29 years ago....

....A sweet, good lookin', intelligent, talented, generous guy was born and I was the lucky one to marry him.

My sweet hubby's birthday was yesterday! He's been sick with a nasty cough from bronchitis for almost a week, but luckily was better in time for his special day :)

In addition to some nerdy computer games (hehe) he wanted some Bucky Balls! Don't underestimate its fun-ness....tiny magnetic balls have never brought such amusement to us before.Just be careful to supervise kids! They are dangerous if swallowed. I told him I'd get them for him if he left them at work. Hopefully he's getting some work done. ;)

His request for his birthday dinner was Indian food. We love Indian food. Anyone been to the Bombay House? Yum. I have never tried cooking it before, but was determined to find a yummy recipe and try my hand at it. This recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan bread from Mel's Kitchen was absolutely phenomenal!
I bet to everyone that when my dad came back to eat it he would say "this just screams with flavor!" So when he got back and started eating, I asked him how the flavor tastes...he said it was good. hmmm... We sat there talking and when he was finished we hear, "wow, that just screamed with flavor!" hahaha We all just bust up laughing making him wonder what in the heck was wrong with us. It was too perfect. I guess you had to have been there, but trust me it was funny :)

Screams with flavor it certainly does. Sometimes the weirdest combinations make the best food. Don't knock it til' you try it! It might just become your new best food.

Don't even get me started on this yummy Mango sticky rice dessert...which my mom now calls "YuMango dessert" lol. She has all the fancy stuff to prepare the sticky rice and made this for Tim, he was very grateful and full of ooohs and aaahhs and yuuums while eating it. :)

It's safe to say Tim was very happy with his meal, it was fun to make it and even more fun to see how much he loved it! All that work was totally worth it.
I'm grateful to have him in my life! He is my knight in shining armor...he's a nerd but so am I, and we are two happy nerds in a pod. :)

Cream filled chocolate eggs

YUM!!!

This is what we're having for our dessert for Easter!
They are just as good as those cream filled cadbury eggs, but more of a chewy creamy than liquidy creamy. This is stayin' on my list of traditional Easter treats! So yummy!!

Look at that smooth, creamy center....mmmmm

Store in refrigerator like it says, but take out to soften a little bit, so it will be more creamy in center...I like them better that way :)

Chocolate Easter Eggs
Source: Monique

The recipe can be made in advance and refrigerated.

1.5 lbs of icing sugar
1/4 lb butter melted
1/2 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Tbsps. corn syrup
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 lb of unsweetened or semi sweet chocolate melted

The original recipe called for adding paraffin. Monique didn't use the paraffin so neither did I.

Mix with Kitchenaide or other mixer. Shape like an egg and place in fridge till hard.

Melt chocolate. Dip each egg into melted chocolate, and place on tray lined with parchment or wax paper.

Colour some of the filling with yellow food color if you would like a "yolk" centre. Store in tins (between sheets of wax paper when cold).

Note: Double the recipe to use up the full can of Condensed Milk. A double batch makes approximately 32 two ounce eggs.


These don't take long to make, so there's still time to make some for your Easter dessert!! :) Not that I'm going to stop making them after Easter. hehe :)

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Oreos? Yes! Cheesecake? Double yes! Oreos AND cheesecake? Heck yes!

Warning: Making these could result in consuming the whole batch all by yourself! :)

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

• ½ cups Unsalted Butter, Softened
• 3 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Oreo Cookie Crumbs
• ½ cups White Chocolate Chips, Melted (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese using a hand mixer until they are well combined.

Add the sugar and vanilla and mix until ingredients are well combined. Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough into 1″ balls (I used a scoop to insure all measured the same) and roll in Oreo cookie crumbs so cookie is covered. Place covered cookie balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed.

Cool on the pan for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate. Enjoy!

Salsa...

Has got to be one of the most addictive snacks ever!
I've been stuck on regular salsa all this while, which is good, but I started venturing out on other kinds of salsa and it's opened a whole new world for me. :) It started with this amazing mango salsa that my sister made once upon a time, which I will share later, but for now, feast your eyes upon....

Balsamic Black Bean Salsa

{Recipe from Mel's Kitchen}

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained well
½ medium onion finely diced (about 1/3 cup)
½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 (7 oz.) can salsa verde (I used Herdez brand)
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the salsa marinate for a few hours (or overnight before serving). Drain most of the liquid from the salsa before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

AND...

Apple Berry Salsa with Cinnamon Chips
{Recipe from Pampered Chef}

CINNAMON CHIPS
4 (7-inch) flour tortillas
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

SALSA
2 med Granny Smith apples
1 cup strawberries -- sliced
1 kiwi fruit -- peeled and chopped
1 small orange
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp apple jelly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For cinnamon chips, lightly spray tortillas with water. Combine sugar and cinnamon in flour/sugar shaker; sprinkle over tortillas. Cut each tortilla into 8 wedges; place in single layer on cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Remove to cooling rack; cool completely.

For salsa, peel, core, and slice apples. Cut apples into quarters; chop with food chopper. Slice strawberries and chop kiwi. Place fruit in 1 quart bowl. Zest orange and juice. Add orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar and apple jelly to fruit mixture, mix gently. Serve with cinnamon chips.

They're both sooo tasty! This was my first time making tortilla chips, the cinnamon kind are awesome! Now go feast on them! :)

Chocolate ice cream wraps

When I went on my little excursion to AZ, we visited my favorite shop there called The Orange Patch. I think I love about every store that ends in "patch". :) Just a cool word!
We noticed some chocolate wraps and thought what would you use those for?! The awesome owner shared an idea, making us very eager to get back and try it out. We cleaned them out of their last 2 packages... I sorta felt bad for the lady behind us who was eyeing them also, but not bad enough to give them up :) It's not like I can go there everyday.

mmmmm Yum, right!

What you need:

* Chocolate wraps (recipe at bottom)
Ice Cream (your choice of flavor)
Whip cream/cool whip
Fudge/caramel sauce
Strawberries

Thaw ice cream. Smother ice cream on wraps
Roll up, wrap the wrap in saran wrap....HA :)
Put in freezer for a couple of hours til set up.

Slice the rolls, top with fudge sauce, whip cream and strawberries. Better yet, skip the whole cutting part and eat the whole thing yourself! ;) FYI, do more than one wrap, trust me, one is not enough!

I don't know where you can buy chocolate wraps around here (bummer!) so I found a recipe you can use to make your own!

* Chocolate Tortilla

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (get high quality cocoa like Ghiradelli)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut, melted (or vegetable oil)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 dash salt
• 
  

Combine ingredients until smooth.

Cover and store in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Pour 1/4 cup tortilla mixture in center of pan and tilt to spread batter into a circle.

Let cook for 2 minutes then flip to cook other side for another 1-2 minutes.(Be careful not to burn or else the tortilla will be too stiff for folding.).

Let cool to prevent ice cream from melting during assembly.

Thin Mint Truffles

Everyone get their girl scout cookies?!? I definitely got stocked up with mine :) Everyone's favorite is Samoa's right! ;) Thin mints is a close tie.
I couldn't resist trying these thin mint truffles and they are as good as they look! Great treat for St. Patty's..... and every other day :)

Thin Mint Truffles

9 oz box of Thin Mints
4 oz (1/2 block) cream cheese, softened
Dark chocolate almond bark or dark chocolate candy melts
Nonpareils

Crush the Thin Mints very finely. You can do this by placing them in a large Ziploc bag and rolling them with a rolling pin, or use your food processor, which is what I did.


Once they are crushed, pour them in a large bowl and add the cream cheese. I would like to say that you can just mix it up with a wooden spoon, but if you want to do things properly you are going to have to get your hands involved. Squish them up real good until it's thoroughly combined and the cream cheese is no longer visible.

Roll into 1 inch balls, place on a wax paper lined baking sheet, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Melt almond bark or candy melts and using a toothpick, dip truffles completely and twirl to allow the excess to drip off. Place back on lined baking sheet and sprinkle with nonpareils before set. Refrigerate until firm.


*Makes about 24 truffles.

St. Patty's cookies

Faith and I spent half the day baking up some fun treats for St. Patty's day. I thought these rainbow and shamrock cookies were super cute! Definitely a fun one to include the kids in! More fun than play dough cuz you can eat it! :)
Recipe found HERE.

For some reason, the purple looks blue in the pix...hm

Cream-filled strawberries

Ever heard of mascarpone cheese?
Mascarpone pronounced mas-kahr-POH-nay is a soft unripened cheese that belongs to the cream cheese family. It comes from Switzerland and Italy and is a thick, buttery-rich, sweet and velvety, ivory-colored cheese produced from cow's milk that has the texture of clotted or sour cream. It delicate and mild flavor is great with fresh fruit and is probably best known for its use in Tiramisu.

.....Uh, YEA! That screams delicious! I would suggest trying the mascarpone over cream cheese, it's very delicious!

Cream-filled Strawberries
Recipe from: CafeJohnsonia.blogspot.com

12-16 (more or less depending on the size) large strawberries
4 oz. cold heavy cream
4 oz. mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese, room temperature) {I found the mascarpone at Smith's with all the specialty cheeses.}
2-4 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar (make is as sweet as you like)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
a little vanilla extract

Beat the mascarpone (or cream cheese) and confectioner's sugar with an electric mixer. Add the heavy cream. Continue beating until the mixture thickens. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Cut an "X" into the bottom of each strawberry.

Fit a pastry bag with a star tip and fill it with the cream. Carefully pipe the cream into the center of each strawberry, allowing some of it overflow from the cuts you made on the strawberry.

Serve immediately, or cover with plastic film/wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.You can't stop at just one with these!

This makes a nice light, but addictive little treat for that special someone! :)

Want a cute tag to go along with it?! Go HERE to download!

Red velvet bonbon truffles

Just sittin' here eatin' my bonbons....literally. :) Of all the truffles I've tried, this one is by far one of the best! You think the oreo truffles are good? (and they are!) You'll love these! A hard, crunchy shell along with a melt-in-your-mouth-creamy, smooth center, the best of both worlds. Mmmmmm.

My centers don't really look as red in pictures, but they are red.

Don't have a tag to go along with these, but nothing says "I love you" louder than chocolate truffles, eh! :)

Red Velvet Bonbons

Original recipe by Lindsey Johnson
MAKES 18

For the centers:

8 oz. milk chocolate
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
4 oz. heavy cream
4 oz. cold cream cheese, cut into 16 pieces
1/2-1 tsp. red gel food coloring (I used Wilton)
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For dipping:
8 oz. tempered white chocolate (at about 80 degrees F.)
8 oz. tempered bittersweet chocolate (at about 88 degrees F.)

Chop chocolate and place in a large, heat-proof bowl. Add the cream. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. (You can take the bowl off the heat when there are still some larger chunks--they will melt.)

Remove bowl from heat. Add the cream cheese chunks. Switch to a whisk. Whisk until smooth. Add the food coloring and vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature. Press waxed paper to the surface and chill overnight or at least 5 hours.

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Use a small ice cream/cookie scoop and drop evenly sized blobs of the ganache onto the waxed paper. (You should get about 18.) Place baking sheet in freezer for two hours to harden.

Once the chocolate blobs are firm, remove them from the freezer. Dust your hands with cornstarch and roll into smooth balls. Put the balls back on the baking sheet and chill again for a few hours.

Instructions for dipping:

Take one ball of ganache at a time, and drop them into the tempered chocolate. Carefully turn the ball around in the chocolate so it is uniformly covered with chocolate. Use a regular fork, or chocolate dipping fork to remove the ball from the melted chocolate. Drag the bottom of the fork over the edge of the bowl to remove the excess melted chocolate.

Place the bonbon on the waxed paper. Repeat with remaining balls. Drizzle leftover chocolate over the tops of the dipped bonbons. Let harden in the fridge until ready to eat.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container, or layer bonbons on waxed paper in a freezer-proof container. Let some to room temperature before serving.

Chocolate mousse filled cupcakes with chocolate ganache

Does that name catch your attention or what?!? :)

My mom told me that cupcakes are goin' out and pies are the "in" thing now. Well, not for me, especially with these. I do love a good pie, but this is not your ordinary cupcake! I've been wanting to make filled-cupcakes for a while and decided to try it out with my chocolate mousse.

I found this handy little gadget, specifically designed for filling cupcakes, at Orson Gygi. (my new favorite store!) Some of the gadgets I see though I think, come on you'd have to be really lazy to buy this! :) You could easily just scoop out centers with a spoon, but I'd rather poke it and twist it than spoon it. :S

As I was writing this, it reminded me of the game "Bop It". If you've heard of it, you'll know what I mean....bop it, twist it, pull it. :) I forgot to show the "dip it" part, that's the funnest (it IS a word ;) part!

Aren't they so pretty! They're so good, even my milk-allergic hubby couldn't pass one up! Poor, poor guy. :)

hehe. :) That may or may not have been me who devoured that.

Chocolate mousse-filled cupcakes with ganache
*One box cake mix (I used devil's food)

Follow instructions on cake mix box. Once cupcakes are cooled, make mousse.

Chocolate Mousse
(from my mousse cup recipe last year)

Whip 1 pint heavy whipping cream to medium stiff peaks. Stir in 1 pint jar of Kraft double fudge topping and 2 teaspoons cocoa.

Make holes in center of cupcakes (whichever method you prefer). Fill with chocolate mousse. Refrigerate til it sets up a bit.

Chocolate Ganache
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Put cream in double boiler. When it starts to simmer a little, take off heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth.

Now, the fun part. Take cupcakes out of fridge, dip tops into ganache making sure it's all covered. Sprinkle with cute pink nonpareils or anything of your choice. This may be too much chocolate for some (is there such a thing!), but I tried doing buttercream frosting on it, and there's just no better way to do it. The ganache goes very well with the mousse. Put in fridge to set up.
Hurry and stick in these cute cupcake toppers I made and give to a friend before they all magically disappear. :)

Strawberry Popcorn + printable tag!

Thinking about the other popcorn recipes I've seen and tried, I looked around for one for Valentines but found nothing really. I decided to experiment (I don't do this hardly ever, especially with food) and see how my idea of strawberries and cream popcorn would turn out.

I got some chocolate and found some strawberry extract and started. 2 minutes in, I stopped. haha Nothing worse than seeing your smooth chocolate instantly turn chunky (well, I guess it's far more worse seeing yourself instantly turn chunky, lol). I figured since peppermint extract worked for the peppermint bark popcorn, this would work. Not the case..supposedly it's water-based. Oh, poop.
Orson & Gygi have everything, so I called to check and I found something even better than extract.....strawberry flavored chocolate! Perfect!

I started off with strawberry popcorn, drizzling white chocolate for my strawberries and cream. Then I thought it might be too strong, so I did vanilla popcorn drizzled with strawberry chocolate. Then I thought....HEY, chocolate covered strawberry popcorn!....woa :) It's as good as it sounds! I took a poll for people's favorites and the verdict was:

#1 White chocolate drizzled with strawberry.
#2 Close tie was chocolate covered strawberry.
They're all good though, in their own way. :)
Not only is it yummy but it's such a bright, pretty color of pink!! I love it!

Strawberries & Cream Popcorn

15-16 cups popped popcorn
1 lb. of either strawberry flavored chocolate or white
white, strawberry or milk chocolate for drizzling
So many possibilities!

Melt 1 lb chocolate and pour over popcorn. Stir around til it's all coated. spread out on wax paper to dry. Drizzle with chocolate of choice using a fork. let dry. Break up in chunks and eat! :) Or wrap it up cute, print off these fun labels I made to go with it and deliver to a friend or special someone!

Valentine card #1

So I just thought it would be fun to make Valentine cards/tags to go along with the Valentiney recipes I share. I am posting them on my design site, My Pookie Designs. I just posted one to go with the Eclair Squares; go print them out and have fun with them! :) Keep checking back there after I post recipes here, for a card to go along with each one!

Eclair squares

I LOVE eclairs, but they can be a little time consuming (totally worth it though), but these scrumptious puppies, you get basically the same thing, a different way, in half the time! So easy. So yummy. I got this from my friend and was totally stoked to make them! I could eat a whole pan of these because they're so light and fluffy and creamy! *For the record, I did NOT eat the whole pan....but I could....just sayin' ;)

Eclair Squares

1 stick butter
1 Cup water
1 Cup flour
3 oz cream cheese
4 eggs
2 T milk
1 large pkg vanilla pudding
1 1/2 C milk
8 oz cool whip
chocolate syrup

Crust

Boil 1/2 Cup Butter (one stick) & 1 C water. Add flour and eggs, beating well after each one. Spread onto a greased pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 min until puffy. Let cool.

Filling

Beat cream cheese and the 2 T of milk. In other bowl mix pudding with 1 ½ C milk. Combine with cream cheese mixture and mix until creamy. Fold in cool whip. Spread over the crust and refrigerate til it sets up a little. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and ENJOY!

Christmas traditions!

Every Christmas Eve we go to my parents for a formal dinner and exchange gifts. My mom makes pj pants for everyone out of the most comfortable fabric ever, they are so goochie soft and warm! Last year the boys complained that the girls always get to have the fun and requested fuzzy soft pants like us. So this year my mom did just that and found a fun shirt to go with it, they all turned out awesome!! I love this tradition, one can never have too many pj's! :)

Our traditional jammie pix!
It wasn't quite the same without Trent and his family, missed having them there!
I love the pic of Faith and her little niece, 'Baby Kelsey' as Faith still calls her :) Faith didn't want to hold her at first cuz her hands would get wet from Kelsey's spit-up-shirt. haha so cute!

Faith is such a pretty little princess. Some say she looks like Shirley Temple here. :)

This is either example of Patrick's creativity or not having enough to do :) hahaha it's funny tho

I made these Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars for our dinner and they were very yummy!
Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1/2 C (1 stick) real butter, melted
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 C shredded coconut
1 C cinnamon chips
1 C white chocolate chips
1/2 C chopped pecans
1/2 C dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour butter into a 9x13" pan and spread with spatula to cover the entire bottom of pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over butter and spread into an even layer. Press down gently with fingertips. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over graham cracker crumbs. Continue with the remaining ingredients: cinnamon chips, white chips, pecans, and cranberries, sprinkling each in an even layer. Press down gently with fingertips over entire pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and slightly golden on top. Let cool completely before cutting.

Once again, Merry Christmas to you all!!