Decorated Almond Cake

Hey everyone!

Now you know from my last blog post that I took the Wilton Cake Decorating Basics class in August. So one of the things we had to do in class was decorate a cake. Actually, for this class we had to take an 8 inch cake that we baked at home, split it into two layers, add a filling, frost the cake, then learn how to do the gel overlays (the technique you use to add a design outline to the top of a cake so you can trace it with frosting). If you think it was a busy class you do not know the half of it. I only told you part of what we were supposed to do. But it doesn't matter if you don't finish decorating in class because as long as you have the techniques, you can practice or finish your decorations at home.

So because it was a busy class,  I was not able to finish my decorations in class and had to finish it at home. The only problem is that I was tired, had a messy kitchen to clean, and had a lot of frosting left over. Although, it sounds like I probably sat in front of the TV relaxing, I didn't. I actually decided to finish decorating my cake to get rid of the leftover frosting. Therefore, I thought about adding the cupcake design everyone was adding to their cake during the class to my cake. S I added it. But I should mention that I did not do it the correct way with the gel overlay. Instead, I did it freehand. LOL. And as you can see below, it did not come out that bad especially considering that I am not an artist.

Decorated Almond Cake

If you are wondering what type of cake this is, it is a Double Almond Cake. I used the Double Almond Cupcake recipe I blogged about a few months ago. I just added the batter to an 8 inch Wilton cake pan (love that pan now). As for the icing, I made buttercream icing and added almond flavoring. To make the yellow icing, I added Wilton yellow food coloring to the original white almond buttercream icing. For the creamy white top part of the cupcake decoration, I used some of the cream cheese frosting I made for the Carrot Cake Cupcakes I made earlier in the day.

Take care!

Cake Decorating Classes!!

Hey everyone!!

So how many of you have wanted to either perfect your cake decorating skills, learn how to make frosting correctly, or how to manipulate fondant? Now, I am not ashamed to admit that I've always wanted to learn how to perfect my skills and learn how to make and manipulate fondant. So one day I found the class that will help us all. And it is not expensive because every class is currently 50% off (I think it always is 50% off) and you receive 10% off every item you have to purchase for the class.

Wilton (the makers of almost every baking equipment you may own, want, or NEED to own) has cake decorating classes that everyone can take!! How awesome is that!?  They have the following four different classes for you to choose from: Course1: Wilton Decorating Basics; Course 2: Wilton Flowers and Cake Design; Course 3: Wilton Gum Paste and Fondant; and Course 4: Wilton Advanced Gum Paste Flowers. And the awesome part is that you do not have to take all four. Just take the ones you want to take. However, if you are not really good with the basics, Course 1 ends up being the prerequisite for Course 2 and Course 3...and Course 3 is the prerequisite for Course 4. But I would still recommend taking Course 1 even if you think you know everything about cake decorating basics. I thought I knew all there is to know about making frosting and the techniques used for decorating a cake, but I was wrong. I learned so much from the basics class that it was well worth the money in my book.

Now, if you are even slightly interested in taking one of these cake decorating classes, go to the Wilton website to find the locations near you that have them. I went to Michael's for my first class and will continue to go there for the next 2 classes I want to take.

But before I finish this post, I guess I should also give you all a warning...
Warning:  If you take these classes, you might run out of space to hold your baking equipment. I did! Now all my stuff is in the buffet server I have in my dinning room. And I still want more stuff!! SMH. So I guess you can say walking into a craft store that has every baking item you have ever dreamed of on a weekly basis is bad for your living space and your wallet. But if you go to Michael's, you will have so many coupons that you walk away winning most of the time. For example, I bought a 3-in-1 regular sized cupcake, mini cupcake, sheet cake holder for $8 the other day. It's original price was $20. SMH. Coupons work!!

If you want to find out more about my experience with the class, contact me. :)

Take care!

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps (AKA Burritos)

Hi everyone! So last month, I wanted burritos but wanted to make them at home instead of going to my favorite spot, Chipotle. So a few days later I remembered that I pinned a recipe on Pinterest about some burrito recipe. (Honestly, the recipe was for a wrap, but it had all the ingredients as a burrito.) Well I tried the recipe and fell in love. The burrito came out great and the recipe was easy. So I have to thank Mel's Kitchen Cafe for putting up such a wonderful recipe.

I honestly recommend that all of you try this recipe and switch out some of the ingredients for what you already have around the house. Once you make the burrito, let me know how it turned out and if you liked it or not.

Take care!

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature
• 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (or other leftover meat, like shredded pork or beef)
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
• 1/2 red or green pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I use a combination of Monterey jack and sharp cheddar)
• 6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
• Sour cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla. (Optional: I like to dollop little bits of sour cream over the cheese before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center – it makes the wraps delightfully creamy.) Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open and slightly flatten the wraps with the palm of your hand. Spray seam-side of the wrap lightly with cooking spray.

Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange wraps, seam-side down, in pan or griddle and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Cooking them seam-side down first helps seal the long edge so they don’t fall apart. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Hey everyone! So I am still on a roll with my blog posts. (Aren't you proud of me?) LOL. Now, think post is about the chicken noodle soup I made the same day I made the Homemade Chicken Broth. It only made sense to make chicken noodle soup after making the broth. Therefore, if you are making the broth, try this recipe and let me know what you think.

Take care!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• Chicken Broth (homemade or store bought or even water and chicken bullion cubes)
• Chicken, cooked
• Pasta
• Carrots, cut into chunks
• Celery, cut into chunks
• Onions, cut into slices
• Bell Peppers (only if you want them in your soup), cut into slices
• Seasonings: basil, thyme, black pepper, crushed pepper, Adobo, onion powder, garlic powder, etc.

Directions:

•  Crock-Pot Users

1. Place the amount of pasta you would like in your soup into the crock-pot. Note: The pasta will draw in the liquid so do not add to much if you are not making a lot of soup or adding a lot of broth.
2. Add the celery, carrots, onions, and bell peppers that were used for the homemade chicken broth to the crock-pot. 
3. Add the meaty chicken parts to the crock-pot (If you used chicken parts that had meat on them, you can strip it off of the bone and add it here.).
4. Add broth to cover over the ingredients in the pot by about an inch. (Can always add more broth later if you need to.)
5. Add as much seasoning as you need to to ensure the broth will taste the way you would like it.
6. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high (8 hours on low). (If you are not sure if it is seasoned enough, around the third hour, do a taste test and and what seasonings you need.)
   
7. Once the time is up, enjoy!

• Non-Crock-Pot Users

1. Follow steps 1-5 above, just place everything in your dutch oven or stock pot.
2. Once everything is in your pot, slowly bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until vegetable are tender (if using raw vegetables).
3. Once everything is cooked, enjoy!

 Note: Make as much soup as you would like. I didn't add any exact measurements because I usually make enough for 3-4 servings.

Homemade Chicken Broth

Hey everybody!! As I stated in an earlier post, I am going to keep posting until I am all caught up on my blogging. So I hope none of you are tired yet. LOL.


About two (maybe three) months ago, I decided to try a new butcher shop (yeah...I'm one of those people that does not purchase my meat at the grocery store). It was a very nice shop and the owner decided to give me a package of chicken backs along with some lunch meat for free. (Thank you!!) So of course I come home and parcel everything out and freeze it all.

Now, if we fast forward to last month, there was a random weekend day that I wanted BBQ chicken for dinner. So I go to the freezer to take out a parcel of chicken so it can thaw out and you would not believe what I thawed out. A package of CHICKEN BACKS!! I accidentally thawed the wrong package of chicken that was in the freezer. SMH. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I don't know many recipes that call for chicken backs. The only thing I know to do with them is make chicken broth. So that is what I did. So try this recipe out and let me know how it came out. :)

Take care!

Homemade Chicken Broth 

Now for this recipe, I do not have a picture of the broth after I was done with it because it is currently a solid mass in my refrigerator. But when I use it to make something that requires broth, I will add a picture here. If you cannot wait until then, check out my Chicken Noodle Soup post. I used the broth for that recipe.

Ingredients:

• Chicken bones, backs, or any part of the chicken with lots of bones (I used 6 chicken backs)
• 6 cups of water
• Seasonings: thyme, basil, Adobo, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, crushed pepper, etc. (enough for taste)
• 2-3 celery stalks, cut into chunks
• 1- 1.5 cups of carrots, cut into chunks
• Half of an onion, sliced  
• 2 miniature bell peppers, sliced

Directions:

• Crock-Pot Owners 

1. Place all of the ingredients in a crock-pot (use enough seasoning to taste).
   
2. Cover and let cook in crock-pot for 4 hours on high (8 hours on low). (If you are worried that you did not put in enough seasoning, do a taste test around the third hour of cooking. If there is not enough seasoning, add more.)
   
3. When done, separate the liquid from the non-liquid parts. 
4. For the liquid, pour it into a sealed container and place in your refrigerator or turn around and use it to make chicken noodle soup.
5. For the non-liquid parts, you can either throw it away or separate out the chicken parts to throw away and use the vegetables for another meal such as chicken noodle soup.

•  Non-Crock-Pot Owners

1. Place all the ingredients in either a dutch oven or a stock pot (use enough seasoning to taste).
2.  Slowly bring everything to a boil.
3.  Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Allow everything to cook for 2 hours. (If you are worried that you did not put enough seasoning, do a taste test around the first hour or hour and a half hour of cooking. If there is not enough seasoning, add more.)
4. Follow steps 3-5 above.

Now, you have homemade chicken broth! :)

Note: If you have not already noticed, I do not really measure out my seasonings if I am cooking from scratch. Cooking is a science to me and I enjoy trying things. So if you do not add enough seasoning in the beginning of something, just add more later. There is no shame in doing that.

Pesto Salmon with Pasta

Hey everyone!! As you already now, I am way behind in my blog posts. But this week is catch-up week for me. So do not be surprised if you see six new blog posts this week. :)

So one day last month, I was talking to one of my friends who has the Dark Yet Lovely blog and we got on the topic of dinner (I probably was hungry at the time). During our conversation about food, she gave me this great idea of seasoning my salmon up with pesto (the same pesto that has been sitting in the jar staring at me for months). Therefore, I ended up making the delicious meal you see below. Try it and let me know what you think or what variations you made to the recipe.

Take care!

Pesto Salmon with Pasta

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillet, thawed
• Pesto seasoning, approximately 3 tablespoons
• Seasonings: Black pepper, Italian seasoning, Adobo, crushed pepper, etc. (whatever you want to use)
• Spinach
• Cooked pasta (any type you like)
• Pepperidge Farm Mozzarella Monterey Jack Texas Toast (or regular garlic bread if you bread)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat baking dish with butter (or Pam).
2. Season salmon fillet with black pepper, Italian seasoning, Adobo, and pesto seasoning. (I like to add my own seasoning to give added flavor.)
3. Place salmon in a lightly buttered pan and place in the oven for 30-45 minutes. (Timing depends on the thickness of the salmon fillet you are using. But cook until salmon is cooked through.)
4. While the salmon is baking, boil pasta according to the instructions on the box.When the pasta is al dente, drain and add about 2-3 teaspoons of pesto to the pasta and mix well.
5. Steam spinach and add seasonings (black pepper, Adobo, crushed pepper, etc) until you are comfortable with the taste.
6. Once salmon is complete, remove from oven and allow to cool.
7. If you are making the Texas Toast, follow instructions on the package.
8. Once everything is complete, plate pasta, top with spinach and then top the spinach with a piece of the salmon fillet.

Enjoy!

Note: I did not give exact measurements of the pasta and salmon fillet because I wanted you to have room to make as much or as little as you want. Personally, I only cook enough for 2-3 meals.

Double Almond Cupcakes (Again...)

Hi everyone! I apologize for the length of time between blogs. I have been busy...and lazy. I just can't seem to turn on the computer when I get home. SMH. But of course, it is something I need to and will work on.

In July, I went back home (Florida) to visit my family for the Fourth of July holiday. While I was there, I made the Double Almond Cupcakes for my family instead of the usual cheesecake brownies. And again, everyone that tried a cupcake loved it. But because I made the cupcakes again and actually added almonds as the garnish, I wanted to share the picture.

Double Almond Cupcakes (Again...)

If you forgot the recipe, click here.  I honestly think this is a recipe we all need to keep in our recipe boxes.