Cupcake Decorating Day

I've had several people ask how I made the elsa and death by chocolate cupcakes that I've shared on Instagram. So here are the recipes I used. I LOVE the wilton buttercream frosting. It's perfect for decorating cupcakes and super easy! 

https://instagram.com/p/xezQQsvChy/

https://instagram.com/p/xezqQOPCiW/

Buttercream Frosting Recipe

I used the wilton Teal icing color to get the pretty blue!

And here is the chocolate version of the buttercream frosting 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting 

I used this chocolate cupcake recipe below for the cupcake part, only I didn't use the peppermint(although I've made them with the peppermint and they are super yummy!)

Click here for recipe Chocolate cupcakes 

Enjoy! 

Home style Chicken and Dumplings

We have a great love for chicken and dumplings in our home. It's a regular item on our menu all year long. I've made them the same way for years and it never disappoints us. Here is my recipe for home made chicken and dumplings! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the dumplings

2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon sea salt

2 Tablespoon of sugar

1/4 cup butter (stick butter, salted)

3/4 cup milk

For the broth

1 large container of chicken broth 

5 chicken breasts

1/2 stick of butter

1/2cup of milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Fill a large pot with water and boil your chicken

While its boiling start your dumplings. First, mix all of your dry Ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in your butter with a pastry cutter until its well blended. Pour in the milk and mix until your dough comes together. It will be a bit sticky, but that is okay! 

Once your chicken is cooked, pull it out of  the water and shred it. Then add it back in. The water should be pretty low. Add your chicken broth to the water and bring it back to a simmer. Once it starts simmering, roll out your dumplings and slice them into flat strips (about 2inches long) now your ready to toss in all your dumplings one at a time. I usually double this recipe, so it completely fills the pan with dumplings and I have to add them in slowly to keep it from over flowing. (My husband likes a lot of dumplings in his). 

After you have added the dumplings, let them simmer on med/low heat until they are done(they will be somewhat firm and will have shrunk a lot). At this point add 1 stick of butter and half a cup of milk. Stir and let it simmer a little longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. They are ready to serve! Pretty simple but oh so good! 

Garlic roasted sweet potato

I like to attempt to eat healthy about 70% of the time.  I love cooking and I love food, so not all of my meals are healthy. However, on my healthy eating days we love to make sweet potatoes. I have many different ways I like to cook them, but this is our favorite! You can add cauliflower or carrots to it also and it tastes great! I also like adding sweet peppers if I'm the only one in my family eating it.  The recipe is below, enjoy!

Garlic Roasted Sweet Potato(with broccoli): Feeds 5

Ingredients:
Pre-heat oven to 375
4 to 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (maybe less or more depending on how large they are)
1 bag of frozen broccoli, or 3 cups of fresh broccoli
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
Garlic infused grapeseed oil(regular grapeseed works, as well as olive oil if you don't have it)
Sea salt
Black pepper

Instructions:
Chop up garlic and set to the side.
Peel and chop potatoes into chunks and place in a large bowl. Add frozen or fresh broccoli. Drizzle oil over the broccoli and potato mixture. Add oregano and mix together with hands until everything is coated. 

Spread out mixture onto a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with fresh garlic, sea salt and black pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 20minutes, or until potatoes are soft enough to eat(watch it closely so that they don't burn to the pan). At about 10 minutes I flip my potatoes around to help avoid burning on the bottom.

note: I like to use the organic Garlic infused grapeseed oil sold by wildtree. I'm not sure if anyone else makes it, but their brand tastes wonderful with this dish!  

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Crockpot Cheesy Chicken & Rice

This is my crockpot version of chicken and rice casserole. We love this and it re-heats well for leftovers! Enjoy :)




Ingredients:
1 1/2  California organic jasmine rice(this is the best rice, but you can use brown rice or regular minute rice if you want) follow directions on package for cooking rice.
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast(or 6-7 tenderloins)
Dash of seasoning for chicken (I used mrs.dash garlic and herb)
1 cup organic low sodium chicken broth
1 batch of my home made cream of chicken (see earlier post for recipe) or 2 cans of cream of chicken if you don't want to make home made, but it tastes much better with the home made!
2% milk (or fat free)
2 cups frozen broccoli florets(or 1 bag)
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese


Directions:
Place chicken in crockpot and sprinkle with seasoning
Add 1 cup broth, cream of chicken and broccoli and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours depending on how thick your chicken is)


When chicken is cooked pull it apart and shred or dice it into junks. Return to the crockpot.

30mins prior to serving make your rice, add your cooked rice to the crockpot and stir until blended. Add a dash of milk if its too thick and stir. Add cheese stir, let it set 15 mins or until cheese is melted.

I serve mine with biscuits and green beans! You can add salt and pepper to taste if needed.

Home made cream of Chicken/Mushroom

A while back I stumbled across a home made cream of chicken soup recipe. I loved it and have made my own cream of soups ever since!
I do not like how much sodium is in the canned stuff. Also, the ingredient list is so Looooooong and full of mystery ingredients that I don't really care to eat.  I was thrilled to see a home made version. I've been using this recipe for about two years now and it's Very VERY simple. You can make it ahead and freeze it in portions for later.  It only takes a total time of 15minutes to make. I use it for a lot of things, but mainly my home made chicken pot pie, broccoli and cheese casserole, cheesy  potato casserole and ranch steak.  

 I made my own seasoning mix to add to it and the recipe for that is at the bottom. This makes enough to equal about 2 cans of cream of chicken. If you want cream of mushroom soup, additional directions are at the bottom of this page. 
Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2½ cups chicken broth 
• 1½ cups 2% milk
• ¾ cup white all purpose flour
•  seasoning mix(recipe below)

Direction

Combine the chicken broth and ½ cup of the milk in a saucepan. 

Bring to a low boil. 

 Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk until a smooth, thick mixture forms. 

Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers. Continue to simmer and whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick. It will thicken a bit as it cools. 

Voila. All done. Now it's ready to add to your dish!

Seasoning mix recipe:

2 Tsp onion powder, 1/4 Tsp garlic powder, 1/4tsp black pepper, 2 Tsp sea salt, 1/2 Tsp oregano. This equals 1 "packet" of seasoning to add to the cream of chicken. If you make this in bulk add 2 tablespoons of it to the cream of chicken.


Note: if you want to make cream of mushroom soup, then I just chop up a handful of fresh mushrooms(real fine) and add it to the low boiling mixture. I like it both ways. Most recipes that call for cream of mushroom taste great with this cream of chicken recipe. 

Beef and barley stew

Growing up this was a regular meal we loved and still love today! This is a great cold weather meal, but we eat it in the summer time too. It's easy and Something you can just throw in the crockpot, or make ahead of time and freeze. Don't forget to make a batch of home made cornbread or biscuits to go with it, yumm!!



Ingredients:
1 cup pearl barley
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3 ribs of celery
Carrots, peeled and sliced
1 lb meat (we use stewed roast, cubed)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt
7 cups of beef stock/broth


Put everything in the crock pot and let it cook all day on low!

Or place all ingredients, accept stock, in a freezer bag. Freeze and cook later! Just add the 7 cups of beef stock when you are ready to cook it!

Home made pinto beans

My husband loves my pinto beans! It's a super cheap meal, and super easy! I prefer cooking it with the crockpot, but I also have a quick stove top version for a last minute meal. I recently created a good seasoning to give the beans a lot of flavor, I've included that recipe at the bottom!

Ingredients:

1 bag(small) dried pinto beans

Bean seasoning mix (recipe below)

1 package of bacon, cooked and diced into bits(optional)

Directions:

Wash and soak your beans overnight

Rinse your beans, place in your crockpot.

add seasoning mix(all of it, recipe below)cover beans with water.

Cook on low 6-8hours, add additional water if beans start drying out (you want to keep them completely covered in liquid)

Now about the bacon. I've made it without and it tastes great! But it also tastes great with the bacon and my husband prefers it that way. You can cook your bacon bits in a pan and add it to the beans from the start(grease and all if you want) but the bacon will get pretty mushy by the end of the day. So I like to add it about 1 hour before we are ready to eat. So it's up to you, and either way tastes good! You can also use leftover ham instead of bacon, or we have even used turkey sausage and it also tastes good! Just add it about 1hour before your ready to eat and make sure it's cooked Before adding it. We serve our beans with cornbread and home made sweet potato fries! 

See prior post for my sweet cornbread recipe. It's pretty tasty! 

Enjoy!

Directions for bean seasoning mix

2 Teaspoons onion powder

1 Teaspoons paprika

1 Teaspoons ground cumin

2 Teaspoons sea salt

1 Teaspoons ground black pepper

1 Teaspoons oregano

1 Teaspoons minced garlic

Mix together and store in a air tight container or use right away. This equals 1 packet of season and you want to use all this in one pot of beans. I will work the measurements out to make a batch in bulk and update you with those measurements. you can add extra to taste if you want, but this measurement was plenty for us :)

If you do not want to use the crockpot, and you forgot to soak your beans(I do this all the time) then I do have a quick stove top recipe. It's all the same ingredients and measurements.

Rinse your beans and add to a pot, cover with Plenty of water. Boil beans on Med-high heat for a good 30minutes, watch beans so they don't dry out and add more water as the beans absorb a lot of the water. Reduce heat to Med-low heat and simmer. Add more water if necessary, add seasoning and cooked bacon bits. Simmer until beans are cooked (about a hour or so) serve!