when funfetti cupcakes fulfill you

So much joy from such a little cupcake.

Sam & I have been staying with relatives for almost 6 months now, which means I don't have quite the same freedom in the kitchen as I used to.

This is mostly because when I cook, I use every utensil, bowl, pan, and measuring cup that I can get my hands on. My mom used to encourage messy cooking, so I've embraced it as I've gotten older.  Not everyone appreciates this characteristic, so I've started to shy away from making messes in kitchens that aren't mine.


I went home a few weeks ago and made apple crisp (which was an actual recipe, not a box of cake mix) and it was gone the next day. I then decided that my need to bake wasn't quite fulfilled, so I made up a batch of funfetti cupcakes. So delicious (so much sugar!) and I felt my anxiety over not being able to meal plan and bake and stress relieve ebb a little bit.


Thank you, Pillsbury.

a follow up.

Remember when I showed you how awful my Boston Cream Pie turned out?

Yeah, that's NOT what it was supposed to look like.

This is the original picture.

source

Several things should you decide to try this recipe.

1) The only part that I didn't mess up was the cake part, because it's from a cake mix and it's super easy.

2) You should make up the filling part and then refrigerate it for a little bit so that it sets up a little more. If not, it will melt right down off the sides when you put the top cake part on. As you can see in the picture above.

3) I am not sure what's wrong with the ganache (chocolate part on top) but it's obviously wrong. I'm not entirely sure how to fix this, so if anyone has tips with ganache...

4) I suggest making this for a dinner party, or something, because it's so rich you'll only want one piece and then you'll end up throwing the rest of it away. Okay I actually wanted the whole cake, but I'm trying to show SOME restraint so I threw the rest of it away. 



As far as the other recipe I said I was going to try...

source

this soup was the bomb.com. It's tomato based, but since you use cheese tortellini in it, it ends up tasting a bit like grilled cheese and tomato soup, but all in one dish. Sam liked it more than me I think, but I have to be in just the right mood for soup or I feel a little iffy about it.

pinspiration sundays

I feel like I need a whole other website to organize my Pinterest boards. Does that make sense? Every time I look at it I feel overwhelmed because I've pinned 50 more things and I can't even remember all of it.


Therefore I'm implementing a new weekly Sunday blog post. I'm going to choose 3 different projects/recipes/outfits that I want to try and replicate the following week. Maybe that'll help me tackle some of the things I've been wanting to do and will keep things in line.


1. Boston Cream Pie done the easy way via The Girl Who Ate Everything

2. Creamy Tomato Tortellini via Recipe Swagger

3. Something for Valentine's Day.

Maybe this:

source

Or this:

source

Are you planning to use your pinspiration this week? Leave a comment below and tell me what you're working on!

pinterest project {buffalo chicken roll-ups}

Have you noticed that food tends to go through trends? Yep, similar to clothing trends. I noticed it for the first time with avocado this year. Tons of recipes I found on Pinterest called for avocado, and then I even heard an advertisement on the radio telling people to use avocados for dinner. Then I noticed it with the pistachio commercials on TV. I mean, if Khole and Lamar do it...


Anyway. Another "food trend", which I have decided is definitely a real thing, is anything containing buffalo chicken. Buffalo chicken dip, salad, wraps, grilled cheese, tacos, seriously, anything with buffalo sauce and shredded chicken and there is a recipe out there for it!

I pinned these bad boys awhile back:

via What's Cookin' Chicago?

And man do they look delicious! The main problem I found with this recipe was that it called for you to make the dough on your own. I barely have time to think about dinner, let alone let dough rise for 2 hours. Maybe someday.






Therefore, I just invented my own recipe. We ate them as a meal with salad, but I think they'd be great as an appetizer, too.

What you'll need:
Shredded chicken, 1 cup or so (cooked my new favorite way, a post on that coming soon!)
1/4 cup or so of Buffalo Wing sauce (we use Frank's)
1/2 cup of bleu cheese crumbles
2 cans of crescent rolls
Optional: ranch or bleu cheese dressing for dipping.

You take one of your crescent rolls...

Add your chicken and bleu cheese (or whatever kind of cheese you prefer)...

Then roll it up!

Someday our kitchen will have better lighting and my pictures won't be totally blurry and dark. Someday.

Seriously, these are SO easy and so delicious!

We dipped ours in ranch and it was amazing! I highly recommend trying these either for an appetizer or as a meal.

pinterest projects {2 knockout recipes}

I have been pinning things for a very long time, and I have just recently started to go back and look at my old pins to see what we should have for dinner.

Last night I tried two different recipes, and they were both AMAZING.

First up:

Pizza Quesadillas
via Snixy Kitchen

photo also via Snixy Kitchen

These were the bomb. I loved them, and while he liked them, Sam would have preferred additional "toppings", but I thought they were fine the way they are.

Basically what you do is buy some pepperoni (I got ours from the deli counter and thought this was better than the prepackaged kind). Pan fry the pepperoni so it's crispy, then brush pizza sauce on two flour tortillas, throw on some cheese, and put the pizza sauce sides towards the middle and then crisp in a cast iron skillet (3-5 minutes on each side). Super easy, super delicious.


Next:

Mini Halloween Oreo Cheesecake
 via A Bitchin' Kitchen 

Not the best picture, but ohmigosh you guys, these are SO GOOD. Sam gave them an A+. I would give them an A+++ if that was possible.

Instructions are on her website, and trust me, you'll want to go make these ASAP. I suggest making them when you're going to have company or a work potluck, because it's torturous to have them sitting around your house and to try not eat them all day.




What kinds of things are you cooking up these days?
 

crockpot cooking {taco soup}

Sam's parents recently redid their kitchen, and when his mom was reorganizing everything, she found an extra crockpot and graciously gave it to us, since the one we had was tiny. Since she gave it to us (like a week ago), I've been obsessively scouring the web for crockpot recipes! Since I have to work such long/weird hours, being able to throw something in the crockpot is essential if we want to not eat out every night.

This recipe is so easy, it took me less than 10 minutes to prepare (seriously).


Two cans of each of these...

 Two packets of each of these...

Brown some meat (not pictured, because it grosses me out), chop some veggies...

...and voila!  A hearty soup, and super delicious.


"Slow Cooker Taco Soup" 
via AllRecipes.com

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 2 packages taco seasoning mix
• 1 2 packages ranch dressing mix
• 1 2 cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
• 1 2 cans corn, undrained
• 1 2 cans black beans, undrained
• 1 (15 ounce) can sliced black olives (sick, omitted these)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup tomato juice (I really don't feel like you need this because it's soupy enough if you don't drain the cans).

Serve with sour cream, cheese, and chips.

As you can tell, I doubled most of the recipe, because we both love this, so I wanted to have leftovers. I'm trying to decrease the amount of red meat we eat, though, so I didn't double the ground beef!

a spin on chicken pizza

A few weeks ago, I went to a Pampered Chef bridal shower (for A), and they made a delicious veggie pizza for the recipe of the day. I loved it, so I committed some of the recipe to memory and Sam and I improvised our own version the other night.


It's not a typical "pizza" in that it didn't have cheese or sauce on it, but it LOOKED like pizza, so I'm sticking with the name.



This is what I we did: 


I pressed out a can of crescent rolls on my Pampered Chef baking stone which is the best thing besides Sam that's ever happened to me.  I then baked it in the oven for about 14 minutes and pulled it out to cool. I don't think I let it cool QUITE long enough, so I'd recommend about 7-10 minutes of cooling time.

Sorry ladies, that gentleman staring longingly at the crust doesn't come with the recipe.

While that was cooking, I boiled some chicken to cook it through then diced it up. If anyone has recommendations on how to quickly cook chicken for other recipes, I'd appreciate it. I HATE cooking chicken because I'm afraid it's going to be undercooked. I blame my medical microbiology classes for that!

 

Meanwhile, Sam helped me out by making our "sauce". This is the part that I wasn't sure about, so I improvised. Here we used some cream cheese, mayonnaise, fresh garlic, and parsley to make a creamy spread to put on the "pizza".  We didn't soften the cream cheese and it turned out find. Use a big spoon to whip up the cream cheese as best as possible, then stir in the mayo, garlic, and parsley.

 

Cut up the fresh veggies (leave them raw!) of your choice. 

After the crescent roll crust comes out of the oven, spread your cream cheese mixture over the crust just like you would sauce on a pizza.

Then, add the chicken and veggies!

Voila! I'm not sure how healthy this is, given the crescent roll crust. We did however use fresh veggies, reduced fat cream cheese, and reduced fat mayo...so i'm going to say it's not THAT bad for you. Sam was pretty impressed and I liked it a lot too. This is definitely something we'll try again. My favorite parts were that it was really easy, was a "cool" alternative to pizza on a warm Missouri day, and that each time you make it it's so easy to switch up!




Garlic & Herb Chicken Pizza

1 pkg crescent rolls (6 rolls)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
2 Tbsp parsley
veggies of your choice
1 lb cooked chicken, diced.


Press crescent rolls out like a pizza crust, bake at 375 for 14 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil chicken until cooked through (about 20 minutes). Dice and lightly season with salt and pepper. Mix together cream cheese, mayo, garlic and parsley, set aside. Chop up vegetables. After crescent roll crust has cooled slightly, spread cream cheese mixture over entire crust. Top with veggies and chicken (or other toppings of your choosing).

Bon appetit!


*Sorry about the blurry iPhone pictures. Not sure what the problem was.
**My opinions regarding Pampered Chef products are solely mine and were not solicited or paid for by Pampered Chef. I just think they're totally rockin.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone who is celebrating today! If you aren't, I hope you are having a happy Hanukkah, or will have a wonderful Kwanzaa, or just a spectacular New Year's Eve if none of those are your cup of tea. I would like to take a second to remind a few people that this is the holiday season, not just the Christmas season, so even if you believe something different than someone else, it gives you no right to cut down other religions or people solely to make yourself feel more important.  And in the spirit of the holidays, lets just try being nice to everyone. Capice?


Off my soap box.


I love everything about Christmas, but one of my favorite things is holiday baking. Here's a quick roundup of everything I have baked this holiday season!

Candy Cane Cookies via my Grandmother

Andes Mint Cookies via Becky Higgins

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins... my mom found this recipe somewhere, I'm not sure where.

Peanut Butter Kiss cookies via my great Grandmother's recipe

Christmas Swirl Cookies via Our Italian Kitchen

If you want any of the homemade recipes, let me know. The Candy Cane Cookies are fun AND delicious :).

pinterest challenge #2

Day #2 of the Pinterest challenge.


My two best friends came in town this week (another blog post will be devoted to this lovely occurrence) and we got to work baking some of our favorites, and also tried out some new cookies. We found these beauties:

via Our Italian Kitchen

and set about making them. Our finished version definitely isn't as pretty, but hey, we tried!

I forgot to take pictures before, but we did a semi-homemade version and rolled two packages of sugar cookie dough together and then covered in sprinkles.

They turned out kind of trapeze-like when we cut them, but that's okay

These got HUGE when we baked them. Not sure how to remedy that problem.

These were pretty decent, but I don't like sugar cookies so I'm probably not the best judge. We split them in 3 to each have some and my brothers devoured mine, so I'm assuming they are pretty good :).

homemade weekends

This semester of school hasn't been fun, mostly because it's been uber disorganized, which I can't stand. Anyway, the good thing about having an actual semester rather than hyper speed summer classes is that my weekends are more or less free to do whatever I want. 

Since I've been going to see Sam a lot more, I've been trying out some Pinterest recipes, since most of the things I find on there are fairly easy.  We (and by we, I mean me) tried a couple of new things this weekend and I must say, they were pretty tasty. 

This is a Chicken Parmesan Bake that is really, really good. I made Sam rate these two different recipes, and he gave this one a 9 out of 10 (remember that he probably doesn't want to hurt my feelings when looking this number). My favorite part is that it is SO easy. There is a 3 minute video on his blog and that is literally (LITERALLY) the amount of time it took me to prepare this dish.

This is a Baked Potato Soup that I was really nervous about while it was baking, but it was decent too. I substituted the chicken stock with chicken broth because the grocery store by Sam's apartment didn't have chicken stock, but that resulted in it turning out a bit runnier than I would have liked. Another issue is that I didn't read the recipe well enough when I was writing down the ingredients, and didn't realize you needed to puree part of the soup, so I had to run to Target in the middle of making everything to buy a blender.  The nice thing about this recipe is that you can just throw it in the crock pot and it cooks itself. VERY easy to prepare. Anyway, Sam gave this was a 7/10, although he claims if it had been thicker it would have been a 9.

Also taken with Instagram. Did I mention I LOVE instagram?

pinterest palette

I tried really hard to find alliteration for pinterest with a food term, so my lame attempt with palette is as close as we're getting, people.


We've been trying out some pinterest recipes up here in the molly's musing household. Here they are:

Buffalo Chicken Mac n Cheese {from noblepig.com}

This was a good one. My family ate half of the pan in one sitting (and it made a big pan!). My mom was actually the one who made this, because I have been getting back into school mode and had a lot of homework the night we made it. I definitely enjoyed it though! I would recommend it if you like any buffalo chicken recipes.

Oreo Crumb Cupcakes {from yourcupofcake.com}

These cupcakes were the bane of my existence. First of all, they are semi-homemade, but they still toke me forEVER to make! The cake part turned out pretty good, but I think there is a typo in the instructions for the icing. I used 3 cups of powdered sugar to make it, but I think you actually need 2.5-3 pounds. I know that sounds weird, but my mom and I made icing from scratch other day and that's about how much we used for that icing. This icing turned out really liquidy and looked like it's melting off the cupcake. I took a picture, but I'm afraid to post it because you WILL laugh at it.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps {from Can You Stay for Dinner?}

Have you noticed a theme in our family's tastes? Yes, another buffalo chicken recipes. These were delish as well, and the best part about them, is they are only about 100 calories per wrap! And they're baked! And crunchy! And delicious! I recommend these if you have any affinity at all for buffalo dip :).

*All pictures on this blog are from the various blogs I found the recipes on. Their awesome photography is just that, theirs. Not mine.*

what's cookin, good lookin? 2.0

 School has been majorly cutting into my ability to get in the kitchen, but I had a little bit of downtime in the last week so I made some new stuff and some tried and true stuff. Believe it or not, the tried and true stuff was WAY better than the new stuff...

Up first, carbonara courtesy of Rachael Ray. I am never a fan of watching Rachael Ray, but this recipe is to DIE FOR. It is a family favorite, and now I make it for Sam all the time. I'm not going to type the recipe all the way out, but let me just entice you: it has PASTA. and CHEESE. and BACON. and WHITE WINE. how can you go wrong? For my vegetarian friends, I imagine you could just omit the bacon (which we substitute for pancetta--its too expensive) or use a bacon alternative. Another plus?? It's a 30 minute meal!

My stomach is growling as we speak!

Next on the menu are Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes. I wasn't a huge fan of these. I found them on allrecipes.com, and they're big spiel was that you wouldn't need to frost them because there is a peanut butter cup inside. wrong wrong wrong. I made the recipe exactly like it said, but I thought the cupcake was really dry. It tastes fine, but I just think it needs a little something extra on top. I would recommend a chocolate icing, because you use peanut butter in the batter as well, so it would be overpowering if you used a peanut butter icing. If you like those cookies that I see around Christmas time with little chocolate kisses on top, you will like these!

Sorry for the blurry picture... thanks iPhone!

what's cookin, good lookin?

Prepare for the onslaught of blog posts! I haven't updated with a decent post in awhile, so I have lots to say!

First, I was going to copy my friend Cortney and post a Menu Monday post, but I forgot with all of the excitement of the 4th of July, so it looks like it's a Tasty Tuesday kinda day.


First on molly's menu is Buffalo Chicken Dip. Now I've had various buffalo chicken dips, as well as various buffalo chicken sandwiches, wraps, etc, but I think this dip that I found on AllRecipes.com is top notch. My various taste testers think so, too! If I had to give it a numerical score, I would say it was an 8/10. It's also SUPER easy to make. I am going to tweak it a bit the next time I make it, to try and make it a little thicker.

 Recipe:
1 8oz package of cream cheese (I use low fat), softened.
1/2 cup blue cheese salad dressing
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese or crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce
18 oz of shredded chicken (I used canned because I'm lazy and it shreds easier when stirring, you could also omit this for those who want a vegetarian version)

That's it! 5 ingredients!

Spread the cream cheese in the bottom of an 8x8 pan until creamy and smooth. Stir in salad dressing, cheese, and wing sauce. Add chicken and stir until thoroughly mixed. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until bubbling throughout. Serve with assorted veggies and crackers.

I served it every time I've made it with carrots and Club crackers, which have gone over pretty well.

Ugh. Yum. Now I want some all over again.

Second on the list is some semi-homemade cupcakes that I found a recipe for yesterday. I was inspired by Pinterest, surprise surprise, but found this recipe on TLC's website from a generic google search. I've had mixed reviews on this one ranging from "They're okay, but I don't like coconut." (my little brother) to "Oh my gosh, these are AWESOME!" (my dad) and everything in between. I myself think they're alright. Not the best cupcakes I've ever had, but definitely still really good.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cupcakes


Recipe:
1 pkg white cake mix (plus the ingredients to prepare the cake mix ie: eggs, water, oil)
1 pkg white chocolate Jello pudding mix
3/4 c of chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 c flaked coconut
1 c white chocolate chips
1 container of white frosting

Prepare cake mix according to package directions, beating in pudding mix with cake mix ingredients. Fold in nuts.

Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. *Side note here...I included the picture of how much I filled up the cupcake liners because people always say "2/3 full" which I think is super subjective, so see below to see how much these filled out.*

Meanwhile, spread coconut evenly on ungreased baking sheet; bake at 350°F 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown. Cool completely.

Place white chocolate chips in small microwavable bowl; microwave 2 minutes on MEDIUM (50%), stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Cool slightly before stirring into frosting.

This is how fluffy the cupcakes got...which I was fine with. I like huge cupcakes...surprise, surprise.

Frost cupcakes; sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Finished product! Cute cupcake stand courtesy of Target.