End of Summer: Lemon Blossoms

A few weeks back some friends and I went to Lake Cumberland for a weekend to squeeze the last out of the summer we could. It is maybe a 4-5 hour drive from Columbus so I made some goodies for the trip. One thing I made were these lemon blossoms. I saw the episode where Paula Deen made them a long time ago and finally got a chance to make them. I enjoyed them and popped more than my share of them in my mouth when nobody was looking :) These were really easy to make. The only thing was the recipe mentions pouring the batter and this batter is definitely not pourable, it's way too thick. No worries though, I changed the recipe accordingly! Oh yeah, and while I'm not a fan of using boxed cake mixes (those of you who feel the same way, look away now!) but it made these a lot easier and quicker which I needed because I made another yummy dessert with them (post coming soon!)

Lemon Blossoms
From foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

Cake:
18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Spoon a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

**On Another note, Saturday (October 9) was my birthday. I turned 23 (yipee...slight sarcasm here). I actually had a good birthday weekend. Friday, me and some of my best girlfriends went to the mall so I could spoil myself a little bit then caught up over dinner where I taught them some fun sign language signs. Saturday I had to work but I walked into the bakery and there was a big cupcake balloon at the cash register for me. We had maybe 4 or 5 weddings and made over 700 cupcakes. It was fun though, good thing I love what I do, even if it isn't always done well (:/) After that I went on a quick run to burn off some of my huge breakfast. My boss brought in pumpkin bagels with pumpkin cream cheese. It was delish! She kind of rocks I know.

 Saturday evening my mom and her boyfriend came up and took me out to dinner in at Easystreet Cafe in German Village with my aunt and uncle. I had the best gyro I have ever had in my life and tried baklava for the first time. I was also fortunate enough to enjoy a chocolate martini (yummmmm). Speaking of German Village eats, I plan to do a post dedicated to all the great spots, I've been to 3 so far and they are all fabulous. Saturday night I went out to the bar in a cute little dress with close friends and enjoyed drinks and dancing.

Sunday, I was in bad half the day nursing my hangover but Shawn was sweet enough to wait it out because I really really wanted to go to a pumpkin patch and get some pumpkins to carve. I was in heaven, being there reminded me of being a kid again.

After that we went out to Thurmans in German Village known for their long waits and gourmet burgers. It was featured on Man vs. Food so you know it's good. I think me and Shawn are going to go there all the time and become big fatties. I don't care, it's so worth it. The wait didn't bother us because we just took Kirby on a walk around Shiller Park which is so beautiful in the fall. Kirby made some new friends. After dinner we headed over to Easystreet to get pumpkin cheesecake to go.

For my birthday Shawn showed me he actually does listen to me! Who would have thought?! I was telling him how I saw the cutest Ohio State hoodie for dogs and how I wanted it for Kirby so bad. I was also bumming about losing one of my pearl earrings and have mentioned more than once how I need a trip to Victorias Secret. He covered all those and even spent the whole day yesterday with me taking me to the pumpkin patch and taking Kirby on a walk with me. I'm a lucky girl, don't I know it :)

THE BUCKEYES BECAME THE #1 TEAM ON MY BIRTHDAY! GO BUCKS!

End of Summer: Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries

I know the summer is far behind us and ended a while ago but I found this post hiding in my drafts and I'll admit it, I am a procrastinator...please forgive me. I made this with a dinner one night because I needed a lighter dessert and was intrigued. I am still undecided on this dessert but thought there was no harm in posting it for anyone else to give it a try. There was something with the texture that rubbed me the wrong way. I'm assuming it was the ricotta, which apparently is a common way to make cheesecake in Italy...so I hear. I enjoyed the flavors of this cheesecake and the fresh raspberries were refreshing but for me personally, I think ricotta is better left between layers of pasta, meat and sauce.

I do have a cheese danish recipe that is on my "to-bake" list that calls for ricotta but I feel it may work a lot better in something like that...this cheesecake just didn't have that creamy smooth heavenly texture that I love so much. It was worth a shot and considering the good reviews it had on the foodnetwork.com, I think it was just a personal preference and that other people may actually enjoy this, so here it is...

Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries
From foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 (15-ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
4 ounces Neufchatel cheese, or reduced fat cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup all-fruit seedless raspberry jam
1 tablespoon orange liqueur or water
2 (6-ounce) containers fresh raspberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Place ricotta in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add sour cream, Neufchatel, eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, orange zest and salt. Process until well blended. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the center is just set, 50 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and then cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

In a small saucepan, bring the jam and liqueur or water to a boil, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove sides of pan. Brush the tart with the jam mixture and top with raspberries, flat-side down.

Speaking of undecided...I just finished this book a couple weeks ago (I love to read. I know. How nerdy!) I can't decide how I feel about this book. I'm a sucker for romantic comedy kind of books ( LOVE Sue Margolis, Jen Lancaster and Candace Bushnell). This on the other hand was written by a man. It had it's quirky moments and I did appreciate how the ending was unpredictable and rather twisted. Yet, this book was easy to put down. Most of the time I read a book in 2 days, 3 days at the most because I'm so unbelieveably impatient and HAVE to know what happens. That didn't happen with this book. I felt maybe it was slow and hard to relate to....maybe that is just me. Has anyone else read it?

(Now I'm in the Halloween mood and reading "Wicked" and then "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" :))

Lightened Buffalo Chicken Dip

One of Shawn and I's favorite flavor is buffalo. Anytime I find a promising buffalo-anything recipe I try to make it for us. A few months ago I made us these buffalo joes, and you can't beat this buffalo chicken mac and cheese. This dip is a new favorite among Shawn and I. I try to make a bunch for him and freeze it up every couple weeks. It's pretty spicy so feel free to cut back on the hot sauce (we like it hot!). It's great to eat with celery sticks, whole wheat crackers, baked tortilla chips, or one of my favorites sourdough bread (I prefer this with spinach dip: posting to come!).

 Dips is one of the things (among MANY) that I lose control with. I will be 3/4 of the way through a batch and down to the bottom of the bag of tortilla chips before I even realize the damage I've done. Because of this, I gathered different parts of multiple buffalo chicken dip recipes (google it, there's a ton) and lightened different parts up and came up with this bad boy. It's great for football season :)

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Dame Good

Ingredients:

8 oz neaufchatel cream cheese, softened
1 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup Franks hot sauce (I used hot buffalo)
2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese, reserve a pinch for topping
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 cups (2 breasts) cooked shredded chicken
1/4 cup dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon seasalt
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
 
Add all the ingredients but the chicken and reserved cheese together and mix. Add the chicken and put mixture in the crock pot on low for 2-4 hours. Serve warm and top with blue cheese crumbles. This makes about 6 cups.

COMING SOON

Smore's Cookie Bars

Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries

Lemon Blossoms

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs and Spicy Tomato Sauce

My Rocking Spinach Dip

Cupcake Pebbles?!

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats

Today is my little Kirby's 6 month birthday! I can't believe he's already that old (I know he's still a baby but still). It doesn't seem that long ago when I could hold him with one hand and he was just a little ball of rolly polly skin and wrinkles. Now he's a big 15 pound boy. I make him treats all the time but wanted to make him something special today and found this peanut butter and pumpkin recipe. Welp, big surprise, he loves him. But I guess he's a pug and he loves anything he can eat...my little fatty. I had these little Halloween cookie cutters and just HAD to use them. I love anytime when I can be festive :)

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats
From Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Whisk together the flour, eggs, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add water as needed to help make the dough workable, but the dough should be dry and stiff. Roll the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick roll. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces.

Bake in preheated oven until hard, about 40 minutes.

I couldn't help myself...

He's a banana split!

So he looks a little miserable. I planned to get him a Kirby Puckett jersey (and still do) for Halloween but I saw this at Target and started giggling right there...

I just HAD to...don't worry, he got a few extra treats for this. 0:)

The Love Triangle Cookie: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pretzel Cookies

So I consider this the love triangle cookie. Why you ask? This may be my own personal preference but when trying to come up with a great flavor combination with chocolate my mind instantly turns to peanut butter and when thinking of something that goes great with peanut butter I think of pretzels. Does anyone else dip their pretzels in peanut butter and realizes you ate half the jar in one sitting because it is that darn good? Anyways what I'm getting at here is that peanut butter is totally cheating on chocolate with pretzels but pretzels don't seem to mind, in fact pretzels suggested a threesome: this cookie! (I'm weird I know)

I kind of threw this all together hoping it would work and it turned out exactly like I wanted it to. It was not too cakey, wonderfully chewy and full of 3 of my favorite flavor combinations. Each flavor is showcased in two ways here either inside or outside the cookie. I made these for Shawn's friends birthday....which they are out celebrating right now as I'm staying in on a saturday night sipping a pumpkin ale and writing this...no girls allowed...thats always comforting....so I baked!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies
Dame Good

Peanut butter cookies with a mixture of chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips and crushed pretzels baked in and then drizzled with chocolate and topped with crushed pretzels.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chunks
3/4 cup broken pretzels
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup crushed pretzels (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and beat until mixed. Add the eggs one at a time then stir in the corn syrup and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and add to peanut butter mixture. Fold in the chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips and pretzels. Drop using preferred size scoops onto ungreased baking sheet (I used parchament paper).

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden. Move to cooling racks upon removal.

(optional) Melt the cup of chocolate chips for about 30 seconds to a minute in the microwave stirring halfway. Drizzle chocolate over cookies using a spoon or a small piping back and sprinkle cookies with crushed pretzels.

YUM! ;)