Welcome to my first (and hopefully last!) edition of Mystery Food Friday!!! Let’s do a little survey, shall we??
(If you have a write-in answer, please also put it in the Comments section. Apparently no one can see what you write-in!)
If you said scrapple I can see why, but you’d be wrong. If you’re not from the Mid-Atlantic and have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, go here for a little lesson (yes, it’s gross). For comparison purposes, this is a photo of a piece of cooked scrapple:
English: Scrapple, served in a restaurant. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
See the resemblance?
In reality, the scrapple doppleganger was SUPPOSED to be banana pumpkin bread. And I was SUPPOSED to top it off with a lovely glaze and then eat it for breakfast the next few days. Instead, I ended up with something that should definitely be submitted to one of those websites where you post your failed Pinterest projects (you know, I think I might just do that…)
I’m not sure what happened. I’m a pretty good baker. It smelled really good while it was cooking, and it rose nicely. I checked it with a toothpick and kept baking till the toothpick came out clean. However, a few minutes out of the oven and the loaf had shrunk down to about half its previous height. I was afraid something had gone wrong but I wasn’t positive until I cut a slice this morning and discovered that it looked more like some gelatinous hunk of processed meat than a baked good. My only guess for what might have gone wrong (assuming that the photos posted on the blog containing the recipe were not fakes, and who knows these days?) would be that my bananas were VERY ripe. Like almost “Ewww, I need to throw these out before they start turning into a puddle on the top of my refrigerator” ripe.
I’m not sure if it’s edible because I’m afraid to try it.
I’ve had numerous people tell me that the things I bake are all so pretty. Not always.
Today is National Coffee Day, and after a quick Google search I learned that October 4th is National Vodka Day. So I figured to honor both holidays I would mix the two together.
It’s Saturday night, and after a long day of running errands, grocery shopping, cleaning this house that seems to manifest clutter while I am sleeping, and visiting the booth of my fellow blogger Scrapsecrets at the Woodbury Fall Arts Fest (check out her Etsy shop if you are in need of a card for a special occasion – she makes the most adorable cards!), I’m pretty beat. So I went the easy route when making tonight’s drink. I opened a bottle of Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino, poured it into a glass over ice and then added a shot of my new fall fave – Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie vodka. I admit it, I am obsessed with this stuff. I promise, my next post will involve something else!
Of course, it was good. How could it not be?
In other pumpkin news, I had been thinking of making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (is there a National Muffin Day??). However, while wandering around Wegmans loading up my cart with all kinds of unnecessary but yummy goodies I saw a bag of Hershey’s cinnamon chips on the shelf. You know where those ended up.
I loved the combo of the cinnamon chip in the pumpkin muffin, and I topped them with cinnamon streusel which was really good too. I just wasn’t a fan of the pumpkin muffin recipe I used. They weren’t moist enough for me. Does anyone have a good pumpkin muffin recipe? I love the ones at Dunkin Donuts but I’m going to bet they wouldn’t be willing to tell me how to make my own.
I like to eat. My ever tightening jeans can attest to that. I follow quite a few blogs that post fabulous looking recipes on a daily basis and I would love to try to make nice dinners with fresh ingredients every night, but I have some issues. Most involve my kitchen.
The previous owner of our house was a big “do it yourself” type who had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Not only that – he also had TERRIBLE taste in decorating. These were the kitchen cabinets when we moved in…
EEEEEK!!!
Yeah. Those would be salmon colored kitchen cabinets. They have since been painted, but unfortunately we are still stuck with the stupid kitchen layout left behind by the DIY Dodo. Wall oven, tiny sliver of counter top, sink, slightly wider bit of counter, ELECTRIC cook-top (I grew up cooking with gas; how to properly bring something to a boil and then simmer on this god awful thing still eludes me), another tiny bit of counter space, wall.
Electric range heating element (Photo credit: Thom Watson) – EVIL
Trying to chop up a bunch of fresh veggies and whip together something on the stove is always a test of my patience. I have no room, and the stupid cook-top is either not hot enough or so hot that whatever I am trying to cooking ends up looking like a lump of charcoal. I HATE trying to make dinner in my kitchen.
So you can imagine my excitement when I started seeing all these pins on Pinterest about freezer crock pot meals. A few hours of torture in the kitchen on a Sunday afternoon and then you have dinner for the rest of your life! Okay, more like two weeks but that seemed like a good tradeoff to me! So I picked out some recipes, got all the necessary ingredients and enlisted the boyfriend’s help in prepping everything and loading the meals into freezer bags. After about two hours we had ten nights worth of meals (leftovers for lunch were promised too!) stacked neatly in the basement freezer. All I have to do it grab whatever I want the night before so it can thaw in the fridge and then drop it in the crock pot in the morning. I’d need to make some rice or noodles or whatever to go with each meal, but that’s easy. THIS was going to be the solution to all my cooking woes! Right?
a slow cooker Oval Crock Pot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Well, not exactly. I have made three of my meals so far. Each one had the house smelling yummy and tasted pretty good, there was just this minor issue. All these lovely blogs about freezer meals failed to mention that EVERY STINKING MEAL was going to end up under a foot of water by the time it was done cooking. I have cooked plenty of meals in the crock pot (without freezing them first) and have not had this problem. So unless my grocery store is secretly injecting my vegetables with water to up their weight so they can charge me more I think it has something to do with the whole freezing bit. Nobody wants sopping wet beef fajitas. Just saying…
So cooking dinner is STILL annoying and it will be until the day – hopefully in the not so distant future – when we can redo the kitchen.
Making a cocktail, however, is easy no matter how much counter space I have. All I need is a shot glass, a cocktail shaker, ice and some easy to open bottles of booze. The biggest annoyance there is when someone puts the ice cube tray back in the freezer without refilling it. Ahem.
In addition to the ease with which a great cocktail can be created the fact remains that crock pot Chicken Teriyaki could NEVER taste as good as a Kahlua Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini.
That’s right. I said Kahlua Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini. It was a decadent as it sounds! This is definitely a dessert drink. It’s rich and creamy and sweet and…drool.
Kahlua Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini
Ingredients
2 parts Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie vodka
1 part Kahlua
1 1/2 parts half & half
2 teaspoons cheesecake pudding mix
ice
Directions
In a cocktail shaker combine vodka, Kahlua and cheesecake pudding mix. Stir until the mix is dissolved. Then add half & half and ice. Shake, pour, and float away on a creamy, dreamy cocktail cloud.
I made another batch of birthday cupcakes for a coworker last week. I should get a raise just for the amount of sugary joy I bring to the office on a regular basis. However, considering I can barely get a raise for being awesome at my job I’m not holding my breath.
Oh, how I long to be a stay at home mom – just without the kids…. I would sleep in every day, then bake stuff and try new drink recipes and waste hours on Pinterest (except it wouldn’t be a waste because there would be nothing else I should be doing anyway!) Ahhhhh…..
Atomic Housewife. 19/52 (Photo credit: Sarahnaut)
Back to the cupcakes!
Since everyone went gaga over my Rum and Coke cupcakes, I decided to revisit the cocktail theme. This time I wanted to make some Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade) cupcakes using my Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea vodka.
I used a box of lemon cake mix, and subbed half of the water called for with the vodka. I also added three tablespoons of vodka to my favorite icing recipe (I cut down on the milk called for to just a splash, since the vodka adds the needed liquid).
The reason my post is titled “Almost Arnold Palmer Cupcakes” is that, while there was a hint of the sweet tea vodka flavor, I didn’t find it strong enough. So next time I will definitely replace ALL the water called for on the box with the vodka just to punch up the tea flavor a bit more.
Despite the fact that these cupcakes didn’t taste exactly as I had planned, they were still very good. Light, refreshing, and like my dreams of trading my cubicle for the couch – gone in a flash.
Arnold Palmer Cupcakes
Ingredients
Box of lemon cake mix and necessary ingredients listed on box
Sweet Tea Vodka
Directions
Make batter according to directions on box, using the sweet tea vodka in place of the amount of water called for. Bake as directed.
If you read my last post you would know how excited I am about Pinnacle Vodka‘s newest flavor – Pumpkin Pie. While everyone else was anxiously awaiting the iPhone 5, me and my old LG Optimus were waiting to wander into a liquor store and find that blue bottle with a slice of pumpkin pie floating enticingly on the label.
Find it I did, and it is soooooooooo good. I’ve been ready for fall since the beginning of June, and now that it is finally near there is no better way to usher in the season than with my Caramel Pumpkin Pietini. Not only is this one fabulous drink, it is also a tribute to these pumpkin cupcakes topped with caramel butter cream which I just learned today that I will NEVER be able to buy again because the bakery that makes them is closing. Please pause for a moment of silence while you drool over the deliciousness…
Oh, Pumpkin Cupcakes. How I will miss you…
Sniffle, sniffle.
What better way to drown one’s sorrows than with a nice drink?
Like Mary Poppins, I pulled numerous goodies from my bag of tricks to make this martini. Aside from the obvious Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie, I knew I was going to use RumChata in this recipe – it’s a rum cream with a nice cinnamon flavor (you have to have cinnamon in your pumpkin pie!). Since I wanted to add some caramel flavor to the drink I had to look no further than my dwindling bottle of Baileys Caramel. Lastly, I don’t know about you but I can’t have pumpkin pie without whipped cream on top, so added a splash of Pinnacle Whipped to the mix. A little half & half to up the creaminess factor, a crushed graham pie crust rim and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice were the finishing touches.
Caramel Pumpkin Pietini
2 parts Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie
1 1/2 parts Baileys Caramel
1 part RumChata
1 part half & half
splash of Pinnacle Whipped
ice
crushed graham crackers/graham pie crust and pumpkin pie spice for garnish
Combine all the liquids and ice in a cocktail shaker and shaky shaky shaky! Crush graham crackers/graham pie crust and rim glass. Pour drink into glass and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. End up with this…
Just in case you are wondering, I used these little mini graham pie crusts from Keebler. I like the taste better than a dry old graham cracker, and the size is perfect. You get enough crumbs to rim a few glasses without having a ton left over.
We’ve got months of pumpkin weather ahead and I’ve got a pretty full bottle of Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie vodka. Anyone have any suggestions for other things to mix it with? I’d love to hear your ideas!!
I am tired of summer. Tired of 90 degree days with 70% humidity. Tired of stepping out the door in the morning to go to work and watching my hair expand from the corner of my eye. Tired of getting all sweaty just from breathing. Oh, and I’m REALLY tired of mosquitoes. Seriously, what purpose to those damn things serve?! West Nile Virus freaks.
Anyway, I cannot wait for fall to start!! Cooler days, chilly nights, fall foliage, Halloween, fall festivals, my birthday (hint hint!), apple cider and all kinds of pumpkin flavored goodies!!!!
Fall tree branch leaves along river (Photo credit: Nature Pictures by ForestWander)
Pumpkin pie, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin scones, pumpkin bread, and now this…
It exists, and tonight I found it. I am beyond excited about this. Last fall I tried numerous times to make a yummy pumpkin pie drink using a pumpkin spice liqueur that shall remain nameless because it was SO gross. I was dejected all the way through Christmas.
I LOVE Pinnacle flavors so when I saw that they were coming out with Pumpkin Pie I knew it would be good. Of course, as soon as I got home with the bottle I had to try it. So I’ve mixed up a test drink and it is just slightly shy of awesome. Since I want to tweak it just a bit, I won’t be sharing the recipe today but the Perfect Pumpkin Pietini is just one of the many wonderful things that will be heading your way this fall…(provided I don’t get laid up with West Nile Virus).
Seriously, I need help. No, not that kind of help. I swear, I’m not an alcoholic. The last drink I made was last weekend (Key Lime Martini– yummy!) and I haven’t had one since. Until tonight.
I had some bananas ripening on top of the fridge that I needed to do something with and lots of rum leftover from the Rum and Coke cupcakes, and since I am off from work tomorrow and Tuesday (woohoo! four day weekend!) I decided to mix up a new cocktail. It’s really good. The only problem is that I don’t know what to call it.
Here’s the recipe:
As Yet Unnamed Cocktail
Ingredients:
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk, due to some bizarre adult onset lactose intolerance)
1 ripe banana
1 shot dark rum
1 shot Bailey’s Caramel
1/2 shot Creme de Banana
ice
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
And then, after you’ve had one, tell me what I should call it! I was thinking of all the typical monkey type names…bananas and all that jazz, but I think they’ve all be done. Then my boyfriend said I should call it BananaFanaFoFana (is that how you spell that nonsense?!). Cute, but when this recipe goes viral and drunk people everywhere are ordering it at bars that’s going to be quite a mouthful. “Can I have another BananaFanFo…aww, just make me some more monkey juice bartender!”
So, any thoughts? Or are you too busy busting out the blender? ; )
I had a bunch of key limes leftover after using some to decorate my Rum and Coke Cupcakes. It being a Saturday night and all, I decided to make a cocktail. My new best friend, Pinterest, quickly offered up a recipe for a Key Lime Martini and it just so happened that I had all the required ingredients.
I doubled the recipe so the boyfriend could partake as well, so I needed one shot glass full of key lime juice. As I stood squeezing my eighth tiny lime I thought to myself, this better be worth it.
It was most definitely worth it. Creamy, sweet and a little tart. The only way it could have been better was if I had some graham crackers to crush and rim the glass with.
2 tablespoons cream of coconut (I put in an extra tablespoon – I LOVE cream of coconut!)
1 shot pineapple juice
Directions
Add all ingredients to a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Serve.
So I have my drink, I get to sleep in late tomorrow, and Ian Somerhalder has a spot on this old episode of Law & Order: SVU that I am watching. Aside from the fact that a mosquito just came into my house and bit my elbow (seriously, isn’t there a way to eradicate these spawn of satan?!), life is good.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! Here’s one for the ladies…
Apparently today is National Rum Day! I did not know this until an hour ago, yet this afternoon I made Rum and Coke cupcakes. It must have been fate…
A friend wanted me to make these cupcakes for her son’s 21st birthday party. I tried a test batch last month using a recipe I found for Cola Cake, and a rum buttercream frosting. It was good, but it tasted nothing like Rum and Coke to me. Then I discovered the existence of cola extract. The sun burst through the clouds, the cupcake angels were singing… it was good stuff.
I used the cola extract in my frosting, and found a cupcake recipe that had enough rum in it to make a pirate proud. For decoration, I used gummy cola bottles and lime wedges with coffee stirrer “straws”. I used Key Limes – they were the perfect size for the cupcakes. The resulting cupcake tastes SO MUCH like Rum and Coke that (to quote my boyfriend), “It’s kind of freaky.”
So, though it’s almost over, Happy National Rum Day! Thankfully you don’t wait until next year to make these tastes-like-the-real-thing Rum and Coke cupcakes.
1 Box Betty Crocker Supermoist yellow cake mix
1 cup dark rum (I used Meyer’s)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup canola oil
3 eggs
Heat oven to 325°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 18 regular-size nonstick muffin cups. *I doubled the recipe and ended up with 30 cupcakes total.
In large bowl, mix cake mix, 1 cup rum, the water, oil and eggs with whisk until blended. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. *I ended up baking them for 25-26 minutes. For a moment I was afraid they weren’t going to bake through (and REALLY pissed that I had just potentially wasted two whole cups of perfectly good rum!) but I left them in the oven and tested them with a toothpick every few minutes until they were finally done.* Remove from muffin cups to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 45 minutes.
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoons cola extract (I bought mine on Amazon)
For frosting, cream butter and shortening in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add all other ingredients and beat well.
Banana cupcakes, filled with strawberry preserves, topped with vanilla butter cream, hot fudge, rainbow jimmies (sprinkles if you’re not from around here), with a cherry on top.
I used this recipe from Betty Crocker (minus the chocolate chips, plus one box instant banana pudding) for the banana cupcake batter. I had my handy dandy cupcake plunger to make room for the strawberry preserves, and I used my small scoop from Pampered Chef to make the icing look like scoops of ice cream.
If you’re looking for a butter cream icing recipe this is my go-to.
If you’re looking for one of these cupcakes you’re out of luck. We ate them all.
Shake Bake and Party 