Cookies and Cream Cupcakes May 14, 2013

These cupcakes were devoured at my house extremely quickly, and we only have 3 1/2 table-food eating members in our family (and the 1/2 doesn’t eat sweets yet)!  They were awesome.  I loved the texture and flavor of the cupcake with the oreo cookie pieces mixed throughout.  The frosting was also great, and complimented the cupcake beautifully.  All oreo lovers and cookie and cream lovers, I suggest you get into your kitchen right now and start baking!  As long as you have some oreo cookies in the pantry :)  Enjoy and come bake and tell me what you thought!  Love to hear from my fans…if I have any out there :)

Hey, great idea, here is a question for you, yes YOU, to answer in the comment section…. what are you MOST looking forward to doing this summer in the beautiful weather AND/OR what are you most look forward to baking/grilling/cooking this summer.  Can’t wait to hear!

I need to thank Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction for this wonderful recipe.  She has some other great looking baked goods on her site, please head on over to Sally’s Baking Addicition and see for yourself!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 and  2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

1/4  teaspoon baking soda

1/2  teaspoon salt

1 cup  granulated sugar

1/2 cup  (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 egg  whites

1/4 cup  vanilla greek yogurt (or plain; or regular yogurt; or even  sour cream)

3/4 cup  milk (cow’s milk, soy milk, or almond milk)

2  teaspoons vanilla extract

1 and  1/2 cups chopped Oreo pieces (about 14-15 Oreos)

Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3 and  1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2  cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2  teaspoon salt

2  teaspoons vanilla extract

3  Tablespoons heavy cream

4-5  crumbled Oreos, optional

Preheat  oven to 350F degrees.  Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside.

To make the cupcakes: In a medium bowl, mix together flour,  baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large microwave-safe  bowl, melt butter in the microwave.  Stir in sugar – mixture will be gritty.  Stir in egg whites, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly mix  dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no lumps remain.  Fold in the  crushed Oreos. Batter will be thick.

Divide  batter among 12 cupcake liners (or 24 mini) and bake for 20 minutes or until a  toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Bake for 8-9 minutes if  making mini cupcakes. Allow to cool.

To make the frosting: On medium speed, cream butter for 3-4  minutes in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. This creates a creamy base  for the frosting. Turn speed to LOW and slowly pour in the dry ingredients.  Be  careful so that the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere.  Mix until  sugar/cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Turn up mixer to medium speed and add  the vanilla and salt.  Slowly add the cream and beat for about 2 minutes or  until the frosting reaches a desired thickness. Add the last 1/2 cup of powdered  sugar if needed to increase frosting thickness (I did not need it). Pipe or  spread the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Top with Oreo crumbles.

Recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction  Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Follow us: @sallysbakeblog on Twitter | sallysbakingaddiction on Facebook

Don’t forget to let me know what your exciting summer plans are!!!! 

Grilled Sausage and Peppers May 2, 2013

Grilling season is upon us!  I was trying to come up with a super easy quick meal the other night and threw this together.  It worked out great and was a ‘one’ tinfoil meal!  (and easy clean up, even better!)  Here’s how I did it…

Grilled Sausage and peppers

1 onion, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

3-6 red potatoes, medium cubed

3-6 Italian/Polish sausage, cut into chunks

olive oil/spray

seasoning to taste

Overlap two pieces of tinfoil by about 2-4 inches and place a third piece of tinfoil in middle of the overlap.  Spray that third piece with olive oil or lightly drizzle with olive oil.  (Not to much oil though b/c the sausage will leave off fat and mix in with the veggies also, so I would probably suggest just using the spray)  Spread onion, peppers, potatoes and sausage over the third piece of tin foil and spray a bit more on top of the mixture.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic salt, lawyers, steak seasoning or any other seasoning of your choice.  Grill on med-high for 30-45 minutes until potatoes are tender and sausage is cooked through, mixing and stirring every 7-10 minutes.  I like a bit of burnt-ness to my veggies, so I enjoyed the parts that ended up a bit darker than the others, but if you don’t like charred food, watch carefully and turn off a burner if the grill gets to hot.  Serve and enjoy!

Brownies from scratch April 26, 2013

There is nothing like a good brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top for dessert.  I must say, the box types usually turn out great for this type of thing.  Chewy, fudgy, chocolaty, etc.  But being the baker that I am, I have a really hard time making brownies from a box very often.  I have made a number of brownies from scratch, lately these two and have been very pleased with them.  The first one is a keeper!  I would say better than any box brownie you have ever had!  The second recipe is really good but very different than the first.  *oh and I should say they are great even without the ice cream on top!*  Which one to make first?  I’d say both and compare!  OR here are the differences between them both:

1.  The Sour Cream Brownies are made with bittersweet chocolate.  If you love your dark chocolate, you will enjoy these brownies very much, whereas the Fudge Brownies don’t have that dark chocolate taste to them as much. (although I should mention the Sour Cream also has milk chocolate chips, I believe I used semi-sweet, but milk would give a nice contrast to them).  *I added walnuts to the Sour Cream ones, I love a crunch of nuts in my brownies :)

2.  The Fudge Brownies have a fudge-like texture of a box brownie and are very moist whereas the Sour Cream Brownies are a bit more cakeier with a bit of that fudge texture in the middle (especially in the middle pieces).  I hesitated posting the Sour Cream Brownies because the edges got pretty dry, much more than I like, and I wanted to try to bake them in a bit of a larger pan so they weren’t as thick and hopeful that the edges wouldn’t get as dry, but I ran out of time and wanted to share these recipes sooner!  If I get around to making them again in this way, I will let you know the outcome, in any case, they were really a good brownie, just very different than the Fudge Brownie :)  Hope I didn’t confuse to many minds or chase any of you off by my comparisons…

Click on the links below the picture for the recipes!  Enjoy your brownies!

King Arthur Flour’s Fudge Brownies

Bake or Break’s Sour Cream Brownie

Better than Chipotle Bowl April 18, 2013

I love throwing a salad together at the beginning of the week for myself so I have a ready-to-go lunch at least a few times during the week.  It makes lunchtime easier and usually helps me keep my lunches healthy.  This salad is full of veggies with some beans to make it a bit more filling and a touch of flavor for it to taste good.  I ate it with a baked tortilla, broken into chip-like pieces.  Why didn’t I just eat it with tortilla chips….I guess to make it healthier!  (I threw a whole wheat tortilla in my oven at 350 for 10-20 minutes until it was crisp).  It is a super simple salad to make, nothing to it besides some chopping and mixing, try it for yourself!

Better than Chiptole Bowl

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 Tbsp lime zest

3 Tbsp lime juice (about one lime)

1/4 tsp. sea salt

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 cup orange, red, yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 cup black beans

1 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

2  tsp. olive oil

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir well.  Allow flavors to marinate for about 2 hours then serve and enjoy!

Recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny

Some meal favorites and a Welcome! April 13, 2013

HI!  I want to welcome some possible new readers I have from a cooking demonstration I assisted with this past week at Faith Church Mops!  I hope you enjoyed the demonstration!

As you scroll through my food blog I encourage you to find some fun and new recipes to try for your family.  If you have any questions about any recipes or other food related items (on or off the blog), please DO NOT hesitate to ask in the comment section.  I also LOVE to hear from my readers, so please feel free to over-comment if you feel led especially if you have tried one of the recipes on Kats’ Kitchen.

I do not have a new recipe right now to share with you right now but wanted to point out a few great recipes that my family loves which I have posted previously.  Some are super easy and delicious and a couple more time consuming recipes but so worth it!

Steak Pizzaiola Burgers.  These are an ABSOLUTE fav of my family.  A bit more time consuming but the ‘burger’ part can be made ahead, as could the onion part (need to heat this up just before eating), then they can all be put together just before dinner.

Baked Chicken Fajitas.  These are delicious, super easy and can be made ahead and kept in the fridge until dinner time.

Stromboli Sandwiches.  You can also make these things ahead and throw some in the freezer for another meal.  A bit time consuming putting the mixture together and putting the ingredients on the rolls, but again, you can make them ahead and keep them in the fridge (freezer) for a day or two.

French Onion Pork Chop Skillet.  Here is another favorite that my husband and I enjoy.  It’s a one put meal, although I usually make some potato wedges to go along the side, just because my husband is a meat and potato guy, but a simple salad would also would be great along side of this dish.

Spaghetti Pie.  Better get a pasta dish in this list.  Love this, I personally like it better than just plain old spaghetti.  Something about the spaghetti noodle crust makes the dish.

Smokey Stuffed Peppers.  Here is healthier dish perfect for two!  Our favorite stuffed pepper recipe.

I hope you find some great recipes to try on my site and don’t forget to check out some of the baked goods on this site for your sweet tooth (I have tooooo many sweet teeth in my mouth. :)  Maybe I will do a fav baked good post sometime soon!

Pork Chops with Apricot-Brandy Glaze April 9, 2013

So I decided to open my William-Sonoma Grilling Cookbook a few days back.  One I haven’t touched in….years probably.  We love grilling, my husband is a fantastic griller, but we know what we like, it is easy, we make the same things over and over BUT it was time for something new.  I had Apricot jam/preserves sitting in my fridge from a dip I made a couple of months back and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the rest of it….UNTIL I found this recipe in the cookbook.  I had everything in my house!  I love when I find recipes that I don’t have to make a quick run to the grocery store for any ingredients, or at least write them down on a grocery list.  So a couple of days after finding it, we gave this Pork Chop recipe a try.  So glad I did!  The spice rub and glaze worked perfectly together.  It was a great change from our normal ‘blackened’ pork chop or marinated pork chop.  Will be making this recipe again soon! (especially since my jam jar has more left yet!)

Pork Chops with Apricot-Brandy Glaze (serves 4-8)

8 pork loin or rib chops at least 1-in thick

Spice Rub:

1 T sweet paprika

1 T garlic powder

1 tsp dried thyme

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Glaze:

½ cup apricot jam

2 T apricot brandy (or other brandy)

1 T dry mustard

Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 T lemon juice)

Mix the spice rub ingredients together and rub generously on both sides of the chops.

Heat the jam in a small bowl in the microwave until just warm.  Stir in the brandy, mustard and lemon juice.  Set aside.  Reheat slightly just before using.

Grill the chops over medium-high heat, turning once.  Move to unheated portion of the grill.  Brush generously with the warm glaze on both sides and cover the grill.  Cook for 2-4 minutes more to let glaze set and until chops are cooked through.

Transfer the chops to a platter and cover loosely with foil.  Let rest 3-5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma Grilling

Two Great Appetizers! BLT Dip & Pineapple Paradise Spread April 2, 2013

Here are two super easy dip/spread recipes.  They are both delicious!  One is sweet, the other is savory, so serve them both at your next gathering to please everyone!

BLT Dip 

1 cup sour cream (I used light which makes the dip not as firm)

1 cup mayonnaise

6-8 slices bacon, fried and crumbled

1 cup tomato, seeded and cut into small chunks

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Wheat thins or other crackers for serving

Mix all ingredients together except crackers.  Chill.  Serve with crackers.

Recipe from Generous Helpings by Sertoma Centre, Inc.

Pineapple Paradise Spread

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat, which like the sour cream in the above recipe, makes the spread not as firm)

1 – 20 oz can of crushed pineapple, drained

½ cup sugar

¾ cup pecans, chopped

Graham crackers for serving

Using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese until fluffy.  Add in the pineapple, sugar and pecans.  Chill 2 hours or more and serve with graham crackers.

Recipe from Tried & True (Real Recipes from Real Moms)