#WordlessWednesday - Bad Influence

#WordlessWednesday - Jesus Loves The Little Raptors

from CakeWrecks.com

Quick Ass Gnocchi

Okay, discount the salt here. Seriously, you just need the mashed potato flakes, water, and flour. That's all. Any recipe with that few ingredients is a-okay in my book. Wes and I have been talking for a loooong time about trying gnocchi but kept not bothering. This was too easy for us to make excuses anymore. If you'd like to give it a try, I used the Quick Gnocchi Recipe from AllRecipes.com.

The first step is to make the mashed potatoes with less water than usual, basically. Wes got us garlic mashed potatoes, and they smelled freaking amazing. We knew we'd made the right call not getting plain.

Once that cooled down, I floured down the counter and started adding flour to the mashed potatoes to stiffen up the batter. This is where I made the one error of the process. I used too little flour. I let it be a bit too soft. So when in doubt, add a touch more flour. It wasn't a disaster, but it's something I will do differently next year.

 Pike thought that rolling the gnocchi was really fun, so he helped me out. Some of them may have been slightly squishy because of that, but it was well worth it. I used to cook with my mom in the kitchen, so it makes me very happy being able to do the same with him.

We had doubled the recipe, so we used a big old pot to boil the gnocchi because, frankly, I was too lazy to do a bunch of batches. For realz. They boiled quickly, then floated to the top, and I skimmed them off. Done! We also made some olive oil-coated sourdough garlic bread (shoutout to my bestie, the day old bread rack at Kroger). For sauce we warmed some canned four cheese sauce and threw in leftover crockpot chicken to add some extra protein.

This was the finished project. Like I said, I used a tiny bit too little flour, so they were softer than normal, but they still tasted pretty fantastic. All in all it was a hit with all of us, and we'll definitely be trying it again. Yay for cooking experiments! What have you tried out lately?

Hottie of the Week: CJ Jacobsen

Oddly, this week's hottie comes at my husband's suggestion. See, I don't do a lot of gushing about how hot other guys are in front of him. I just figure it's not good for anybody's self esteem, y'know? But he noticed that preeeetty much every time CJ Jacobsen came onscreen while we were watching Top Chef, I sort of couldn't help making some sort of inappropriate comment. In my defense, he's tall, hot, and he can cook his ass off. What's not to love? Even sexier? I totally creeper'd on him on Twitter and he didn't even mind. (proof below - I only lie most of the time)

So here's to CJ Jacobsen for being a talented chef (I will get a chance to eat his food someday, damn it!), and, obviously, a hottie. Enjoy, folks! Sidenote? There are not enough pictures of him on the internet. Very sad.

Pin-creation: Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I've been making an effort of late to not only pin things on Pinterest but MAKE them afterwards, so I've decided to share my humble efforts with you. These are faux Red Lobster-style biscuits. The recipe comes from this site and is as follows:

• 1 1/2 Cups Bisquick or other biscuit mix
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used half mild and half sharp since it was what I had; I think all sharp would probably taste better)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3/4 tsp garlic salt (I confess here and now that I had none so I mixed garlic & salt)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray cooking sheet with non-stick spray.
2. Combine biscuit mix, cheese and milk in a bowl and mix well (with a spoon works just fine). The dough will be sticky.
3. Use a tablespoon to drop lumps of dough onto the cookie sheet about an inch and a half apart. Bake for ten minutes.
4. Melt butter and garlic salt (a quick spin in the microwave does the trick).
5. When the time goes off, remove the biscuits, brush them with the butter mixture, and bake for five more minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
6. Serve immediately.

They were delicious. The recipe makes a dozen. My 17-month-old son had one and a half, and my husband and I ate the rest, so obviously I can't recommend these when you're dieting, but they're awesome. Definitely on par with the real Red Lobster biscuits.

The changes I want to make next time: Get real garlic salt. These were a touch too salty using garlic AND salt, and I think that could be fixed. My ratio was just off. I also need to get coarse shredded cheese instead of fine since I think that will give a texture closer to the "real thing."

Wilde Eats It: S'mores Pie

First, let me apologize for how long it's taken to get this post up. I made the pie for my sister's birthday earlier this month, and with planning my son's first birthday party, I got a little off schedule. Ooooops! Credit where it's due, I got this receipt from Pinterest, and the original source is the Cookies and Cups blog.

I'm pleased to say that this was a super easy to follow recipe, and it was AMAZING. We got a little over-eager and ate it right away, but if you let it sit for awhile, the slices will be more attractive and uniform. The taste, however, is out of this world either way. Check the original post at Cookies and Cups to see pictures of each step in the recipe.

• 6 Regular sized Hershey Bars, broken into pieces
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 7oz container of Marshmallow Creme

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Spray a 9" pie pan with baking spray.
3. Beat butter and sugar together until combined.
4. Add egg and vanilla.
5. On low add flour, graham cracker crumbs and baking powder.
6. Divide the dough in half.
7. Press half the dough in the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie pan.
8. Evenly spread the Marshmallow Creme over the bottom crust
9. Now spread the broken chocolate pieces on top of the Marshmallow Creme.
10. Now, form the remaining dough into a ball and place on a piece of wax paper. Top with another piece of wax paper and flatten into a 9" circle.
11. Carefully peel the top piece of wax paper off.
12. Flip the crust onto the top of the pie and peel the other piece of wax paper off.
13. Pinch the dough together to form the crust.
14. Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned.
15. Cool completely on wire rack and slice when ready to serve.

We're already talking about using the dough part of the recipe plus broken up Hersey pieces to make cookies, possibly with marshmallows thrown in, possibly with marshmallows browned on top after making them. Either way, I have a feeling we'll enjoy the hell out of it.

Lazy Ass Banana Bread

I realized after I was already gone from the house how blurry and awful the photo is, but hopefully you can forgive me.

I found an awesome-looking recipe for lazy banana bread on Pinterest the other day and since we had a few bananas going bad, I naturally had to try it. I did make a few amendments. First, I only had three bananas, so I tossed in an egg for extra moisture. Then, I only had a pineapple upside down cake mix. Which is just white cake mix with extra stuff, so I ignored the crushed pineapple and used the mix. I separated it out into two pans as directed, but I think I would have been better off using a single large pan since they were pretty short little cakes. I went ahead and tossed the brown sugar mix for the pineapple upside down cake on top because I figured... why not? It gives kind of a nice coffee cake sort of effect.

All in all, the cakes taste really good - banana-y, dotted with semi-sweet chocolate chips, and that little crustiness from the brown sugar topping. I'll definitely try this one again when we have bananas to use up, though again I'll probably go for a single loaf next time unless we're swimming in bananas. Still it's a great way to make some seriously easy, seriously lazy banana bread when the fruit's about to die on you.

Wednesday Dinner

Falafel, feta, olive oil, and mozzarella flat bread pizzas with salad.

Crowd-Pleasing Monkey Bread

This went over so well at Christmas breakfast that I figured I'd share the recipe, which is just a very very very slightly altered version from one on Pillsbury.com:


1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cans Flaky Layers Biscuits
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup bundt cake pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large -storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Separate dough into biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan.

In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Iced Coffee at Home

Most of us can't regularly afford the arm and a leg that Starbucks charges for coffee. God knows that I wish I could... and that I lived in a town big enough to HAVE a Starbucks. Or any coffee shop. But I digress.

The truth is that you can do the same job at home. When my husband and I make coffee, we usually make a whole pot (an alleged twelve cup size). We never, ever drink it all, though. I have a cup, he sometimes has two, and then we're done. Once that's settled, I pour the remaining coffee into another pitcher and stick it in the fridge.

The next morning, the fun begins. You see, even in the winter, I prefer cold coffee to hot. I love frozen coffee drinks, but iced coffee is awesome too. So I plop some ice in a glass (it's not the same without actual ice in it, trust me) and fill the glass about a third of the way with milk (I go for 2%, but it's all about preference). Then add a splash of flavored coffee creamer. You can also skip the creamer and use a splash of flavored syrup if that's your preference - either works to add some extra flavor and sweeten the deal. Then top it all off with the cold coffee and stir.

If you want to get fancy (like my husband did with the coffee pictured here), spray on some whipped cream and add a little chocolate syrup. The best part of making your own iced coffee - aside from the reduced cost - is that you can modify it wherever you want to suit your own taste and to save on calories. Win, win and WIN.

Root Beer in a Frosty Mug

Root Beer, originally uploaded by Lady Pandacat von Nopants.

...makes watching the Super Bowl worthwhile. It's halfway through, and soon there will be Glee and all will be right with the world. I hope everyone's having a lovely night! I'm psyching myself up to go back to work after having most of last week off due to excessive ice and snow :)

Low Fat Cake

A lot of you who are dieting or just like low fat eating probably already know this one, but one of the quickest, easiest baking tricks ever? Just buy a box of cake mix (chocolate is preferred in our house, but go with what works for you) and add a can of diet cream soda. General wisdom says Diet Coke... but vanilla-y cream soda makes more sense to me.

I will warn that the cake's soft texture will make it hard to ice (little hunks will want to break off and mix in with your icing), but it's delicious and moist and yummy. Put some ice cream on it and make with the eating.

Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I should have taken a shot of it cut too, and maybe I'll remember to before it's gone, but this is the cake I made for Wes for his birthday. It is a two layer chocolate cake (dark chocolate on bottom with pudding mixed in for moisture and devil's food on top). And to top it all off? Homemade cream cheese icing, which I am very, very proud of. I'm so proud that I'm actually going to share the recipe. It's only very slightly modified from the original I got from AllRecipes.com, but I didn't want it quite as sweet, and obviously I wanted it chocolate-y. I did make a HUGE batch of icing, so for a cake this size (8" or 9" rounds), you can probably cut it in half or at the very least cut it down by 1/4 or so.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
2 packages cream cheese (softened)

3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup cocoa (it may have actually been just shy of 1c)
2 sticks butter (softened) 
1 tsp vanilla

This is a super easy recipe. You beat the butter and cream cheese together until they're creamy and well mixed. Then you put in the vanilla and the  cocoa. You stir that until it's mixed. Then you start adding the sugar in - once again, stirring. The biggest problem I had is that my arms are weak and wussy and started hurting as I stirred in all that sugar. lol But in the end the icing is delicious and well worth the effort.

WANT.

Nothing major, I just have a total desire for sushi. Like NOW. Why is it not in front of me waiting to be eaten? But I don't think we can afford sushi this weekend, so... fail to that!

Crazy Cake

The flash really doesn't do it justice, but here's my weird cake. It's yellow cake with neon blue and green mixed in to make it green. The icing looks pink here, but it's actually a lovely, marble-y shade of purple. Totally from the box except for the color, so nothing fancy, but it's my little "yay long weekend" celebration :)

And it's DELICIOUS. lol

National Cupcake Day

Today is National Cupcake Day. Celebrate heartily! hehehe Lovely cupcake painting comes from Diana Evans' Etsy shop. Yum!

Barbeque chicken?

Okay, so we made a huge batch of bbq chicken in the crockpot. The sauce is called "sticky rum" barbeque sauce, and it was really good... but now we have lots of leftover chicken. Aside from just heating it up and eating it as is, who has some suggestions for other preparations? Other flavor combinations that might be good just to make it a bit different? Thanks, guys!