A Little Update..

I know I haven't been able to post any blogs in awhile and I'm way behind, especially on all my holiday crafts, but I am starting to catch up. At least I'm trying as I'm beginning to work on my Christmas decorations. In the past few months, I've been traveling a lot, seeing the world as much as I can, while I'm still young, with the love of my life.

I've also learned some sad news about my dog. She turned 12 back in October and we found out that she has cancer, lymphoma to be exact, so we know we don't have a whole lot of time left with her, unless we get a miracle. Just have to keep positive and spend as much time as possible with her. She's still a ball of energy, so it's a good sign.

The end of the year is a busy time, with the holidays, getting the house ready for each one and all the cooking and baking. I have so many ideas and spinoffs of things I've found online or have learned from someone, that I can't wait to share with all my readers, so I will make sure I start finding more time to get them written out, hopefully in time for the holidays.

Deviled Eggs

I've tried many different deviled eggs and let me tell you, every one of them have tasted different. Some I liked and some I didn't. I stick to the recipe I always helped my mom make growing up because to me, it tastes a lot better than any other one I've tried. It's a fairly simply recipe. I don't measure the ingredients really, it's more of eyeballing them and tasting it as I go along to see if I need anything else.

Ingredients:
4-5 large eggs
mustard
pepper
Worcestshire sauce
mayonnaise

Optional:
paprika
relish

The first thing you have to do is boil eggs. I usually boil 4-5 depending on how many people are going to be eating them because you have to remember each egg, makes 2 pieces. To boil eggs, cover eggs with water in a pot, cover and bring to boil. Once they begin to boil, turn burner off and let them sit for 12 minutes with the lid on. Once they are done, it's best to let them cool a little to where you can handle them without burning yourself or if you're in a hurry, hold them under running cold water as you're peeling them so they don't burn you.

Once the eggs are peeled, cut them in half, the long way. Carefully remove the yolk by turning the egg over and gently pushing the white, popping out the yolk. I've tried many methods of mashing the yolks and I finally came up with the best one, that makes the yolks always smooth, never lumpy. A strainer. I have a little metal strainer that I use (in the picture), that I put all the yolks in and use the back of a spoon to mash them through it. If you don't have one, you can always just use a fork; it just takes longer and it may have little lumps in it.

When the yolks are all mashed, you can start adding the other ingredients. A few shakes of Worcestershire sauce is all you need since it is pretty salty. Be careful not to add too much. Remember less is more. You can always add, but can never take out. 1/4 tsp pepper and a  1/2 tsp mustard is about as much as I use, but you can always add more to your liking. For the mayonnaise, I start with about a tbsp or two and mix it up and add little by little until it's the creamy consistency that I want. After you've tasted it and got it to your liking, I like to split mine in half and do the deviled eggs two different ways: one plain and one with relish. If you want the plain, then you are done and can start spooning the filling back into the egg halves. I like to top the plain ones with sprinkled paprika. If you want the relish ones, add about a tsp of relish (I like to use dill relish) and then fill the egg halves. Both are equally good, but some people don't like pickles so they stick to just making the plain ones.

Minecraft Cake

I enjoy making cakes and decorating them, tests my abilities to be creative. Now, I know nothing about this game, Minecraft, but one of the kids I work with is really into it and he was turning 13 so I wanted to make him a special cake for his special day of becoming a teenager. I tried Googling it to see what ideas would pop up to help me figure out how to decorate this cake. Now, there were some really neat ideas on there, but they seem to be ones that were very time consuming and I didn't have days to design this cake. I've also never worked with fondant and didn't want to start using it at a time where I'd have to roll and cut out hundreds of squares to make the all the little pixels that the game consists of.

I decided to go with the cut up and layered cake to make it look like it came from a scene from the game. I decided to make 4- 9 in square cakes. I didn't have the time to go out and buy all the ingredients to make these so I used box cake mix to make it easier. However, I did take the time to make the icing from scratch because store bought icing is way to sweet and well, I just don't like it. I made chocolate cake and for the filling icing, I tried making a mint chocolate chip icing, that turned out pretty delicious. I'll add the icing recipe below. For the outer icing, I made a mix of vanilla and chocolate chocolate chip icing.

I made the cakes and threw them into the oven. It helps to put a square piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the pans and spray the sides with nonstick cooking spray so you don't find yourself with a rough bottom where parts stuck and you don't have an even square cake. Once they are completely cool, I cut the tops of the cakes off so they would be flat, since the middle usually rises, causing a hill and we want flat land for this cake. The tops I put aside and plan on making cake pops with them. With the flat squares, I put the icing in a plastic ziploc bag and cut the tip so it would squeeze out in a thick layer. I outlined the first square with the icing and then filled in the rest with more icing, laying one of the other pieces of cake on top. I repeated the same for the other two pieces of cake, so I ended up with two cakes filled with icing. Then I cut the cakes in half so I had 4 long pieces and cut two of them a bit shorter so I'd have a stair like effect, when layered. With the little bit of icing I had left, I used it to stick the pieces together.

Once it was in the shape that I wanted, I made another batch of icing, to cover the outside and make it look like one big piece instead of a few chunks. The second batch, I made just like the mint one, except I didn't put the peppermint oil in it. I used 1 tsp of vanilla extract instead. I also divided it into two parts 1/3 of it I added green food coloring to, to make the grass and the other 2/3 I added cocoa, to make it look like the dirt, as well as hand mixing in a handful of mini chocolate chips to make it look a little rocky.. Using cocoa made it a very light brown, not so much the dark dirt color that I was hoping for, so I took some of the cake that I had cut off earlier and crumbled it up and covered the chocolate icing with it. Make sure you don't cover the whole cake with it though. The tops of the pieces of cake should be covered with the green icing, piped on with the grass tip that you can find in the cake decorating section of a craft store or possibly even Walmart. I only needed one batch of icing to cover the whole cake but I really had to stretch it, so be careful when icing it so you don't run out. You can tell by looking at the picture, how the icing goes.

I tried making green rice krispy treats and wrapping them around KitKat sticks to make square trees like I saw online, but the rice krispy treats ended up being too heavy and made the trees sink into the cake, so instead, I made them into green slime cubes that you can find in the game. I think it ended up working better that way anyway. I also had little chocolates that looked like pieces of gold from the game that I put around the cake.

I was trying to figure out what to put on top of the cake since trying to make any character from the game out of gum paste was going to be impossible with the little amount of time I had to get it decorated and all the little figurines that you can buy of them, he already owned. So I found 3-D cardboard cutouts that you can buy and assemble and they worked perfectly. Once it was all done, I got a simple tube of icing, the kind that doesn't taste good, but it's good to write on cakes with and wrote Happy Birthday.

*NOTE: I needed to transport this across town and it didn't do well traveling 25 minutes, in the sun and going over bumps, but it was fixable. It'd probably be easier to have everything ready and bring it to your destination, if you need to move it, before assembling it with the outer icing. Or if you have someone to hold it for you and they can stay completely still, you'll be good too.

Mint Chocolate Chip Icing:
2 sticks of butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk
4-5 drops peppermint oil
3-4 drops green food coloring
1 cup mini chocolate chips

In the mixer, whip butter for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar a cup at a time along with the peppermint oil and food coloring. Add milk accordingly, if you feel it's too thick. Once all is mixed, beat another 3-4 minutes. Remove from mixer and hand mix in the mini chocolate chips.

*You can find the peppermint oil with the cake/candy making supplies at any craft store. You can also use peppermint extract from the grocery store, it's just not as strong and you may need to add more drops.

Homemade Pizza

I think homemade always tastes better than store bought. Awhile back, an ex's parents gave me a recipe for an I guess, semi-homemade pizza. I thought I'd give it a shot and I haven't made pizza any other way since. I'm not a big fan of tomatoes so I much rather have white sauce or a pesto or even bbq sauce on my pizza than just typical tomato sauce. That's probably why I like making my own pizza so much. That and the fact that when you go to Pizza Hut or Dominos, they don't put many toppings nor do they put a lot of cheese that I like. This is a pretty easy way to make pizza at home and the topping possibilities are endless. I've made this recipe many times and have tried different sauces and different toppings and it has always turned out great.


I was originally taught to use this pizza kit. It comes in a box and is pretty cheap, but I only needed the dry ingredients in it to make the crust. I didn't use the cheese or the sauce or anything so it got to the point where I just started buying the cheap packs of pizza crust mix that usually cost under $1 and bought everything separate. If you are making your pizza with tomato sauce and you want pepperoni on it, then your better off buying this box and just buying some more toppings and some cheese to go with it.

To make the crust, follow the directions on whatever packet of dry ingredients you end up buying. I like to add garlic powder to mine to make it taste more like a breadstick. When the dough is mixed, drop about a tsp of canola oil on top the ball of dough, cover it with saran wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.

While it's resting, prepare your toppings. Make sure if you're putting any kind of meat on your pizza that it is precooked. Don't put raw because the pizza doesn't cook long enough to thoroughly cook it. A few combinations that I've tried and really liked are:

• bbq sauce, shredded chicken, olives, pineapple
• white sauce, olives, ricotta cheese, spinach, ground turkey
• basil pesto, shredded chicken, ricotta cheese, olives, cilantro
• white sauce, ham, pineapple, olives
• white sauce, ricotta cheese, crumbled bacon, olives
• tomato sauce, pepperoni, turkey sausage, ham

 Preheat the oven to 400. Roll out or stretch the dough on a floured surface until it's about 12" round or will fit your pizza pan. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray and lay the dough out, folding up the edges to make a crust. You can also add cheese to the inside of the crust if you'd like. Use a fork and poke holes throughout the dough so air can circulate and your dough won't bubble up. Spread a layer of sauce evenly over the dough. Cover with you toppings. I like a lot of toppings so my pizzas are always pretty thick where you can't see much of the sauce anymore. Put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Take it out and cover your pizza with cheese. I usually buy a 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella or pizza cheese and use the whole bag because I like a lot of cheese. Put it back in the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is lightly golden. Take out and let it set for 10 minutes. If you cut it right away, it'll fall apart, especially if you have a lot of stuff in it. I've learned from experience. Plus, it'll be too hot to eat anyway. Use a pizza cutter and cut the pizza into 6 pieces. That's usually the best size where it won't fall apart.

*Reheating leftovers: it tastes best if you put it on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes, but the microwave will do too, it just won't be crispy like it's straight out of the oven.

Christmas Cookies

Christmas time is one of my favorite times of year. I love to cook and bake and this is the time that I can go all out baking and have fun with it. On average, I make 10-15 different kinds of cookies every year and they always seem to be a hit with all my family and friends. Some are old favorites and some I find throughout the year and want to change it up and try something new.

Venetians or 7-layer cookies
Eggnog Thumbprints
Florentines
Rudolphs
Holly Clusters
Rice Krispy Balls
Russian Teacakes
Bakeless Fruitcake
Santa's Whiskers
Hungarian Cookies
Pecan Tassies
Lemon Pretzels
Red Velvet
Macadamia Nut Cookies
Raisin Cookies


With such a variety of cookies, it makes for a very good presentation and everybody seems to be so impressed, when majority of the cookies are so easy to make. The only few that take some time to do, are the Venetians, Pecan Tassies, and the Hungarian cookies.

Crock pot Sweet Potato, Turkey and Quinoa Chili

Quinoa....this stuff is....different. I wanted to start cooking healthier and I started researching different grains that are better for you than others. I came across quinoa. I wasn't sure how it tasted and it was fairly new to hit popularity so not many people knew much about it. I originally tried it plain, without any seasonings or sauces because I wanted to see how it tasted. I didn't like it. But I didn't want to rule it out quite yet so I searched on Pinterest for recipes that looked good and could ease me into eating it and I came across this one for a chili where it was mixed with sweet potatoes and ground turkey and I actually really liked it. Most people may not like the initial taste of quinoa, but when you season it right and mix it with other things, it does taste pretty good. I decided to give this chili a try and tho I don't like beans I was able to omit them and still have a tasty meal. If you want the original with the beans in it like typical chili has, click on the link  http://iowagirleats.com/2014/01/13/crock-pot-sweet-potato-and-quinoa-turkey-chili/ and follow their recipe. I'm sure either version is just as good as the other.

*Note: You can buy quinoa rinsed or not, so make sure you check if it's been pre-rinsed before cooking it. The rinsed kind are a lot easier to cook with because when you have to rinse it yourself, it can make a bit of a mess because they're such small little balls, that they stick to everything. You can find bags of it at Costco or Sam's Club.

You'll need:
1 pound ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
4 cups chicken broth
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small chunks
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp red chili pepper flakes In a large skillet, put a little bit of olive oil to coat the pan and saute the chopped onions 5-7 minutes. Add the ground turkey and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink. Make sure to break up the turkey so it's in smaller crumbles as it's cooking. Add garlic and let it cook 30 seconds more. Scrape out pan into your crock pot. Add remaining ingredients and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Check sweet potatoes to make sure they are tender, by sticking a knife through one. Pour into bowl and top with toppings of your choice.

*I topped mine with tortilla strips, shredded cheese and avocado. Fresh cilantro would've been good too.


*Save 1 cup of chicken broth to mix in when refrigerating it so it won't be dry when you reheat it.

Sweet Chicken (or Pork) Barbacoa

I don't eat fast food. The closest I get, is eating at Cafe Rio and there's only one thing that I get there every time I go: the Sweet Pork Barbacoa Salad. It is amazing. I'd eat it all the time if it wasn't so expensive and if it was a bit more healthier for me. I found a copykat recipe for it and thought I'd give it a try and hope that it tastes the same. It tastes pretty darn close. I've tried making this recipe a few times, a few different ways and each way came out tasting just as good. I tried going the little bit healthier route and using chicken breasts instead of pork. The original recipe in the link, uses pork butt, but my version will use chicken. You can always follow the link for the pork. They both taste great. http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/05/my-favorite-cafe-rio-copycat-recipes.html

The last time I tried this, I made the chicken and put it in lettuce leaves for a lettuce wrap feel and added a little bit of cheddar cheese, fresh cilantro, a couple slices of avocado, some cilantro lime rice and a few tortilla strips to give it that little bit of salty crunch. I've also made mine a salad in a taco bowl that I made from using my tortilla bowl molds and putting a tortilla in the oven to make it harden into a bowl shape.

You'll need:
4 chicken breasts
2 cans of Root Beer (I had a 2 liter bottle and used 1/2 of it)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 can diced green chiles
1 14oz can of enchilada sauce (red)
1 cup brown sugar

Marinate chicken in a mixture of 1 can of soda and the 1/2 cup brown sugar, in a reclosable bag. I like to marinate it overnight, but marinating it for a couple hours works just as well if you're short on time.

Drain the marinade and place chicken in your crockpot along with 1/2 of a can of root beer, water, garlic and salt. Cook on high 2-4 hours or low 7-8 hours. Remove chicken from pot and shred. At this point it should be easy to shred using two forks. If it doesn't fall apart easily, let it cook a little longer.

While chicken is cooking, in a blender preferably so you don't have big chunks of chiles, blend together the remaining 1/2 of can of soda, can of diced chiles, 1 cup brown sugar and the can of enchilada sauce.

Put the shredded chicken along with the sauce you just blended together, all back into the crockpot and heat through, for 15 minutes or so.