Recipe #9: Lasagna Cupcakes.

Read the title again. Think about it. I know you're wondering what I mean. Well, relax, because I'm on to something.

Every time that I've ever made lasagna, I've always ended up with nearly a full pan of left overs. That never get eaten. Great. So I found a solution.

Lasagna Cupcakes. (Adapted from Can You Stay For Dinner) 


- 12 oz. ground lean beef
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon pepper
-1 cup chopped onion
-1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
-1 can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-3 teaspoons dried oregano
-1/2 teaspoon dried basil
-1 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
-24 wonton wrappers
-1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Remember- this was after the whole cake problem from my last post. Therefore, I was flustered. And I forgot to take a picture of my ingredients. I'm realizing that the more flustered I am, the less attention I pay to the blog. So in many of the upcoming recipes, there will be evasive, non-existant pictures. I'll apologize now.

Step 1: Making the sauce. 
Fairly simple, really. Just your basic meat sauce.

Saute the mushrooms, garlic and onions as the meat browns in a saucepan. 

Oh look, I forgot to take pictures of the sauce after it became a sauce. To finish the sauce, pour the tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes into the meat mixture along with 2 tsp. of the dried oregano. Bring the sauce to a low boil and then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and you're done!

Step 2: Ricotta filling

I once again took not near enough pictures. Combine the ricotta cheese, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, the remaining oregano, and basil together to complete the cheesy lasagna filling. 

Step 3: Make those cupcakes! 

Spray a muffin pan and line with wonton wrappers. I used the round wrappers so that the corners wouldn't be sticking out of the muffin pan and burn during baking. Press the wrappers into the bottom of the pan and press all the way to make sure they form the correct shape. You'll then layer the sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese. Add another wonton wrapper and repeat the steps. Simple as that. 

Most people I know have never used a wonton wrapper. They're located in the refrigerated section of the ethnic food section. If you're from around here (and if you know me, then you know where "here" is) and you go to Kroger, they're at the bottom of a cooler in the ethnic/organic food section next to the bakery). 

Step 4: Bake!

Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. 

Step 5: Convert to a Lasagna Cupcake believer. 

It will happen. At least I think so. Perfect serving size in my opinion. And the best for portion control. Let's be honest- it's a lot easier to cut a bigger piece of lasagna and get away with it than it is to eat numerous cupcakes. I had leftover sauce, just a warning. So if you want to cut the sauce recipe down, feel free. But overall, they turned out pretty darn good. Colin and Molly seem to agree. 

Another success. I'll take it. 

Happy eating!! Share the love!!

-Olivia.

Recipe #8: Play-Doh Cake.

First of all: I should probably call this Rainbow Cake instead. But Play-Doh is just way more fun.

Second of all: This is the cake I complained about in my last post. So you know how it turns out. But I'm taking the high road, I'm realizing that lessons come from bad experiences, and I'm embracing my baking blunder.

Here we go.

Play-Doh Cake.


-2 3/4 cups cake flour
-4 teaspoons baking powder
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-4 egg whites
-1 1/2 cups white sugar
-3/4 cup butter
-1 cup milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon almond extract

Step 1: Sift, sift, sift. 

Literally. Sift. Sift. Sift. Three times. Cake flour. Baking Powder. Salt. 

Step 2: Meringue, anyone? 

Here's the deal with Meringue. It's fickle. Real fickle. I think that's part of the problem that I had with the cake. So read carefully and take notes. Okay, maybe not notes. As long as you follow my directions, you'll be okay. 

First: Separate the eggs. If you have an egg separator, great. If not, you can save yourself the dish and use the shell! 

Beat the eggs. And then beat them some more. And then some more. High speed until eggs are foamy. 

This occurred after a lot of egg beating. A lot. 

Combine half cup of white sugar with the eggs. And then beat some more. A lot more. 

Eventually, the eggs and sugar will become this. Slightly unbelievable, but true. Keep mixing until soft peaks form when the mixer is lifted out. Check often because over mixing can cause problems with the cake. 

Step 3: Here comes the Cake Batter. 

I guess I'm doing the steps for this blog a little differently. Because there are so many components to the cake (or two components), I'm dividing it by the big steps. Under the captions are the step by step directions. For this part, I recommend moving the meringue to a separate bowl and washing the original mixing bowl. In the end, the entire batter will be mixed in the large bowl, so this needs to be done. Back to the batter: 

Cream the butter and remaining cup of white sugar until smooth. 

Begin adding small amounts of the sifted dry ingredients in rotation with small amounts of the milk. Mix between each addition until smooth. 

Add flavorings.

Step 3: And two became one...a love story: 

Combine the meringue in with the cake batter. Mix thoroughly, but no more than needed. Anytime that meringue is used, treat it like a person. No one likes to be beat up for no reason. Meringue has feelings too. Be gentle, or it will bite back and ruin your dessert. Trust me. 

How can two parts of such fluffiness not make a fluffy cake? Well, I'm about to tell you. 

Step 4: Bake away. 

Here's where the pictures and the right directions get in a bit of a tiff. I got a big head and started thinking that I could do anything good in the kitchen and that I was better than the rules. Nope. Turns out I was wrong. So the correct directions are: 

-Pour batter into a 15 x 10 x 1 pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. This can also transfer to two 9" round pans baked at 30-35 minutes or two 8" round pans baked for 25-30 minutes. 

- Remove from pan after 10 minutes of cooling and let cake cool completely on a cooling rack. 

I bet that if I would have just listened to that, it would have turned out delicious. So just because the cake flopped on me, don't give up hope. I dare you to continue baking it and enjoy the deliciousness. But as for the rest of the story, this is what I did....

I simply sprayed the pans with cooking spray and divided the cakes into four 9" pans. Why four, you ask? Just wait. 

I was on a mission to create a color cake. So I divided the batter into fourths and colored it up. The blue and green, I mixed after pouring into the pan. Then I realized that it would probably be better to do it ahead of time as to not mix in the cooking spray. Either way, it was really just a big mistake on my part to try to add food coloring to a recipe such as this. You see, food coloring requires mixing. I over mixed the meringue and it fought back. And it won. 

I did do this right, if nothing else. So pay attention, readers. When baking more than one cake in this fashion, make sure to stagger them in position in the oven.  This helps regulate heat and also ensures that each cake will bake evenly. It requires a little love, because you need to rotate them half way (or in this case, quarters) of the way through, but it helps with the cake, so it's worth it. 

The cake will begin to pull away from the pan when it's done baking. The toothpick trick is also helpful. 

Step 5: Make it pretty.

Again, this part didn't really work for me. I let my cakes rest in the pan too long (along with the fact that I didn't line the pan with parchment paper) and as I tried to flip them out, they pretty much fell apart. Looking back, it would have been great to take a picture of that, but I wasn't in the mood for photography. My mother came to the rescue, stacked the cake together, and crumb coated the icing for me. Thank God, because at that point, I was so over cakes that I didn't want to look at it. But anyway, it kind of sort of made it. At least for pictures.

Colin slaving away on the decorating. Thank you, sir. 

Well, I wouldn't call it pretty, but, oh well. 

Well, that's the story of the Play-Doh cake. So what lessons did we learn? Follow the directions. Find a recipe without meringue involved when using food coloring. And gain some gosh darn patience when baking a cake. Okay, maybe that was just me that learned that lesson. 

Overall, though the cake became really heavy and dense from the over mixing, it did taste good. The almond extract really adds to the flavor of the cake. I'd recommend the recipe, but stick to the recipe. 

Happy eating! Share the love! 

-Olivia. 

I'm a letdown.

Tonight, I made three recipes. You'll note that the title of this post does not in any way include a recipe.

I'm a letdown. But I've come to peace with it.

I started making a white cake from scratch. I documented it well. Really well. Then I got discouraged when I tried to remove them from the pan and they fell apart. I baked them well, they tasted good (at least the batter tasted good) and I was kind of pumped. Then they fell apart. It was a layer cake. Four layers. Two fell apart...I didn't even want to touch the second two.

Ever had that depressing, frustrating, what-the-heck-can-I-do-about-this, I-just-want-to-get-out-of-the-kitchen feeling? Totally happened to me tonight. I was half way through making the icing when I messed up the cakes. Hadn't even started my dinner yet. Not a cool feeling.

Dinner consisted of mini lasagna cupcakes. Sounds weird, but it really turned out pretty good. By the time that I made them, I wasn't even thinking about the blog. Instead, I was just trying to get my dinner ready.  A little distracted and discouraged about the cakes, I didn't take too many pictures.

Luckily, I have a feeling that I'll be making these another time. They were a successful project and pretty easy. So I'll have to do it again and I'll make sure to keep good record, take good pictures, and get it up as soon as possible.

Next, I made homemade garlic bread. Another success. But also another complete flop on the blog business. Lucky for me, garlic bread and lasagna cupcakes go together quite well. So I'll be sure to put them on here.

I had planned on making a multitude of recipes tonight for the sole purpose of working ahead. Getting a few posts done in one night takes the pressure off from baking/cooking every day. Clearly, that didn't happen. So that being said, it may be a few days before I post again. Not because I don't want to cook or bake, but I have a busy few days ahead of me.  I'll see what I can do to keep you guys fed! :)

Thanks for being so loyal and always reading the posts. It means a lot to me! :)

Happy eating (whatever it may be)! Share the love!

-Olivia.

Recipe #7: Summer Caprese Pasta.

I'm the worst at meal planning. The. Worst. That's another summer goal of mine: get better at planning meals. Or even just knowing what to make in general. After about an hour of web surfing and cookbook scanning, I found a recipe for this dish. There are few things I love more than fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. Throw in some pasta and you've sold me.

Summer Caprese Pasta.


-1 lb. Rigatoni or Penne Pasta (I chose Rigatoni)
-1 1/2 cup Tomato sauce
-2/3 cup Heavy cream
-1/3 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
-4 oz. Fresh mozzarella
-Grape tomatoes
-Fresh basil

Step 1: Boil the pasta. 

Need I say more? Okay, I will. I suggest seasoning the pasta with salt while it's boiling. It's the only chance you'll have to season the pasta all by itself. Also, make sure to stir the pasta occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. I only tell you this stuff in case you don't know how to boil water. Some people joke about it, for some, it's a real problem. 

Also, just a reminder, because I always forget: dump pasta AFTER the water is boiling. 

Step 2: Make the sauce. 

Pretty darn simple. I made it while the pasta was boiling to kill time. First, heat 1 and 1/2 cup of your favorite tomato sauce on the stove in a large sauce pan or pot. You'll mix the pasta in, so even though there isn't much sauce, you need room for the pasta. Once the tomato sauce is warm, add 2/3 cup heavy cream.  Then mix in 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese. I recommend freshly grated cheese. It has a much smoother texture and a sharper taste. 

Step 3: Mix it all up.

Strain the pasta and mix into the sauce. Fold it in slowly until all of the pasta is covered. 

Step 4: Add the goodies.

What makes a great Italian dish for me? Fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and fresh tomatoes. De-lish. After mixing the sauce while the pasta is boiling or after mixing the pasta in (whenever you next have time) cube the mozzarella, halve the tomatoes (if you prefer, you can keep some of them whole), and chiffonade the basil. Add the ingredients and mix into the pasta. 

What does chiffonade mean?!?

A chiffonade is a cooking technique which is frequently used with basil or spinach. Sounds super difficult and technical. Nope. It turns out it's pretty darn simple. Here's a little how-to....

 Start by washing the basil leaves. Stack two or three of similar size. 

Roll the leaves up tightly. 

Simply chop down the line in thin strips. Bada bing bada boom- you've just completed a chiffonade! :)

Step 5: Get ready to cook!

Pour the pasta into a greased 9x13 pan. Top with slices of fresh mozzarella and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Step 6: How good does this look?

All done. Hello, yummy summer pasta meal. :)

De-lish!

Happy eating! Share the love!

-Olivia.

Recipe #6: Grilled PB&J.

I'll admit that I put no effort into this "recipe".  Today, being Sunday, and the day that my mom returns from her conference, left me with a lack of motivation to hit the store and a drive to clean the house before mom returned home and yelled at us for the fact that we're a mess without her. SO- simple, simple lunch.

Some of you may have done this before; I'm not pretending to be a genius about it. If not, it's oozy deliciousness. My dad has made these for us kids our entire lives and has always said how he lived off of them in college. Considering that I'm moving into my first apartment in 3 months, I may be doing the same.

Grilled Peanut Butter & Jelly.


-Bread
-Peanut Butter
-Jelly
-Butter

Step 1: Make a good 'ole PB&J.
'Nuff said. Make it how you like it. In my opinion, the more peanut butter and jelly, the better. But that's just me.

I mean, a picture shouldn't really be necessary. 

Step 2: Grill that puppy up!

Butter one side of the sandwich and put the butter side down in a small skillet. While the sandwich is cooking, butter the other side. Then just let the sandwich cook like you would a grilled cheese! Simple enough.

Step 3: Eat it up!

Best served with milk in my humble opinion. 

Yum!

Happy eating! Share the love!

-Olivia.

Recipe #5: Swiss 'n' Shroom Stuffed Burgers.

Back to real food! Tonight, my mom and dad weren't home because they were taking a friend to the Great Banquet (a Christian weekend conference for adults). But I didn't want to run to town for food or eat whatever I could find wrapped in plastic in the fridge. I wanted to make burgers. And so I did.

For my brother and sister, and my brother's friend Brock, I just made regular cheeseburgers. I thought I would try out this new creation for myself before forcing it to be their dinner.

Swiss 'n' Shroom Stuffed Burgers.


I had seen a burger called the "Juicy Lucy" on Man v. Food a while back. It was burger filled with American cheese. Blan on the outside, oozy on the inside. And so came an idea: stuffing a burger with two of my favorite toppings: sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheese.

Amounts will vary depending on servings.
-Ground beef
-Swiss cheese slices
-Baby Portabella or Button Mushrooms
-Hamburger Buns
-Olive Oil
-Onion Powder
-Garlic Salt
-Seasoning Salt
-Salt
-Olive Oil

Helpful Hint

Before I start this "tutorial", I just want to give  you all a helpful little tip about mushrooms. Mushrooms are one of the dirtiest "vegetables" in the store after you get them home. Still covered in dirt and soil and whatever else. Obviously, they need to be washed. Badly. But here's a fun little tip: don't rinse them under running water like you would a regular piece of produce. Running water will flood the mushrooms and add water to them. Instead, dampen a paper towel and wipe off the dirt. It's a little time consuming, but can prevent the mushrooms from becoming a little slimy. 

Now back to those burgers. 

Step 1: Cut and saute the mushrooms. 

Slice mushrooms and put in a medium skillet. I saute my mushrooms with olive oil instead of butter, but that decision is up to you! I just drizzle olive oil around the skillet two times and that should be enough. You don't want to make the mushrooms to greasy. It will seem like that's not enough, but they'll cook way down and soak it all in. A dash or two of onion powder, garlic salt, and seasoning salt and you'll be good to go. Just let them chill out on low heat for about a half hour with occasional stirs and they'll be ready. 

Before

After

Step 2. Make those burgers! 

Usually when I make burgers at home, they're big, juicy, third-pounders. I got that from my daddy. But not tonight. Because I stuffed them, they needed to be pretty thin. I went for about a quarter-inch thickness. Just ball up some of the hamburger and pound out your frustrations. Feels nice, doesn't it? I learned a little trick from the Triple XXX diner in my new hometown of West Lafayette, IN. Boiler Up! Bread those burgers with a pat down of flour before cooking them. I'm not talking about caking on the flour, just a light coating similar to the coating left on after rolling out dough. This is particularly helpful with thin burgers. I suggest sprinkling flour down on the "pounding" surface before the pounding.  Otherwise, you'll end up like me and end up trying to scrape the meat off the board without messing up the newly formed burger. 

Thin burger.

Floured burger. 

Step 3: Stuff the burgers.

Slice of swiss cheese and a small (keep it small, remember, you have to fit it inside of the burger) amount of mushrooms on top of one of the burgers. Simple enough. Then lay the other burger on top. Pinch the ends together to lock in the toppings. 

Step 4: Cook them things! 

I pan fried my burgers. I turned the skillet on medium heat when I first started pounding out those burgers. I'd let it heat up for 5-10 minutes so it's pipin' hot when you put the burger on. High heat from the start will help to sear the burger. Once you get a good sear, you have a nice little crisp on the outside of the burger. Golden. Cook on one side for 4-5 minutes then flip over to sear the other side. Cooking time is up to you and dependent upon how you like your burgers. 

Step 5: Nom nom nom. 

Just look at this. 'Nuff said. 

Happy eating! Share the love! 

-Olivia.