Steeler cake

Go Steelers!

I was craving chocolate cake with mocha icing (see recipe for icing here) so I made this for the game today!  Haven't done too much with icing recently, so I had fun.  I used this template, flipped it to be backwards, printed it, traced it and put it on my cake so that I would have nice looking diamonds and circles.  

Easiest Mac n Cheese

Not just easy - probably the easiest mac n cheese ever.  Maybe even easier than Kraft Mac n Cheese.  No boiling water, testing your noodles, draining pasta.  It's just a dump and go.  And also...  it's excellent!

We had this at one of Nick's family reunions and I enjoyed it so much I asked one of Nick's aunts if she could get us the recipe.  She e-mailed it to me and we made it for a Steelers game a few weeks ago.  I was excited that not only was it simple, but it was a hit!  Here's the easy peasey mac n cheesey recipe!

Wait til you see the directions for this one!

Mac n Cheese 

•1 1/2 c. uncooked macaroni

• 4 c. milk

• 1/2 c. melted butter

• 1 1/2 c. cheese (velveeta and/or whatever else you have)

• 1 tsp. salt

• dash pepper

Mix everything in a 9 x 13 pan and bake for 3 hours @ 235°F.

I stirred whenever I passed in the kitchen, probably 2 times.  It was runny when I took it out but it will congeal a lot as it cools.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are very cakey - and very good!  I made them with wheat flour and they were excellent - and I could pretend they were a little healthier.  :)  It's less noticeable if you use half and half wheat and regular flour.



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour  (or substitute with wheat and they'll still be awesome!)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I didn't add)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt.  In a bowl attached to your mixer, combine sugar, oil, and pumpkin.  Add egg.  Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and stir in.  Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

2.  Add vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts.

3.  Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.  Move to a wire rack to cool.

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Source:  allrecipes.com  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies III

Spiderweb Pumpkin and Ginger Cupcakes

My favorite time to bake is when I have a Saturday when we don't have to do anything.  It's especially nice for when I am doing something with icing.  When I have to wait for something to cool, mix colors, decorate, etc. I just like to have a lot of time.  These weren't too bad time wise.  The cupcakes were easy to make and so was the icing. The recipe said it would make 12 cupcakes - I made 15 and they were the perfect size.  I love how festive they are for Fall/Halloween!  They're from a book that my brother and sister-in-law got me for my birthday (Thanks again, guys!)

Spiderweb Pumpkin and Ginger Cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 3/4 tsp. baking powder

• 3/4 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp. ground ginger

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

• 3 large eggs

• 1/4 cup (about 1 1/4 oz.) crystallized ginger cut into 1/8-1/4 inch pieces

Icing:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 to 2 tsp. whole milk

Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger into a medium bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low-medium speed, beat the melted butter, sugar, and pumpkin until smoothly blended.  Mix in the eggs and crystallized ginger.  On low speed, mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated.  The batter will be thick.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner.  Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack.

Carefully place the wire rack on top of the cupcakes in their pan.  Invert the pan and rack to release the cupcakes onto the rack.  Turn the cupcakes right side up to cool completely.  

Icing:

In a large bowl attached to an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla on low speed until smooth and thoroughly blended, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth, about 1 minute, then beat on medium speed for 1 minute to lighten the frosting further. 

Frost the cupcakes.  Transfer 1/4 cup of the frosting to a small bowl and stir in enough cinnamon to make it a light brown color and enough milk to make a thick but pourable frosting.  Set aside to use for the spiderwebs.  Use a small spatula to put a second layer of frosting on each cupcake.  Be generous with the icing - a scant 1/4 cup on each.  Make a smooth even layer on top.

Spoon the reserved cinnamon frosting into a small self-sealing freezer bag and seal it.  Cut a tiny hole in one corner of the bag, about 1 1/6 inch long.  Hold the bag about 1/2 inch above a cupcake and slowly pipe two circles, one inside the other, with a dot in the center.  Using a toothpick and beginning at the center on the dot, slowly drag the toothpick to the outside of the outer circle.  Alternate the direction of the toothpick as you continue making lines to form the web pattern, making the next line from the outside of the cup cake to the inside.  Finish the rest of the cupcakes the same way.

Halloween cupcake liners

Love these spiderweb cupcakes!

Happy Halloween!

Pretty darn good pork and sauerkraut

Did you know that Giant Eagle sends coupons in the mail specific to what you?  I didn't know, until about a month ago when we got some coupons for $1 off each for bananas, Kraft grated parmesan cheese, pork, strawberries, and a few other things I can't remember.  After tearing apart the coupons and putting them in my purse I ended up carrying them around for around for almost a month.  During what was supposed to be a quick in-and-out grocery trip, I remembered them, (and remembered that we needed milk) so my little shopping basket became quite heavy.  All this to say, I bought a pork roast and was looking for a good pork roast recipe.  I found this one and am glad I did!  Nick said, "Add this to the 'make before not too long' list" so it must be good!

I had a small roast and squeezed it into a pretty small covered dish, covered it with the veggies and spices, and then squeezed the rest of my veggies into another small covered dish.  As a result of my squishing everything into small dishes there was a ton of liquid in both dishes.  The pork was more or less boiled in the juices from the sauerkraut and diced tomatoes.  This was probably not how it was intended to be, but it worked for us!  Also, when I made it I had a small roas, so I halved the sauerkraut, tomatoes, etc.  Here's the recipe:

Pretty darn good pork and sauerkraut
• 41 oz sauerkraut
• 1 - 4 lb. boneless pork loin roast
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 Celery ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 medium carrots, cut in half widthwise and quartered (I substituted with a handful+ of baby
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 325°.  Place half of the sauerkraut in a large roasting pan.  Place pork roast over sauerkraut; top with remaining sauerkraut.  Spoon tomatoes over top.  Arrange the celery, carrots, and onion around the roast.  Sprinkle brown sugar overtop.  Add parsley, bay leaves, oregano, and pepper.

2.  Cover and bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°F, basting occasionally with pan juices.  Discard bay leaves.  Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing.



Source: allrecipes.com Sauerkraut Pork Supper