Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I have actually been able to find a little free time...and I have the cupboards and kitchen in my house to work with so I have been cooking like crazy! I love it. My last semester student teaching was super super busy so I hardly tried any new recipes. This has been great. Makes me happy. :)

Lately I have been a bit obsessed with cupcakes. I am not someone that eats out a lot...but after I finished student teaching I decided to treat myself to a Cocoa Bean cupcake. Their German Chocolate cupcake is my FAVORITE.  And their cupcakes are just so cute... I now want my own cupcake cafe ...haha. I decided to look online for a good cupcake recipe and I found one! Carrot cake cupcakes...mmm. I found the recipe on this blog: http://half-bakedbaker.blogspot.com/2011/11/best-ever-carrot-cake-cupcakes.html. The title and the pictures of the cupcakes sold me on the idea. Plus, the recipe used 3 cups of carrots, as well as some pineapple and applesauce so it sounded really legit.

They turned out really good! The cake is dense and not super sweet. But its alright because the frosting really sweetens everything up. I love the frosting recipe! The proportions are just right. I will definitely be using it again in the future.

I don't have any cake decorating stuff at my house so I think the cupcakes turned out pretty good considering. :)

General Tso's Chicken

This recipe is awesome! Big shout out to my awesome sister who told me about it! I made it for my family over Christmas and everyone loved it! My brother even said it tasted just like P.F. Changs. Really, try it.

Here is my great phone picture. Enjoy!



http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2008/07/jareds-general-tsos-chicken.html

Muffin Tin Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Alright, you guys, my picture does NOT do the recipe/final product justice.

So, just look at the pictures/recipe on the site I got the recipe from! Here it is: http://kirbiecravings.com/2011/10/cinnamon-pumpkin-bubble-buns.html

They were absolutely delicious! They tasted just like donut holes.....mmmm. And they were super simple as well!

I did not like the glaze/frosting though. I would have gone with a cream cheese or a butter cream frosting. You could probably even do a maple frosting on these...the pumpkin is not too noticeable/overwhelming.

Enjoy!

Banana Cookies with a Neufchatel Cheese/Brown Butter Frosting

I had a few ripe bananas in the freezer, so I decided to make something yummy out of them. I found a recipe for banana cookies here: http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/1894/Recipe.cfm. I altered the recipe a bit. Honestly, it is hard to give amounts because I kind of just add things here and there by sight.

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 T butter
2 small ripe bananas, mashed
5 T Neufchatel cheese (2 in cookies, 3 in frosting)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine brown sugar and butter. Add bananas, cheese, and vanilla. Mix. Then add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until well mixed. I baked them at 350 degrees for around 8 minutes on a cookie sheet. Let stand on cookie sheet for a few minutes until they can easily be lifted off. Frost, and devour!

Frosting:
Brown around 4-5 T butter on the stovetop. In a bowl combine 3 T Neufchatel Cheese with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Slowly add brown butter and stir until combined. Continue to add powdered sugar to taste.

The dough was soooo yummy, and the frosted cookies even better! Absolutely DELICIOUS!

Also, I knew that Neufchatel Cheese was pretty much the same thing as cream cheese but I was curious as to what the specific differences between the two were, so I looked it up. Apparently Neufchatel was originally created in France. The American version is pretty much the same thing as cream cheese, it just contains less calories/fat. It is also more moist (http://www.tasteofhome.com/Cooking-Tips/Ask-the-Test-Kitchen/Neufchatel-Cheese)! Good to know. :)

BBQ Chicken Wrap

I absolutely love L and T Salad and Soup! It is one of my favorite places to grab a quite bite. My absolute favorite item on their menu is their BBQ Chicken Wrap...it is lick your finger good..YUM! For the last year I have been making them at home so I can save a few bucks, and although they don't taste exactly the same, they are delicious!

Ingredients:
-Mission Spinach Wrap Tortillas
-romaine lettuce
-sliced cucumber
-cubed tomato
-slices of red onion
-shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese
-precooked grilled chicken slices
-BBQ sauce (your favorite kind)
-Ken's Ranch Salad Dressing

Recipe:
All of the ingredients for this wrap will be piled on cold. Start with your spinach wrap as your base, and then add some cut up romaine, then the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, cheeses, and chicken. Be careful not to put too much stuff in your wrap, or you won't be able to wrap it up! Then you squirt on some BBQ sauce and ranch. Mix the ingredients together with a spoon and then wrap it up like a burrito! Voilà!

Homemade Bagels

Homemade Bagels:

I just LOVE bagels! I have made them before using this recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-bagels-recipe/index.html) and they turned out awesome! I decided to make them again, and they were delicious. I love making them from scratch because you can make whatever bagels you want. I made cheese/onion bagels and cinnamon raisin bagels this time. Next time I plan on making pizza bagels (covering bagels with pizza sauce and cheese and then popping them in the oven). They take a bit of time, but if you plan it out right you can get stuff done, or have some fun while the dough rises. :)

If you want to add ingredients (raisins, onion, cheese) to your bagels, do it when you add the 4 cups of flour and salt to the yeast.

Colombian style rice with green onions and carrots

I recently went to a Colombian cooking night and learned how to make some awesome dishes. This is a new favorite of mine. I have never made rice this way and I love it!
I contributed my own flair to the recipe and added green onions and carrots into the mix.

Recipe:
1 cup rice (I used medium grain)
3-4 Tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
1-2 minced cloves of garlic
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced and cooked Al Dente

You can make this recipe in a rice cooker, or in a stock pot. Here are the different versions.

Rice cooker: Add minced garlic, and oil to the bottom of the rice cooker. Add rice, and water. Then add salt and sliced green onions. Stir, and then turn on to cook.

Pot: Add oil to the bottom of the pan, then add minced garlic. Brown garlic. Add the water you will need for your rice. Bring it to a boil and then add your salt. Stir. When it is at a full boil, add your rice and green onions. Turn heat down to simmer. When the rice is almost fully cooked, and most of the water has either been incorporated in the rice or evaporated, cover pot with aluminum foil and then a lid. Turn stove to low and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve with carrots boiled in water til Al Dente.


Comments:
This rice is sooo delicious! I can't get enough of it. And it is easy and fast to prepare too! You can put whatever you want into the pot or rice cooker. I added green onions, but you could put in broccoli, carrots,whatever. I prefer to use the rice cooker because I can just start it and forget it.