Hi Hat Cupcakes

I saw this entry on Bakerella and I just had to have an excuse to make them!

I'm sure hers turned out way better than mine did.

These would have been perfect if the sugar had dissolved.

Unfortunately it did not and the marshmallow cream was grainy.

This is the recipe I used from Martha Stewart.

This topping was a pain because you have to use a hand mixer for 12 minutes while your bowl is over a pot of water. Not so fun!

I made a box mix of german chocolate cupcakes because I was strapped for time.

Just pipe the topping on and put in fridge to help stiffen.

Don't they look yummy? You'd never know they were grainy :)

At least they were pretty!

No worries, these did not go to waste. My daughter loves them and the rest of us just took the tops off and ate them with the german chocolate frosting!

I can imagine how good they would be if the topping had turned out correctly :)

Pumpkin Mini Cupcakes

We made these mini cupcakes today.

To see where I copied these from and for a tutorial on these cute cupcakes,

check out this blog "I am baker"

I used a chocolate cake mix & cream cheese frosting.

Homemade Apple Pie

Crust

(I triple this recipe to make a top and bottom crust because I like a thicker crust. If I only make one, then I do one and 1/2 times the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!®" (I use this in all my baking and I LOVE the flavor!!)
• 3-4 tbls cold water

Directions:

1. In bowl, combine flour and salt.
2. Cut in "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!®" until crumbly. (Use a pastry cutter or 2 butter knives)
3. Sprinkle with water, 1 tbls at a time, mixing until dough is just moist enough to hold together.
4. Form into a ball.
5. On floured surface, roll dough into a circle.
6. If doing a lattice top, repeat with half the dough and cut in strips.
7. I always brush my pie with milk to give it a glazed look.

Apple Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 6 cups sliced, peeled apples
• 1/3-2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp cornstarch (mixed with 2 tbsp water)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cloves

Directions:

1. In large pot add apples, sugar, water and lemon juice.
2. Cook apples just until boiling.
3. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until fruit is almost tender, around 5 minutes.
4. Mix water and cornstarch & add to filling.
5. Cook until thickened and bubbly.
6. Mix in seasonings.
7. Place in pie shell and cook until crust is done.

This is what the filling looks like done.

And this is the final product.

It's best warm with vanilla ice cream.

Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta and Beans)

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (any size, depending on how much you want) artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
• 1 can (28 oz.) tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1.5-2 cups cooked ziti pasta
• 1 can (15 oz.) Cannellini Beans, drained
• grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In skillet, heat olive oil. Add onion, garlic & cook until tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in artichoke hearts, tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add pasta and beans. Heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in Parmesan cheese.

French Toast w/ Apples & Bananas

Make french toast any way you like.

We use eggs, milk, cinnamin, sugar & vanilla.

Fried Apples & Bananas recipe:


Ingredients:

• 1 apple, sliced into really thin wedges
• 1 ripe banana, sliced
• lots of butter/margarine
• sugar
• cinnamon

Directions:

1. Melt butter in skillet and cook apples until they are soft.

2. Add bananas, sugar & cinnamon.

3. Cover and cook until bananas are carmelized. Flip mixture occasionally.

Use as topping for pancakes, french toast, waffles, crepes or whatever else you'd like.

Lemon Lush (or any other flavor you want)

from the cookbook of Melody Olayan

Ingredients:

• 2 sm. boxes Lemon Instant Pudding (or any flavor you want)
• 3 C Milk
• 9 oz. Cool Whip
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 C Powdered Sugar
• 1 C Flour
• 1 Cube Butter (softened)

Directions:

Crust--Mix flour, and butter. Pat into 9x13 pan. Bake 15 minutes @ 350, or until the surface looks dry. Let Cool. Note: I double the crust because I like it thicker.

Lush--Blend cream cheese, and powdered sugar until well mixed. Fold in 1 C cool whip. Spread over crust. Beat milk and pudding for 2 minutes. Pour over cream cheese mixture. Top with remaining cool whip. Refrigerate until serve. Add some decorative lemon peel curls, lemon wedge candy, yellow sugar sprinkles. or anything really.

**You can use any flavor pudding and then put any topping on that. Pictured above is Chocolate Lush with Heath Bar topping.

Cafe Rio Tacos

recipe from the cookbook of Erika Olayan

Cafe Rio Pork

Ingredients:

• 3-5 lbs pork loin or roast
• 1 1/2 cans Coke Classic (I use Caffine free diet coke & it tastes the same to me)
• 1C Sugar
• 7oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce-or plain for a sweeter sauce (my SIL Janel uses enchilada sauce as an alternative & I like it because it's not spicy)
• 1 tsp dry ground mustard heaping
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Directions:

Remove the chilies (throw away) from adobo sauce. Add all ingredients except pork in a blender. Rinse can of adobo sauce with coke to get all of the sauce out. Blend in blender until well mixed--place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it. Cook for 4-6 hours on high or 7-9 on low. Turn roast over halfway through. Cook until tender and can be shredded, shred and put back in sauce.Eat with white corn tortillas!

Addictive Cilantro Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 C Sour cream
• 3/4 C Mayo
• 1 Bunch Cilantro
• 1 package Ranch Dressing Mix
• 4 Tbsp. salsa Verde
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 1 Juice of lime

Directions:

Just put it all in a blender and mix it all up.