Rainbow Jar Cake (or goo)

Because I didn't go home for Easter weekend, my friends who were also staying in Denton and I got together to dye Easter eggs and bake. I've heard of baking things in jars, and wanted to try it, but never actually considered it until my friend Paige showed up at my door with a huge box of jars and showed me this website. Apparently she and our other friend Ashley had decided that's what we were making.

The recipe on the website calls for white cake, but we used funfetti, because it's so much better. Other than that, though, we pretty much just followed directions.

This is how it was supposed to look.

Just batter. Perfect lines thanks to Paige.

Fresh out of the oven

The colors rose through the cake. So cool!

After we decorated them!

View down the jar.

We only hit one problem, but it was a big one. Only the top half of the cake baked in the 35 minutes it was in the oven. The rest was legit goo. We ended up all stopping and saving it for when we could re-bake it. 

I tried to re-bake it the next day, and put it in the oven for another 25 minutes, BUT IT WAS STILL GOO. I just ate it. It was still good.

My rainbow goo and me.

If you want to try it, I have no idea what I would suggest to avoid burning the top while trying to solidify the molton goo at the bottom. If you figure it out, let me know. 

Here's the recipe:

April Fools! (yeah, about a month late)

First of all, sorry for making this email everyone. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember what my password was and that was the only way to get a password reset link.

Now, on with the cooking. I love April Fools because I love pranks, but I never really celebrate it. I'm absolutely terrible with thinking of good enough pranks to pull on April Fools without raising suspicion. I first heard about this a long time ago, and always wanted to try it, so it seemed like the perfect time. I should also say that this was actually last year's April Fools, but I still think it's good enough to share.

Cupcakes anyone?

APRIL FOOLS! IT'S MEATLOAF!

With mashed potato frosting.

They were spit out a few times, but only because it's not what anyone was expecting. Once people realized what they were eating, they finished it. They were actually really freaking delicious.

There was no special recipe, it's just whatever meatloaf you like, and I used instant mashed potatoes (plus A LOT of food coloring). The only thing is to make sure you have foil cupcake liners. The meat cooks into a weird shape, so the foil holds the shape of a cupcake better. Plus, I'm pretty sure paper liners would just absorb juices and be soggy. Gross.

I would definitely recommend this if you want to get coworkers or something. EVERYONE will fall for it, and you'll be super popular.

My First Post!! Chicken Pockets

Hello Everyone! I've been meaning to do this for a while and I finally have internet connection and freetime!!! So here they are Chicken Pockets. They are a hit with all my friends who have tried them and I hope you will like them!!!

Here's What You need:

1 Can of Crescent Rolls

Plain Cream Cheese (Or Cream of Mushroom Soup if you don't like Cream Cheese)

1 Lb of chicken

any/all your favorite seasonings (We normally use Lemon Pepper, Marjoram, and Oregano)

Butter or Olive oil

Let's get Started!

First thing you have cut the chicken into small pieces. I've noticed its easier if you do this before you cook it but I've done it after as well. Add the chicken and the seasonings together and cook in the butter/oil until the chicken is white.

Ok Next step is make the outside layer. Now you get to bust open the crescent rolls! (Save the cooking instructions!!!) Once you finally get then open, you need to make big triangles! You do this by taking 2 normal crescent rolls and putting the flat side together and mashing it together, (it doesn't have to be pretty but one can should make 4).

Once this is done, you can put a layer of Cream Cheese on all of them and start putting chicken on all 4. As you put chicken on you can roll the triangles up and pinch the corners so you don't have any big holes, ( little holes are ok just none that you can put your finger through).

Put all the Chicken Pockets on a cookie sheet and bake like the crescent roll can says.

And once they get they're done just becareful the inside is really hot, (Trust me I burned my mouth this past weekend).

Ashley

It's Christmas in 834!

To start, a little explanation... 834, said "eight three four" not "eight thirty four," is what we (Shannon, Jocelyn, any other friends, and I) call our apartment. Over the past year and a half, it's become more of a name than an apartment number.


We've been waiting for Christmas, for what seems like months. It's all of our favorite time of year. Family, friends, presents, cookies, fudge, decorations, and NO SCHOOL! Classes have been coming down hard on all three of us for the past few weeks, but we finally found some time to get in the Christmas spirit! We spent all of yesterday transforming 834 into a winter wonderland. Now, recently we have noticed that a few balconies around the complex are decorated, but most consist of half-ass strung lights looped around the railing. There is one balcony, though, that looks professionally done. Our goal was to, and I mean this in the least Grinch way, have our balcony kick all the other balconies' butts! We totally did, by the way.

View from the ground

A little blurry, but from down the street a bit.

We also put up our tree, although, this picture is from last year!

Aside from decorating, we filled 834 with the aroma of freshly baked cookies! THREE different kinds, to be exact. I also decided to add in a treat I haven't had in a really long time, but remember from when I was a kid... 5 minute fudge! 

We had homemade chocolate chip cookies...

Sugar cookies...

Red Velvet cookies...

And only one mishap!

She's notorious for breaking things, so we shouldn't be too surprised she's holding half of a measuring cup.

Okay, procrastination over. Time to get back to the books!

Merry Christmas!!

Cheesecake Time!

Last month, my roommate Shannon turned the big 2-1! My other roommate Jocelyn and I were in a bit of a predicament, because Shannon does not like cake. At all. Luckily, for my birthday, Rebecca gave me a binder full of about 52 cheesecake recipes, so I gave it to Shannon and let her pick one. She chose the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. I'm pretty sure it's a Cheesecake Factory recipe, but I gave it a go.

The inside

Just a slice... of heaven!

Shannon and Jocelyn loved it! I liked the middle, but thought that around the edge there was too much raspberry. 

OH! The recipe calls for Oreos without the stuffing for the crust, but that seemed like way too much work. Instead, I used chocolate Teddy Grams. 

The Cheesecake Factory's White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake

crust 

1½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs or 20 crumbled Oreo cookies (filling removed) 
1/3 cup margarine, melted

filling 

½ cup raspberry preserves 
¼ cup water 
4 x 8 oz pkgs cream cheese 
1¼ cups granulated sugar 
½ cup sour cream 
2 tspn vanilla extract 
5 eggs 
4 oz white chocolate, chopped into chunks

garnish 

2 oz white chocolate, shaved 
whipped cream 

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. 

Place a large pan or oven-safe skillet filled with about ½" of water into the oven while it preheats. This will be your water bath. 

Combine the raspberry preserves with ¼ cup water in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1½ minutes on high in your microwave. 

Stir until smooth. Strain to remove the raspberry seeds (toss 'em out), then let the strained preserves sit to cool, then put the bowl in the refrigerator until later. 

Measure 1½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs, or crush 20 Oreo cookie wafers ( with the filling scraped out ) into a medium bowl. Mix in 1/3 cup melted margarine. Press the crumb into a 9" spring form pan that has been lined on the bottom and side with parchment paper. Using the bottom of a drinking glass or similar, press the crumb mixture flat into the bottom of the pan and about 2/3 the way up the side. Wrap a large piece of foil around the bottom of the pan to keep the cheesecake in the water bath. Put the crust in your freezer until the filling is done. 

Use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese with the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix for a couple minutes or until the ingredients are smooth and creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl and then add them to the cream cheese mixture. Blend the mixture just enough to integrate the eggs. 

Remove the crust from the freezer and sprinkle 4 oz of white chocolate chunks onto the bottom of the crust. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into the crust. Drizzle the raspberry preserves over the entire surface of the filling. Use a butter knife to swirl the raspberry into the cream cheese. 

Just a couple passes is fine, you don't want to blend the raspberry and cream cheese together too much. Pour the other half of the filling into the crust. 

Carefully place the cheesecake into the water bath in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes at 475°F, then turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cheesecake turns a light brown or tan color. Remove the cheesecake from the oven to cool. When the cheesecake is cool, use the foil from the bottom to cover the cheesecake and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. 

Before serving, sprinkle the entire top surface of cheesecake with 2 oz of shaved white chocolate. To serve, slice the cheesecake into 12 equal portions. Apply a pile of canned whipped cream to the top of each slice and serve.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Icing

Hi!
I shouldn't even be writing this because of all the school work I have, but, I seem to be finding any way I can to procrastinate. Oh well :) I've wanted to share this one with you since last week because it is oh, so delicious. Since it is now "Fall" (I promise all you southerners, really, it is. We've got our heat on and I even saw some snow flakes today)--it means I can now start cooking/baking with seasonal goodies. And, pumpkin is one of my faves. I have been scavenging through different recipes and finally landed on one I thought sounded devine. I was able to share the yumminess with some school friends, as I brought along these suckers to a cocktail party held after a conference-like thing my school held last week. Not to toot my own horn, but I got some pretty good reviews.

I followed the recipe exactly and had no difficulties. The whole thing was pretty easy--although, somehow in the process of all the mixing and baking, I managed to dirty every dish in our kitchen. I think that says more about me than it does about the recipe. Andrew doesn't call me Messy Marcin for just any reason. Anyway, I just know all you pumpkin lovers' mouths are watering in anticipation, so here's the recipe. BTW--I found the cupcake recipe from Duchess of Fork's blog and the frosting recipe from Cupcakes Take the Cake's .

Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
• 1 box Vanilla or Golden cake mix
• 1 box vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup oil
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with liners, or spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, water and sour cream. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until ingredients are well combined. Add pumpkin and cinnamon and mix for another 30 seconds.
3. Divide batter between prepared mini or regular muffin tins. Bake for 20-23 minutes for regular cupcakes and 12-15 minutes for mini cupcakes.
4. Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely. Once cupcakes are cool, top with frosting.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
8 oz fat free cream cheese - room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter - room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4-6 cups powdered sugar

Preparation:
In an electric mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until fully incorporated. Gradually add powdered sugar in small portions, scraping down the sides with each addition, until desired consistency is reached.

Makes approximately 24 cupcakes, with plenty of frosting leftover to put on anything and everything you can get your hands on.


See, I had so much fun with it, I even got "fancy" and piped on my icing. And, to half of the cupcake mix, I added mini chocolate chips--which, I think made them extra good. Even if you aren't too fond of pumpkin, the pumpkin flavor in these is pretty subtle and the cupcakes themselves are super moist b/c of the pudding. I double dog dare you to try them out. Happy Halloween everyone!!

Greek Turkey Burgers

Hey!
I promise this will be a quick post, I just wanted to share a delicious recipe Andrew and I (ok, well Andrew mostly) made for dinner Sunday night. These were relatively simple to make and came out tasting really great. I don't have any of our own pictures--I think we were too hungry and they were too good to stop and take any--so the picture above is from Southern Living, where we found the recipe. We ended up saving time by buying pre-made tzatziki sauce from Trader Joes. We also switched out the french hamburger buns and bought more of a flatbread, pita thing that we just cut to size for our burgers. For toppings, we used spinach, onions, and more feta, of course. We also made our own french fries, topping them with lemon juice, oregano, and feta (for a more Greek-style fry). If you can't tell, we're big feta lovers over here :) Yum Yum. Here's the recipe:

Greek Turkey Burgers
(adapted from Southern Living)
Total: 25 minutes
Yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
• 1 1/3 pounds ground turkey breast
• 1(4-oz.) package crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1 12.oz. container of tzatziki sauce (aka cucumber sauce) or make your own
o 1/2 cup grated English cucumber
o 1 (6-oz.) container fat-free Greek yogurt
o 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
o 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 French hamburger buns, split and toasted
• Toppings: lettuce, spinach, tomato slices, thinly sliced cucumber, onions, and/or more feta!
• Garnish: pepperoncini salad peppers (we ended up not doing this)

Preparation
1. Stir together first 6 ingredients. Shape mixture into 4 (1/2-inch-thick) patties.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat grill pan with cooking spray. Add patties; cook 5 minutes on each side or until done.
3. Stir together cucumber, yogurt, mint, and 1/2 tsp. salt in a small bowl. Or, just pull out your container of tzatziki sauce. Serve burgers on buns with cucumber sauce and desired toppings. Garnish, if desired.