strawberry cake, semi-homemade

It can be really difficult for me to bake a cake from a cake mix. Not difficult in the sense of it being hard to do, but more the fact that I could make this cake completely from scratch…. yet I am using a mix. I will be the first to admit that it is quicker, cheaper, and requires less ingredients and precision…. yet it is still semi-homemade. Sometimes I just need to be okay with baking a cake from a mix… haha…because I do it all the time, mostly due to the lack of funds to buy whats needed for all the ingredients of a homemade cake. A good friend and I have been wanting to bake a strawberry cake together for a while and this was the end result, it was FANTASTIC!

The cake is a box mix from Duncan Hines …. but the icing IS homemade and oh my goodness is delicious! It is made with fresh strawberry puree and tastes like strawberry ice cream. I kept the icing in the fridge afterwards because I had so much left over. This was a terrible decision because the combination of a stressful school week and a tub full of icing sitting in the fridge led to me eating with a spoon throughout the day! Enjoy this recipe, it really was delicious!

Strawberry Cake

prepare the strawberry cake from the mix. Bake in two 9in round cake pans or in a 13×9 pan. Cool completely before frosing

Strawberry Icing

thanks to The Nesting Project

1 cup frozen strawberries thawed

1/2 pound butter

1/2 lb cream cheese

7-8 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and the confectioners sugar. Puree the frozen strawberries until smooth and add to the icing.

*this cake tastes EVEN BETTER the next day. Chill it in the fridge overnight if you can because the strawberry flavor intensifies and is just wonderful

no leeks please

now I know in the top corner of my blog it says something about “balancing healthy food with sweets” you may have already realized that my ratio of desserts to healthy food is about a 6:1 ratio….. hmmmm. so therefore I needed to add this recipe haha. It is light and easy to make. I found this in a Real Simple Magazine and it was my inspiration. I made it for my family and they all really enjoyed it. It made enough for a small army! so we froze a lot of the pasta and saved it for a later day.

This pasta did call for leeks. Well those got nixed by the ones I was making the pasta for. I haven never had leeks, but for the sake of my family, I decided not to use them. Oh well.

This pasta was a wonderful light pasta stocked full of lima beans and sweet peas. I loved it and love how easy it was to make.

Chicken Fetticcine with Lima Beans & Peas (no leeks)

inspired by Real Simple

Serves 4 Hands-On Time: 25m Total Time: 25m

 

Ingredients

• 12 ounces fettuccine (3/4 box)
• 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 1 10-ounce package frozen lima beans (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino or Parmesan (1 ounce)

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, adding the beans and peas during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (but not brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Add the chicken, cream and cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add the pasta and tarragon to the skillet and toss to combine. Sprinkle with the cheese before serving.

its okay….

Yogurt is one of my favorite snacks, and is one of the top five foods you should eat everyday ( says the book Eat This Not That). Well I went home a few weekends ago and had a craving for some frozen yogurt. I wanted to make my own. It was a challenge (and was easier than making homemade ice cream haha, no egg yolks, no difficult custard to make). I found a recipe for Vanilla Frozen yogurt that basically combined yummy vanilla greek yogurt, with sugar, vanilla and a few other things. It is simply mixed together, chilled and put in the ice cream maker. I was so excited about it. When it was done churning, my sister and I pulled open the top and tasted it. Her thoughts were “umm….. its okay”.

Sadly sometimes things you make are just okay, they do not taste terrible, but they really are not that yummy. Usually okay things are not made a second time. It is hard to accept but sometimes, you just have to be okay with the fact that your food creations are just okay. So this recipe will not be a repeat, I promise to try another frozen yogurt recipe and hopefully this one will be better. We decided that next time, we want to make a fruit flavored frozen yogurt, rather than just homemade vanilla.

red velvet valentines…. a little late, but still delicious

glaze, spread, sugar coating, topping, sugar paste…frosting……..icing 🙂

the best part of the cake, the best part of the cupcake. I am the girl who, when eating a slice of cake, will cut and eat the cake out from the surrounding frosting and save the frosting for last . I always strategize to get an end piece from a sheet cake, or cookie cake and I shamelessly, late at night, have licked the frosting off a cupcake and thrown the rest of it away…. sad, but true (sorry cake lovers) . Anyways, all that to say that I topped these yummy red velvet cupcakes with fluffy cream cheese frosting. I doubled the recipe because it just did not seem to make enough. These cupcakes were a cute valentines day present from mom. It is a simple mix from Target that I whipped up for prayer group. They were delicious. Sorry I do not have a recipe. Hopefully this just gave you a craving to make some red velvet cupcakes of your own.

HAPPY EASTER!

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” Psalm 118:24

What a beautiful day today, Easter Sunday. These cute cute cupcakes were found on Foodnetwork.com. They took a little time to make, yet were well worth it. Such a fun Easter idea to share with friends and family!

Chick & Egg Cupcake Recipe

adapted from Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 24 vanilla cupcakes
• 2 cans vanilla  frosting, dyed blue
• Green coconut grass, recipe follows
• 1 bag candied malt balls (Robins Eggs)
• 24 yellow chick Peeps

Directions

Frost a cupcake with frosting. Press a circle of coconut grass on top. Nestle the malted eggs on top of the grass. Gently press the peep onto the center of the grass.

Coconut Easter Grass for Cupcakes:

• 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 to 2 teaspoons liquid green food coloring
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon liquid yellow food coloring

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a mesh rack on top, if available.

Put coconut in a shallow bowl. While tossing with a large spoon, add food coloring drop by drop until the desired color is reached. A little more green than yellow makes a pretty grass color. Add a few tablespoons water to moisten the mixture and help disperse the color evenly. If the color is too dark, add additional water, as needed, to dilute to the desired color. Drain the coconut in a sieve or strainer.

Spread the coconut in an even layer on the rack, or directly on the lined baking sheet. Place in the oven until dry, about 10 to 15 minutes. Use immediately, or store in covered container for up to 3 days.

Cook’s Note: Food coloring can be messy and can stain your skin. To prevent this, wear latex gloves. You may find it easier to color the coconut in a large zip top plastic bag, tossing it to color evenly.

Yield: 2 cups coconut grass