My Parents are GREAT

I have 2 recipes to post, and I promise they will make it on here soon. But I wanted to give my Mommy and Daddy a little shout out, Yesterday June 20th was their 28th wedding anniversary.  28 years, and that doesn't count the many many years they dated. I love them both very much and in a time when people don't put in the work to make marriages work, I am very proud that my parents have made it. They may not be perfect, but they are perfect for each other. (and they made me, which is pretty perfect... HA) I love you both! Here is to another 28 and more!

Soccer Cookie Cake

One of my favorite school age kids from the Bee was my director's daughter. She spent many afternoons in my classroom playing with the babies and hiding from her brother.

Her mom asked me to make her 12th birthday cake, and I was happy to do so. We talked about what she wanted, and Dawn told me she would want a cookie cake and she likes soccer, so a soccer cookie cake seemed perfect.

I was planning the cake this week and I discovered one thing, I still stink a geometry. I tried to hand draw it, but it just didn't work out. It looked deformed. So I found a picture on the Internet I liked, blew it up on the printer and used it a guide. I decided to try a new technique to use piping gel to transfer the lines on the cake. It worked, but I missed one step that may have made it a little easier.

All in all I am very happy with this cake, I can't wait to see Nicki's face.

the cookie cake

The guide

piping gel untinted

tinted pink

tracing the guide

Here is where I missed the step, I think I should have used Pam on the wax paper to make the gel come off a little better, but things worked out.

ready to put on the cake

rubbing the gel on the cake

the outline in gel

filling in the pentagons

filled in and smoothed out

filled in cake

Then I put it in the fridge and let the icing harden so I could smooth it out and make it look nicer, then I re-outlined the lines, added a border and wrote on it. My writing still needs practice, but I will get there. I did the border first so it was harder to write, I know better, I am dumb.

smoothed and outlined

finished soccer cookie cake


I was surprised how quickly this cake came together, the outlining and filling in took about an hour ( I watched the Brian Williams thing on NBC of the White House) Finishing it took about 30 mins - smoothing, re-outlining, border and writing. I really like the cake. It is really cute.

I have to show you how I work. Since my kitchenaid mixer is at Matt's apartment I do all my work here. The kitchen has these spot lights that make the kitchen so HOT it makes the icing really hard to work with, so I don't work in there. The dining room table is too high to work, so I use the coffee table, it is perfect height to sit and work. I took picture of the mess I make of the living room. I can't wait til the new place :-D

taking over


I promise it is sanitary and clean


Matt played Mario Kart while I worked

Chicken Enchiladas

Wow... sorry I went MIA... life is a little crazy right now. It comes in waves, lately I've been super busy, but I think I see it chilling out a bit... I think. Unfortunately, I have done basically 0 baking :( .

This is Dads- with salsa and peppers on top... i used sour cream

I did make my version of my dad's famous Chicken Enchiladas, I think his recipe came from the Members Mark chicken breasts in a can.

[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:



2 cans 13oz Members Mark premium chicken breast in water, drained

1 cup chili salsa

1 4oz can chopped green chilies

2.5 cup Heavy whipping cream

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

10 8" flour tortillas

Directions

1- combine salsa, chiles and chicken



2- place mixture in tortillas and roll (I added mixed Mexican cheese in the tortillas too)




3- place seam side down in 9 by 13 baking dish



Note: these are not 8 inch tortillas - they are much bigger burrito size - we only fit 5 in a pan

4- pour whipping cream over top ( dad only bought a small thing of it, but it gave me 2 cups, and it seemed to work fine)




5- bake for 45 mins at 350 degrees

6- sprinkle cheese on top with ten minutes remaining



yum-o

These were really good, very cheesy - I let dad help me and we loaded it up... but cheesy is good. I want to try them again with smaller tortillas - i liked the cheese in the middle too :-D This was a good and easy dinner.

Somethings never change

I have a final due Wed. night... what have a done today to avoid  working on it? 1- napped 2- gotten rates for health insurance 3- counted my couch fund( bucket full of change) i had $54.77   4- posted about my new kitchen

I know this is a cooking/baking blog, but I am so excited about the things that are going to go down in this kitchen I have to share it with you now. I won't be moving in until July, but I already have my kitchenaid's spot picked out. This kitchen has so much space and so much countertop to cool cookies on I CAN NOT WAIT! :-D



I am pretty sure I have more cabinet space than I have stuff for them... maybe I can store my sweaters in some too :-D Kidding... I will fill them with cake pans and powdered sugar :-D

Did I mention there are 18 outlets in the kitchen itself? WOW!

I CAN NOT WAIT to play in here!

Mexican Lasagna

[Printable Recipe]


A while ago Matt and I went to dinner at my friend Jessica and Travis' house. She was cooking Mexican lasagna. Loving most things Mexican food I was excited. She made the main dish, I brought Mexican rice (from the packet) and dessert. Jessica's version was amazing. I decided to make it for my family asap.

I decided to change things up a little from Rachel Ray's orginial. I will highlight my changes in (RED)

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground chicken breast, available in the packaged meats case ( 2 lbs ground beef... it was what we had)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (did not use)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (didn't use this either... instead... 1 pack of taco seasoning)
• 1/2 red onion, chopped ( yellow onion)
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 cup medium heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes (totally forgot this at the store)
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• Salt
• 8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, available on dairy aisle of market (regular flour tortillas)
• 2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
• 2 scallions, finely chopped (didn't have this time, but had at Jess's and they were yum-o)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat.

Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - twice around the pan.

Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat (I added the taco seasoning mid way through)

Browning the meat and cooking the onions


Add taco sauce or stewed or fire roasted tomatoes.(omitted)

Add black beans and corn.



Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon oil.

Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with.

Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese.



Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again.

Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly.



Top with the scallions and sour cream and serve.



This variation was very good, I used lean beef so it wasn't too greasy. The taco sauce probably would have given it more flavor, but I think it was still very good. As far as Mexican goes, it wasn't spicy at all, but if I was making it for just myself I would use a spicier taco seasoning, and a medium salsa.