Red Velvet Cupcakes

My Niece is getting married in September.  She asked me to make her wedding cake.  I am by no means a professional but what she is wanting seems like something I can accomplish.  She wants Red Velvet Cake.  Personally I don't think Red Velvet has a lot of flavor but after researching several recipes I learned that it is basically a chocolate base with red coloring.  I have 2 recipes I want to try to see which one I like the most.  One is my Chocolate Cake recipe which I plan to add red food coloring to.  The other is this recipe.  I clipped it some time ago when I researched Red Velvet for another event.  I never made it so I wanted to give it a try.  My daughter needed cupcakes for the concession stand at the school basketball game tomorrow night and I figured it was a great time to test this Red Velvet recipe.  I do not know where it came from and I am unable to give proper credit.  If it is yours I will gladly credit you in this post.  This is not my recipe.....but let's just say that when my oldest daughter tasted this tonight she said "I don't care what the other cake tastes like.  I will be eating several pieces of this cake at the wedding"  So here we go.....

 

Red Velvet Cake

1 pkg (18.25 oz) German Chocolate Cake Mix

1 pkg (3.4oz) Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

1 C. Sour Cream

1/2 C. Water

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil

1 (1 oz) bottle Red Food Coloring

3 Large Eggs

 

Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix it all together. 

It's pretty easy!

I made cupcakes so I baked this at 350* for 20 minutes.  A cake will take longer but I don't have the exact time since I didn't make cake!

 

Going into the oven.....

 

 

Coming out of the oven......

 

 

I have been wanting to try the new Cool Whip Frosting. 

 I even had a coupon....

OK....I forgot to give the cashier the coupon....

 

 

And here they are...all frosted with a dusting of cocoa powder!

 

 

Yes, they are a little fancy for a school basketball game...

but we eat first with our eyes, right?

 



Good Enough

 

There are days when all I can do is open a can of Manwich, brown some ground beef and cook some frozen french fries.  Is this wrong?  Definitely not.  I find that I compare my cooking to all these other blogs out there wanting to do the next big thing, the greatest invention in cooking.  It's just not fun to me to compete.  Seriously...do these people cook like that every night?  And how can they afford to do that?  Sometimes simple is better.  And dinner from a freezer some nights is just good enough.  As I enter into this second year on my blog I will think less of trying to impress and just post what I do every day.  Sometimes I will make unlikely substitutions....For example today.  I think for dinner I will make Beef Enchiladas but I am running low on tortillas and have no plans to go to the store today so I think I will turn it into an Enchilada Lasagna.  I have plenty of noodles and I will just use them in place of the tortillas.  Think outside of the box...if you don't have all the ingredients to make a recipe then use what you have to adapt it.  Cooking is supposed to be fun!

1 Year Anniversary

One year ago today I created this blog.  I did this because I have people asking me all the time for my recipes.  I also thought it would be a good virtual cook book for my kids when they are out on their own and craving some of moms recipes.  I thought it would be fun on this anniversary to let you know some interesting facts about

 this blog over the past year.

 

I have done a total of 76 posts in the past 52 weeks.  Some of my posts have been shard on the websites of other bloggers.  I also have put some of the recipes on my Pinterest page.  When I make a post I share it on Google+ as well as Facebook.  This has really circulated the blog.  I have had a total of 5,250 page views and counting in the past year.  Because I am able to track audiences, and traffic sources on my blog I can see that people are not just using their computers to view my recipes, but they are looking at my blog on I Pads, I Phones, I Pods, Android Tablets, and Blackberry devices.  I have a viewing audience from around the world.  I am amazed at who looks at this blog. 

My top ten locations are:

United States

Russia

United Kingdom

Canada

Germany

India

Australia

Philippines

Israel

Singapore

I have earned a total of $1.88 on this blog....yes I can earn money! I know it is not a lot but I am dependant on you, my viewing audience to click on those ad's on my blog.  When you do I earn money. 

 Some of my most popular page views are:

The Cake Plate with 525 views 

Tie Dye Frosting with 263 views

Edible Diorama with 228 views

Cinnamon Knots with 106 views

Tex-Mex Casserole with 71 views

Some of my least popular page views are:

Beefy Noodle Soup with 6 views

Garlic Bread Sticks with 10 views

Ham and Potatoes with 10 views

Zucchini Muffins with 11 views

Banana Bread with 12 views

I really enjoy checking the blog after I create a post to see how popular it is, who is looking at it and how many countries I am reaching.  It is fun to share a recipe with a professional blogger and have them review it and share it with others.  This is how my Cake Plate post became so popular...I shared it with The Southern Fried Bride.  Thanks for taking the time to view my humble little blog.  I cannot believe a year has gone by.  I look forward to several more anniversaries!



Beefy Noodle Soup

I was not planning on posting this recipe when I was cooking dinner tonight but I just have to say....it was really good. So I figured I needed to share, and needless to say this is the only picture you will get.  The recipe is so quick and simple it would make a great last minute meal.

 

Brown 1 lb. ground beef with a little garlic, salt and pepper in a large soup pot.  I didn't measure anything...just put in what you like.  Drain fat from browned ground beef and add some cut carrots, 1 pkg onion soup mix, 1 jar spaghetti sauce....I used Bertolli Fire Roasted Sauce.....and enough water to fill the pot about 2/3 full...or maybe a little more.  Add about 1 lb pasta to the pot and bring to a boil.  Cook and stir occasionally until pasta is done.  You may need to add a little more water if you need more broth.  This was so delicious I am excited to have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Peppermint Bark

As I have gotten older I have realized the the marathon baking days are over.  It is just better for me to do it in batches. I did a small amount of Holiday Baking last night.  I made Peanut Butter Balls, Oreo Truffles, and Peppermint Bark.  In the next day or two I will be making some Christmas Tree Spritz cookies and maybe some Sugar Cookies.  I will apologize now that these pictures are so bad....Seems I get better photos when I take them during the day.  The up side to this camera situation is that my Husband is getting a really nice one for Christmas... I can say that here because he never reads my blog...so I am sure the secret is safe!  I will have to "borrow" his camera for some future posts.  Now on to the recipe for Peppermint Bark.  It could not be any easier.....

 

 

You will need 1 pkg. Chocolate Almond Bark and 1 pkg. White Almond Bark.  Also you will need 1 box of Peppermint candy canes and 1 tsp. Peppermint extract.

 

I like to melt my chocolate in a double boiler.  You can use whatever method you prefer. Melt the chocolate almond bark and spread evenly on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

Let the chocolate harden before moving on to the next step.

  Last night we just ran an errand while we let the chocolate set up.

While you are waiting for the chocolate you can unwrap the candy canes and put them into a gallon sized zip lock bag.  Using a kitchen mallet take your frustrations out on those candy canes!

Next chop and melt the white almond bark. 

While it is melting add 1 tsp. peppermint extract.

Once the white chocolate is melted spread it evenly over the milk chocolate in the cookie sheet.

Immediately spread the crushed candy canes over the top of the white chocolate and gently press in to the chocolate so the pieces stick.

Let the pan cool and harden...then you can cut into pieces.  I was able to get 96 little pieces out of my pan...and lots of yummy crumbs!



Turkey Noodle Soup

This is my absolute favorite thing to make the day after Thanksgiving.  I love using up the leftovers and creating a meal that is fast and delicious! When I make my Thanksgiving Turkey I make lots and lots of Gravy.  I start by taking the neck, heart, gizzard etc. and placing them into a pot with water, salt, pepper, onion and garlic.  I cook it while the turkey cooks and keep replenishing the water as it boils down.  Then I remove the neck and gizzard and heart that I had in there and add all the turkey juice that I have from my bird.  I cook my bird in a cooking bag so it is east to just pour the additional turkey broth into the gravy pot...and trust me you will need a pot.  I thicken it with cornstarch and my Thanksgiving gravy is done and always delicious.  I put that leftover gravy in the fridge and the next night I dump it into a big pot...like this....

I chop up leftover celery and carrot sticks from the

 relish tray and add them to the pot.

I chop up leftover Turkey and add it to the pot.

I use both dark and white meat.

I dump a bunch of dry noodles on top.

It's about a pound - but I don't measure it.

I fill that pot up with water and give it a stir.

You can add some more salt and pepper for flavor if needed.

Just let that boil together until the noodles are cooked.

And there you have it.  Super fast and super delicious Turkey Noodle Soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers.  Add a leftover dinner roll and your meal is complete!



Chicken Parmesan

Maybe I should call this Chicken Mozzarella because there is no Parmesan in this dish at all.  This is a pretty simple meal - no actual recipe so I will just walk you through the steps.  It did take about an hour or a little more to prepare so it's not super quick

 but it was pretty good.

 

I took a package of boneless skinless chicken thighs and placed them between wax paper and pounded them semi flat.  I breaded them with seasoned flour, egg, and then flour again and fried them in oil.

I put the fried chicken into a 13x9 pan

and poured a bottle of Marinara sauce over the top

and covered that with mozzarella cheese.

A lot of mozzarella cheese!

I covered that with foil and placed it in the oven

at 350* for 30 minutes.

 

While the chicken was cooking I started a box of pasta to boil and made up some garlic herb marinade. 

When the pasta was cooked I tossed the marinade on it for flavor.

 

A quick warm up of some green beans in the microwave

and dinner was done!

It was delicious.  I think my family would have rather had the plain fried chicken but it's good for them to expand their pallet once in a while!