Tomato Basil Soup With Greek Yogurt

I shared a photo of my homemade tomato basil soup in my instagram feed (Kendra_Pryor) a few weeks ago and several folks asked for the recipe. I’m seeing a trend with recipe request on instagram so it looks like I need to do a better job of paying attention to what I’m doing while I cook so I can share with y’all!

Let me forewarn you I’m a wing it kind of gal when I cook. I’m awful about writing down recipes while I cook but this one is pretty straight forward so you should be all good!

 

Tomato Basil Soup With Greek Yogurt

 

Gather Your Ingredients:
2 cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup of freshly grated cheddar cheese (skip the preshreadded cheese folks go for the block and shred yourself)
1 cup of plain Fat Free Greek yogurt
Shredded parmesan cheese for garnish
2 28oz cans of diced tomatoes 
1 cup fresh basil, chopped (check your local Asian super market for basil it’s cheaper than buying in your supermarket)
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp of olive oil
2 tsp of oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of Lawery’s garlic salt (you can use any brand you have on hand but Lawery’s is yummy)

 

Directions:
Over medium heat in a large soup pot add olive oil, chopped onion and allow to cook until soft and translucent. Add chopped garlic and stir into your onion/oil mixture, sauté for 2 minuets. Add tomatoes including juice, add chicken broth. Stir in basil, Lawery’s garlic salt, oregano, salt and pepper. Cover and allow to simmer for 12-15 minuets. Tate as you go! You may find that you prefer more pepper or salt. Add Greek yogurt and shredded cheese and stir until well blended. You can stop here if you like chunky tomato soup or continue if you like a smooth soup.  Use a food processor or immersion blender to puree soup. The longer you puree the smoother it will be. Garnish with chopped basil and shredded parmesan

This is yummy and super easy! After you make this you will no longer buy the canned stuff. It’s just too simple to do it on your own! I love to eat mine with a spring salad or a veggie wrap!

Sometimes I Try to be Like Martha Stewart

Yes it’s no secret sometimes I try to be like Martha! Just like Martha. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail miserably.

This time I failed…….

I failed miserably.

 

One of my co-op buddies sent out Martha’s Mineola Tangelo Buttermilk Scone recipe since we had tangelos in our co-op basket.

 

 

Martha’s scones looked like this……

You know beautiful in everyway!

 

My scones looked like this…….

You know nothing like Martha’s!

When I finished the recipe I looked at my bowl of goop and realized I was NOT going to be able to roll it into a ball like Martha said.

I started added flour, and more flour, until it resembled cake batter. I decided to pour it into muffin tins and cross my fingers. 

Well they're definitely not scones but they turned out pretty tasty. Kent said they were his favorite baked item I’ve made. Not sure if that should make me happy or sad.

I guess scones are back on the list of things I’ve never made.
Sorry I failed you Martha. I hope you still love me.

 

 

I’m linking up with:
-Serenity Now

Pantry/Fridge Staples- A Few of my Faves

Our shopping list is always a mix bag but each week we hit up 2 locations no matter what.

1.  Ranch 99 Market

This is a local Asian super market in Plano, Texas. Kent and I stop here once a week to stock up on meat, tofu, Asian greens, and soymilk. Kent is a superb cook and does most of the cooking during the week. That used to be my job. I’m starting to miss it a little but as my late, late grand pappy use to say “If it ain’t broke done fix it!” Just kidding he didn’t say that….or maybe he did. I never met him. Oh and ps…the owners of the grocery store don’t like you taking pictures of the goodies while your inside. I found that out the hard way.

Kent usually makes a big pot of soup Sunday evenings that I eat for lunch during the week. He makes his own stock out of bones or meat we buy at 99 Ranch and throws in a bunch of leafy greens, garlic, and ginger…..yum!

I’m a member of a veggie/fruit co-op (to read more about our co-op click HERE). Our group shops for produce every 2 weeks. We usually have more than enough produce to last us till the next cycle. We plan our dinners around what we get in our co-op basket.

2. Target

I don’t recommend going to Target for the bulk of your shopping. Their prices are kind of high BUT for quick trips we always hit of Target. Walmart is just a beating! I have to mentally prepare myself to go in that store.

Every week I make sure I have these items! They’re my must haves….along with a few others I didn’t get a picture of.

1. Lite Coffee mate creamer and coffee- Well you know me and my obsession with coffee.

2. Kashi Almond honey bars- I eat them for dessert or when I’m in a rush and need something to fill my belly. They are sooo good!

3. Almond milk: It’s creamy and good with cereal.

4. Peanut butter & Co: I usually get their cinnamon and raisin swirl peanut butter but they were out so I went it white chocolate this time around. It’s good but I like my norm better. This is kind of my special treat! Wish I could eat it all the time but I’m one of those people that gains weight just thinking about eating bad foods. When I’m craving a little something special I’ll eat some of this with an apple. 

5. Chobani Low Fat Greek Yogurt: It’s my favorite Greek yogurt! I love to eat with fruit that we get in our co-op basket. When I want a real treat I mix in a little cinnamon, chopped walnuts and drizzle a little honey over the top. YUM!

6. Weight Watchers Cream Cheese: I spread this over a wasa cracker. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll drizzle a little sriracha hot sauce over the cream cheese for a little kick.

 

Few other items I always have on hand:    

   

    

 

Your Turn: Besides the basics (eggs, fruit, veggies, meat, flour…you know what I’m saying) what are a few items that you always have on hand?

Links in this post:
What is Veggie/Fruit Co-op
Loving Co-op

Best Banana Pudding EVER

Take a tiny break from your diet and give this a go. I promise it’s worth ALL the calories and hours you’ll need to spend at the gym to make up for it! It’s a little piece of heaven right on your plate!

 

I made this for dessert on Christmas, hence the tree in the background.

Ingredients

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tips
-It needs time to setup so it’s best if you make it the night before and top it with Chessmen cookies before you serve.

-The measurements are not exactly per box/container size. If you want a more traditional banana pudding consistency use 1 box small box of pudding, 1 container of whipped topping. It taste great this way but it’s not the true nature of the recipe. I’ve tried it both ways and I like the exact measurements of the recipe the best but could see how this could be too rich for some.  

-I you want a more moosie (yes I made that up) dense consistency make sure to follow the recipe exactly! You’ll have extra pudding and whip topping left over. 

-It makes a HUGE serving so be prepared to share unless you have a family of 15!

I found this recipe HERE

Super Simple and Delicious

Alrighty all you last minute non cookers I have a dessert recipe that’s easy to make, easy on the pocket book, and taste like a little slice of heaven on a plate.

Enter the Dump Cake!

I’m sure you’ve heard of a dump cake there’s dump cake recipes all over the place! I’m not really sure why it’s called a dump cake. Kent said it reminds him of bread pudding and I think it’s more like a cobbler.   

Trust me it’s delicious!
Kent who is not a fan of sweets loves this and I’ll pretty much eat anything with sugar in it but I promise it’s good!

Here’s my take on the dump cake, clobber, bread pudding thing!

 

Ingredients

-1 can (21 Oz.) Apple Pie Filling

-1 can (15 Oz.) Crushed Pineapple

-1 box Yellow

-1 sticks Unsalted Butter

-1 teaspoon of cinnamon

-Orange Zest (roughly 1 teaspoon)

-½ cup of Chopped Walnuts (or pecans)

-Optional: Ice cream or Whip Cream to be used as a topping. If you don’t want to make your own whip cream go for the extra creamy whip cream in the can that you find by the yogurt. It’s so much better than Cool Whip.

Instructions

1. Pour apple pie filling and crushed pineapple (including juice) into a 9”X13'’ baking dish. Using a zester zest about 1 teaspoon of orange zest into the pie filling mixture. Stir together. If you do not have a zester use the small side of your cheese grater. This was something I added as I went along so I did not measure but 1 teaspoon should do the trick. Orange zest is very strong so you only need a little bit.

2. Pour dry cake mix in a bowl and add cinnamon. Use a whisk to incorporate cinnamon into dry cake mix. I decided to add the cinnamon as I went along so I did not measure the exact amount of cinnamon I put in. If you think it needs more than a teaspoon go for it but don’t go too crazy. You just want a hit of cinnamon in each bite.

3. Sift cake mix over the top of the fruit mixture. If you do not have a sifter lightly dust the dry cake mix over the fruit mixture. You want to avoid large clumps of dry mix so when you bake it you don’t get balls of uncooked cake mix.

4. Slice thin pieces butter and distribute over the surface of the cake mix. The butter will melt and incorporate into the dry cake mix.

5. Sprinkle nuts over the top and pop it in the over. Again this is something I added as I went along so I did not measure the exact amount of nuts that I added. If you think it needs more than ½ a cup go for it. If you like nuts don’t skip this part! The nuts add a nice texture and crunch!

-Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on how crunchy you want you topping to be.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

*******************
Read Me!

If you’re going to be home during the holiday and need something to do our Sunday photo chit chat is in full swing so you can catch up on those if you’ve missed them 

Click HERE to see last Sunday’s vlog.

I’ll also be reposting some how to decorate your tree clips that I posted last year.

I’ll have them up on Friday so you can watch them if you want to.
I’m sure there will be a lot of tree decorating going on this weekend.
I’m a bit of a tree decorating nut and have a few tricks up my sleeve!

Homemade Mint Mocha Coffee

Watch out Starbucks I’ve got a brew that will put your mocha drinks to shame!

It’s minty, it’s chocolaty, and it’s delicious.

Just kidding, just kidding, Starbucks! I will forever sing your praises! I LOVE you! But this little concoction I came up with is quite delicious.

 

I had some mint chocolate chips left over from a cookie recipe and had a ah-ha moment.

It went a little something like this (in words of Joey from Friends)
“Coffee…..good, mint…….good, chocolate……gooooood!”

 

Bam! My little mint mocha coffee was born!

 

 

 

Yes you can still make this even if you don’t have a Keurig! I would recommend that you use a bolder coffee so the flavor of the chocolate does not over power the coffee too much.

 

 

Add a tiny bit of creamer (I use non dairy) and give it a swirl.

That’s it…..super easy!

I bet it would be delicious iced as well.

Think about all the things you can do with this….

*Chocolate chips
*Carmel Chips
*Peanut butter chips….humm not sure how peanut butter coffee would taste.
Worth a try. 

 

Also if you’re a fan of fall spices (pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg…..) add a few dashes to your coffee grounds the next time you make a pot of coffee. If you have a Keurig I just put it right in my coffee cup before I brew my cup…..yum-yum!

 

Linking up with:
These fabulous parties!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Streusel Topping

 

 

Ingredients

-Cream Cheese Filling-
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
***************************

-Streusel Topping-
4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped pecans

***************************

-Muffin Batter-
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
(or 1 t each nutmeg, clove, allspice, ginger)

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 can (15-16oz) canned pumpkin
1/3 cup canola
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.

2. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.

3. For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

4. For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.

5. Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.

6. Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

 

What to Do With Bad Bananas

 

Bake banana cupcakes with honey cinnamon cream cheese frosting…….

 

then send them to work with your spouse so you don't eat them all!   

Banana Cupcakes
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large ripe banana (or almost 1 cup)
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 cup of walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tray with 12 baking cups.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl with a wire whisk.

3. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer for about four minutes.

4. Add banana and mix until combined.

5. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

6. Add half the flour in three additions alternating with milk in two additions. Scrape down the sides with each addition.

7. Optional: Add 1 cup of walnuts

8. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until done.

 

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
1 ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes

 

A Few New Things in Our Coop Basket

For those of you that have been reading DPIT for awhile you may already know about the coop group I started. If you missed it and are interested in knowing what it’s all about you can look HERE or HERE. I LOVE coop! I need to get one of those cool bumper stickers

that people have for their dogs but mine will say “I heart my veggie/fruit coop.” Really, it’s awesome! If we have enough people interested in starting their own coop I may do a how-to post.

 

  I’ve suggested to my members that we try to buy something different each cycle something that we’re not use to eating. Why, you may ask…..well it’s fun to try new things and you never know when something new that you try may turn out to be your favorite things.

 

 

This cycle our basket had beets and pluots as our “try something new items.” I’ve eaten beets but have never prepared them and well, pulots I was not really sure what they were so I turned to Google for a little help. Turns out that pulots are a hybrid fruit. Mrs. Plum and Mr. Nectarine got together had a baby and name it Pulot. Let me tell ya…..they are delish! See trying new things can be fun!

 

Now on to the beets. Like I said above I’ve never prepared them before so I had no idea what to do with them. I did a little search on one of my favorite recipe sites (all recipes.com) and found a few ideas. I’m thinking about Roasted Beets with Feta and/or Beet Carrot Salad we also have carrots in our coop basket this cycle so the beet carrot salad would be a good way to use multiple items. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

Do you know a good beet recipe? If so do share!

Whole Lot of Pickling Going On

Preserving, pickling, and jarring are in my blood! Every year my dad sets up shop in his kitchen and fills tons of jars with salsa, jellies, and jams. He knew before long I would catch the bug and follow in his footsteps. Being a newbie I wanted to start off slowly and with something easy, so pickling it was! We have a tentative date set in October for a little lesson on preserves. I might just take my video camera along for that. You guys would LOVE my dad. He’s hilarious and sweet as pie!



We purchased most of our ingredients at the Asian supermarket. You can’t beat the prices on their fresh herbs and peeled garlic. We bought tons of dill for next to nothing and big tubs of garlic for $1.00 each! A lot of times Asian supermarkets will buy from local farmers. Kent’s mom use to be one of those local farmers. She had the most amazing garden!



We made spicy dill pickles this time around. Each jar was filled with fresh garlic, pepper corns, fresh dill, and Thai chilies.




After our pickling brine was ready we got our handy-dandy funnels and went to town! I’m so happy Kent was willing to do this with me. If you decide to give pickling a try ask a friend or family member to join in……it’s much more fun when you have a partner to work with!




Once jars were filled with cucumbers, spices, and brine we settled them in a water bath to seal the leads.




    

Then gave them a kiss and a thumbs up for good luck!I have my fingers crossed that our first batch turns out good! I’ll let you know.

Things I learned:

*Pack your cucumbers and then pack them some more! You want these babies jammed in there.

*If you have an opening but do not have a cucumber that will fit just cut a cucumber in half or however you need to make it fit in your open spot.

*If this is your first time around and you plan to do several jars it can be a timely process so make sure you pick a day when you can hang around your house for several hours.

*We used jars with the regular sized mouth because well…..I’m cheap and didn’t want to pay the few extra bucks for the wide mouth jars. The ones we bought worked fine but the wide mouth jars would have made things a bit easier. If you plan to do larger pickles (not spears) I would go for the wide mouth jars.
  
*Do your research! Watch a few youtube clips if you're unfamiliar with pickling to help familiarize yourself with the process. Below is a clip that I thought was very helpful.

I'm linking up with:
The Thrifty Home

Something Refreshing and Easy

Do you ever put fresh cut fruit in your ice tea? I love to cut oranges and peaches when we have them around the house and dump them right inside my tea glass! Ice tea is already refreshing (at least I think it is) but when you add fresh fruit it just kicks it up a notch.


The best part is when you finish your tea you have a little tea soaked fruit snack in the bottom of your glass. It sounds kind of gross but trust me it’s good!


And just to keep it real……………………… I was not in beautiful open meadow with wild horses trotting behind me when I took these pictures. Nope, didn’t have to go far at all just right outside my back door. 
            

Sometimes procrastination pays off! 

Loving Veggie/Fruit Co-op!

A few post back I told you about the local veggie/fruit co-op I started. It’s been a labor of love but I’m enjoying it immensely. I’ll be honest with ya, getting up at 5am when it’s my turn to shop is not always the best but once my shopping bud and I make it to our destination it we have a blast selecting our goodies and seeing how far we can make our dough stretch!
Our basket was awesome last cycle! I’m still amazed each time how much we get for $15.00. I get tickled every time I cook a meal with our co-op goodies! I know it’s stilly to get this excited about produce but it feels good to know I’m cooking healthy meals and saving money……..y’all know I go a little nuts over a good deal!

Now that we have a co-op basket coming in every two weeks my meal planning is a bit different. I use to sit down look through my cookbooks and decide what I wanted to make for the week. I would write down everything I needed to buy and made sure that I followed the recipe exactly. Now I fly by the seat of my pants. I still plan (can’t help it’s in my blood) but I plan my meals around what we have on hand and supplement with the few things that I need to round out my meals. I hardly ever stop in the produce section at the grocery store now that we’re doing co-op.

I think I’ve grown as a cook thanks to co-op. You’re never sure what your basket will have in store for you so I’ve been creating my own recipes lately centered around goodies from our basket. Last night I came up my version of stuffed peppers. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, well actually I do…………they were delish and got the seal of approval from Kent (the real cook chef in the house). The best thing is that I used things we already had on hand. No extra money spent! I still reference recipes but no longer follow them to a T and often tweak them a bit. I guess I’m just going through the stages of become a better cook!
Above is a picture of our dinner last night:cauliflower popcorn (so good click HERE for the recipe) and stuffed poblano peppers. Wish I had the recipe for ya but I just threw a few things together. It’s basically lean ground turkey meat, brown rice, chopped red bell pepper, cabbage, green onions, a can of tomatoes and green chilies, seasoned with to taste with smoked paprika, salt, pepper, garlic, cooked and stuffed in a seeded poblano pepper baked at 350 for about 25min and topped with a little sheared cheese.

Another recipe I’m really loving right now is Santa Fe Coleslaw (click HERE for the recipe). I’m not really a big coleslaw person but this I LOVED! I made a low-fat low calorie version and of course had most of the goodies to throw this thing together thanks to our co-op basket!


I'm linking up with:
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Saving Money Living Life

Cucumber Lemonade

We had a ton of cucumbers in our veggie/fruit co-op basket this cycle. When there is a new item in our basket that people are not use to cooking or an abundance of certain item we send out recipes to give each other ideas on ways to use it . One of our members sent this Cucumber Lemonade recipe out this week. Not only was it delish but also a creative way to use some of our cucumbers from our co-op basket!


Ingredients: 1 cups water
½ cup white sugar
1 cucumber, sliced
6 lemons, juiced
Directions: 1. Make a simple syrup by stirring the water and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat; heat until just about to boil and the sugar has dissolved. Place in refrigerator 30minuets, or until cool.
2. Place the cucumber slices in a blender or food processor; blend until mashed into a pulp. Pour the cucumber pulp into a fine mesh strainer place over a bowl to catch the liquid; allow to sit until you have about 2/3 cup of liquid from the cucumber, about 15 minutes.
3. Stir the simple syrup, cucumber liquid, and lemon juice together in a pitcher. Serve cold.
If you have a large family you may want to double the recipe.

Homemade Biscotti

As some of you know I’m a coffee fanatic! I love the taste, smell, and activities that go along with a cup of Joe (chatting with friend, reading good a book, the start of a new day, snuggling up to watch a movie).
What goes better with a cup of coffee than a little homemade biscotti…..right! I found a wonderful biscotti recipe that’s delish and super easy! Thought you might baking some biscotti as well.  

Chocolate Nut Biscotti

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for baking
2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for baking sheet
1/2 cup unsweetened coca powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of nuts (I’ve made this recipe a few time and have used hazelnuts, walnuts, and pistachios)
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a baking sheet; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (note: you can also blend with a hand mixer). Add the eggs; beat until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add flour mixture, and stir to form a stiff dough. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.

3. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet; form into a slightly flattened log, 12 by 4 inches. Bake until firm about 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 degrees F.

4. On a cutting board use a sharp serrated knife to cut the biscotti diagonally into 1-inch think slices. Arrange the biscotti on the baking sheet and bake until crisp about 18min.

Note: The last time I whipped up a batch of these bad boys I got a little fancy and melted some dark chocolate. I dipped the ends of each slice of biscotti into the melted chocolate. I placed them in the fridge to let the chocolate harden a bit before I served them. It was rich but oh so good!  

 

Fancy Greek Yogurt

I love a breakfast that’s healthy, filing, and delish. This Greek yogurt parfait fits all the right criteria! I usually eat this during the week days for breakfast and I’m good to go until lunch time.
      The thing I love about this is that you can throw whatever you have on hand in it. Today I added……..
-Roasted Almonds
-Cranberries
-Apple and Cinnamon Granola
-Fresh Strawberries
-Spenda to neutralize the tanginess in the Greek yogurt.
In past parfaits I’ve added a few semisweet chocolate chips, walnuts, and honey or bananas and tad-bit of peanut butter. See what I’m saying…….you can have fun with it and add whatever tickles your fancy.
I love the creaminess of Greek yogurt. I always feel like I’m eating something bad but it’s actually really good for you. I recently switched to Yoplait’s Fat Free Greek yogurt. It’s my favorite brand so far…..no, they’re not paying me to say that; I really do like it! 

Twilight Themed Cupcakes

My neighbor hosted a Twilight party over the weekend! I felt like I was cheating on my new vampire obsession by going but I tucked my new books away in a quite drawer and tiptoed out of the house with these bad boys in hand. I don’t think my new vampire loves even knew I left. ;o)
Homemade red velvet cupcakes topped with homemade cream cheese frosting. Kent who is not big on sweets (thank the lord for that, otherwise I would be 50lbs heavier) LOVED them! In my world that means they were delish and they were if I do say so myself.

Get it, it’s suppose to be blood! I drizzled them with red food coloring and called it a day. These would be fun to do for a Halloween party too!

My neighbor went ALL out for the party. She had a life size cutout of Edward, Twilight posters, Twilight plates and napkins. It was too cute! I took a few pictures but I’m too lazy to go down stairs and pull them off my other camera. I know, sad, but in my defense I’ve been running around all day (I’m writing this Wed at 12am) AND I got lost in IKEA. That’s enough to make anyone tired!

Rachael Ray's Stuffed Cabbage Stoup

Nope that’s not a typo this is really called a stoup.....the consistency is thicker than soup and brothier (yep made that one up) than a stew. Put those together and you get a stoup. I made this for dinner and it was delish!!! Perfect on a cold night and great for a gal on a diet. But wait it gets better......it's a 1 pot meal (not including the pot used to cook rice). Oh how I loves meals leave don't leave tons of dishes behind.

Click this HERE to see the full recipe.

I changed things up a bit. Here's what I did:
-Double the amount on all spices used excluding salt
-Substituted white rice for brown rice
-Used ground turkey meat instead of meatloaf mix
-Added extra cabbage
-Do not, I repeat do not add rice to soup and simmer it will get soggy. Use a spoon or ice cream scope and top the stoup with it before eating (refer to picture)
-Let it simmer on low heat for 30min after all ingredients were added.

Pointers
-Use Rachael’s technique for slicing the carrots. It works really well and gives them a great texture
-Be sure not to skimp on the smoked paprika. It gives the stoup a wonderful smoky flavor which is the main flavor of the dish

ReminderToday is the last day to enter in our book giveaway. I will announce the winner tomorrow.
Click HERE to enter!!