of doing something constructive I am going to give you a special treat!

I love strawberry shortcake and since NOW is the time to get your fresh strawberries it just felt like a good idea to seek out a recipe for chocolate short cakes. You know nothing goes better with strawberries than whipped cream and chocolate. After making adaptions twice to a recipe I found in FOODTV magazine I finally think I found one worthy of sharing. Next time I will add both baking soda and powder to see if I can get a little lighter taller version. Warning it looks like devils food but is dense.

(more…)

Tags: Cake, chocolate cake, cooking, dessert, FOOD, shortcake, strawberries
Posted in Everyday Life, FOOD | Comments Off

Beef Vegetable Soup

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

With KLT living most of the time in Nashville cooking has just about come to a halt around here. Why cook for just me? Who wants to eat left overs for weeks on end? This has really lead me to research cooking for the purpose of preserving. Most importantly freezing. This has been a great adventure and at least I make an excuse to cook which is something I love and most importantly I actually eat. So Beef Veggie Soup sounded like a good idea to work in before the weather breaks and it becomes too warm for soup.

I started with a large arm roast, yes it was some Charlie.

Season with salt and pepper (or steak seasoning) and brown on both sides using an oven safe pan.

Add you basic vegetables used for making stock Onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and seasonings (bay leaves, more salt and pepper, tyme you pick the mix) and water. Place lid on and put in oven (350 degrees) until meat is tender, depending on size an hour. This one was probably in the oven 2 – 2.5 hours. WARNING: Your house will smell totally awesome and cause hunger.

Strain out veggies and unfortunately discard (feeding them to the dogs is an option) reserve the stock this is the base of your soup. Place meat on plate and cool. Once cool shred the meat or cut into chucks as you prefer. In our soup it’s shredded. Now to make the soup. Here is where your imagination can run wild adding your vegetables. I had an entire bag of frozen mixed veggies that needed a use otherwise I would be cutting veggies at this point. But add what you like. I added extra corn and green beans because those are my favorites. You can also cube potatoes and even add a few tomatoes. Today it’s just the mix, a potato or two and the beef. Noodles of your choice would also be a great option, even barley is nice. Bring your broth/stock to a boil and add veggies, noodles, potatoes and cook until tender. Add your shredded beef and serve.

To store for use later after the soup is cool, I waited until the next day. Place in vacuum seal bags, seal and freeze flat. To serve thaw (place in a bowl of hot water until breakable) and place in pot on med – low heat until warm.

Tags: beef, cooking, FOOD, soup
Posted in Everyday Life, FOOD | Comments Off

Irish Carbomb Cup Cakes

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

Well Deb over at Smitten Kitchen posted this Irish Carbomb Cup Cake recipe she had made these for a friend. Well KLT and I just LOVE IRISH CARBOMBS!!! So of course I have to make these cup cakes. Now I don’t want to ruin it for you but I was disappointed in the over all end product. The cake part is great, the ganache is really wonderful and the Baileys Irish Cream frosting is AWESOME! I just feel that the flavors are not evenly distributed enough. KLT however likes the hidden surprise of ganache. So what’s in store for Tammy? I have 2 thoughts on this matter 1) try to incorporate this into a brownie and 2) make a bundt cake, cut across middle, make mote and stuff with frosting, replace and top cake with ganache — possible to just serve with a Baileys whipped cream on the side.

So here it goes

The cupcake

1 cup Guinness
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Bring stout and butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth and cool slightly. Blend flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl, set aside. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. This made a really dark looking batter and it was thicker than a regular box mix. Fill muffin cups and bake 350 degrees ~17 minutes. Test with cake tester, done when it returns clean.

Once the cupcakes are cool you can start the ganache, but the ganache does need time to cool before putting into the cupcakes. Ganache needs to be cool enough and firm enough to put into a pipping bag.

The ganache filling

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Place chocolate into a heat proof bowl. Heat cream to a simmer and pour over chocolate, stir until smooth. Add butter an whisky stir until smooth. Let cool

Prepare the cupcakes for ganache. Using an apple corer or small cookie cutter cut out the center leaving 1/3 of the cake in the bottom. This is comical because if you have ever aerated your lawn these little plugs look familiar.

Here are my cupcakes some with the holes and others waiting their turn.

Once ganache and cupcakes have cooled it’s time to fill them. Fill the hole with ganache with the aid of a pastry bag, don’t have one Sandra Lee says just a zip top plastic bag with the corner snipped off.

Now you are ready for Frosting. This frosting SMELLS very strong, taste wonderful but is not strong. Just a warning if you were thinking about taking them to work.

3 to 4 cups confections sugar (sift if using older bags of sugar, I don’t bother with new bags)
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (believe me I went heavy)

Using your electric mixer is easiest, mix the butter and sugar until smooth drizzle in Baileys.

Frost your cupcakes!!! Now enjoy!!!

Tags: baking, Cake, chocolate cake, cooking, cup cakes, desert, FOOD
Posted in Everyday Life, FOOD | 1 Comment »

Restaurant Review – La Hacienda Nashville

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Friday night between KLT getting off work and having to be back home to babysit some billing task we decided to run up to the closest mexica restaurant La Hacienda. They had a very large and complex menu which in my opinion is quite common for a Mexican joint. We were there just after 5 pm so we figured we could get in and out quickly and have good service. Well one of those two things did prove to be true. First I have to say that while the chairs chosen for this establishment were probably really cool looking they do not have the structure to be long term. My chair was pretty much a DON’T MOVE in kinda chair. The wait staff appeared to be be all Spanish speaking. Our waiter was neither friendly or helpful. I even tried “gracious” when he filled my water, that didn’t help either. I waited for a long time to get refills and that just made me unhappy. I also don’t appreciate being sat right inside the door where I have to deal with the door constantly opening blowing cold air on me and the 2 lines of people, those waiting to pay and those waiting for tables. We were also on the main walkway meaning that people were racing past us all the time. So about the food.

The salsa was “MEH” it was too ketchupy for my likings. I was able to get some ranch which is always nice. We were not able to get more salsa 1 small dish for 2 people. The food was really good and came with guacamole!!!!!
I did enjoy my chimichanga, it was less fried than I expected. So over all it was quick and relatively inexpensive. I will try it again but will try not to sit inside the door and will hope for a more tentative. The google reviews disagree with my first assessment.

Tags: FOOD, Mexican, Nasville, Resturant Review
Posted in Everyday Life, FOOD, Restaurant Review | Comments Off

Ahhhh Garlic

Friday, February 6th, 2009

I am annoyed at every grocery retailer in town. REALLY ANNOYED! I love garlic and I love to cook with garlic. Now of course there are many garlic options in the grocery store you can buy whole cloves of garlic peeled and in a jar, it’s a great convenience but they tend to go bad prematurely and are a bit expensive. There are even glass containers of already pressed/minced garlic and they come mostly packed in oil. This is a nice substitute to have around and has a pretty good shelf life. Then there is the “FRESH” garlic and the root of all my anger. Every store in town that I purchase garlic from has ripped me off by selling me crap that is growing. When I pick garlic out I tear back some of the paper and look for little green nubs protruding from the cloves this tells me that the garlic is growing and will taste bitter which is not at all what one is looking for in their cooking. I will even smell the head of garlic looking for the foul smell of garlic going bad. So I am relatively picky which one would think comes in pretty handy, but in fact it does not. I have gotten home many times and within two day had my garlic turn to crap. In my last garlic adventure my local Kroger didn’t have any bulk garlic so I bought one of those “organic” packages that contains 3-4 small heads of garlic. HAHAHAHAHH! Upon opening the package I found that two of the heads were molded. I did return this package to the store for a full refund.

And that brings us to the day I bought an OMG amount of garlic. My local warehouse club had these very large packages of garlic upon inspection I found them to be nice tight heads of a fairly decent size, they smelled good and they didn’t appear to be growing. It was ~$3 or so which didn’t seem like to much to pay if I could actually get some decent garlic for a change. But what does one do with this much garlic?

Well step on is to google for proper methods of preserving garlic. Wow! That was a learning experience. First interesting find is that storing garlic in oil is a no-no. Garlic contains bacteria and olive oil is not acidic enough to prevent growth. You can store in oil short term in the fridge but this is not the type of solution we are looking for. You can pickle – ewe! Then there is freezing, roasting, and drying which in fact are the options I have chosen.