Valentine Cupcakes with a surprise middle!

I absolutely love Valentine's Day. My thought has always been that on Valentine's Day, the homemade gifts and treats are much more meaningful. These little cupcakes are filled with a surprise middle and a marshmallow heart on top. Here is how I made these...

What you'll need:
2 boxes of cake mix and ingredients to make (two colors, or both white)
Food coloring
Marshmallow hearts (or other topper of your choice)
Cupcake liners
Toothpick
Frosting
Very small heart shaped cookie cutter

So I started out by cooking a box of strawberry cake mix in a regular square cake pan. Allowed it to cool and then using a small cookie cutter, cut out some hearts.

Now depending on how much your cake rose, you may need to cut these little hearts in half and make 2 out of one cut.

Next I prepared a batch of vanilla cake mix. I put some cupcake liners in my cupcake pan and dolloped a little bit of the vanilla cake mix in the middle of each liner. Then I took one of my strawberry hearts and placed it in the batter. Then I carefully spooned more of the vanilla batter over the top and around the sides. You want to be sure that the batter doesn't knock your heart over or out of place.

**IMPORTANT**

As you are placing in the hearts make sure they are all turned in the same direction. You will need to mark the batter in some way in the direction the heart is, so when people bite in the heart is facing them. I used a little red food coloring and dipped a toothpick in and put a dot facing the direction of the hearts.

I thought I would add that this was supposed to be a trail run and I was going to make a better version of this to post this week. But my son has come down with the horrible sickies and I don't think I'll be doing anymore baking this week. I should have pushed the hearts down more into the batter and covered them better. You'll see why in a moment. 

Now bake according to the box directions.

In the mean time get your frosting prepared. I used cream cheese  and tinted it with red food coloring. I don't have any of those fancy pastry bags, ziplock has been my friend when decorating cakes, cookies and cupcakes. One of the best tricks I've learned when putting frosting into a ziplock bag is to but the bag into a small cup then put the batter in. So much easier! Then just cut a little corner off the bottom for your frosting to come out of.

When your cupcakes are done cooking let them cool completely. Now before frosting, make sure you place the cupcake in front of you with the little red dot facing you.

Now frost away, and please be more creative than I was! I topped with a heart marshmallow facing in the direction the red dot was so people knew to bite into the cupcake that way. 

Here is the finished product.

Another with a pink marshmallow on top...

Now cut open to find the heart inside. And getting back to my note on needing to push the heart down better before baking, as you can see the very top of my heart was not showing well on this one. It came out good in some of the cupcakes, but I didn't want to cut open them all open at the same time.

This is great way to get different shapes inside a cupcake. If there is a cookie cutter small enough, it should work! Also a good idea for all those gender reveal cupcakes going around lately! 

Happy Valentine's Day- Miranda

One of the best turkey recipes- EVER!

The best turkey... ever!

This has been my go to recipe for turkey for the past few years. Never fails, always so juicy and flavorful and everyone loves it! And I'm going to share my recipe with you today, aren't I nice?

This recipe is a twist on Sandra Lee's roasted butter herb turkey
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/roasted-butter-herb-turkey-recipe/index.html

Fair warning, I'm not a measuring kind of person when it comes to cooking. I am more of a dash, pinch, and throw in a tad of something person! I like to live on the edge like that. So here goes...

What you will need (based on a 20 lb turkey, which is what I usually get):

4 sticks of butter (yes, it's a lot, but you will not use it for only the turkey!)

1 package of Knorr garlic and herb sauce mix

3 oranges

3 lemons

1 Large onion

1 garlic bulb

poultry seasoning

Fresh rosemary

So the night before, let your butter soften up and put it in a mixing bowl with the zest of 2 lemons and 2 oranges, the juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange, the garlic and herb sauce mix, and a few dashes of the poultry seasoning. Now mix all of this together really good.
Take some plastic wrap and roll it out onto your counter. Pour the mixed butter mixture in and roll it into a log. It should look something like this...

Now let that sit over night in your fridge.

Thanksgiving day prep-
Cut an onion into 4 pieces
Cut the garlic bulb in half
Slice an orange
Slice a lemon
Get out a couple of springs of the fresh rosemary
Remove the butter log from the fridge

As for the turkey, to prepare... have someone else (lol) remove the innards (again this is how I do it, I will not touch the innards- it grosses me out!). Now rinse the turkey and gently pat dry.Gently use your fingers to loosen the skin from the entire bird.
Cut some of the pieces of the butter log (reserve a good amount and put aside to ensure there is no cross contamination) and start to place the butter pieces in between the skin and the bird. Then take some more of the butter pieces and massage the whole outside of the bird with it.
Now stuff the inside of the bird with some of the orange and lemon pieces, the onion, garlic and rosemary.

As for cooking the bird, I cook mine on 325 and baste it about every hour or so, cooking until the little thermometer pops up and I check it with my own meat thermometer to confirm that it's done. I take it out and let it sit for a little bit before moving it to the platter.

To garnish, I cut up some of the oranges and lemons and place around the bird and finish off with some rosemary.

Now for the reserved butter, we use that for our rolls!

I am telling you guys, this turkey is so juicy and good! You can't go wrong with this recipe!

Enjoy!~ Miranda

My Thanksgiving Contribution: Oyster Dressing

Once upon a time I cooked everything for Thanksgiving but now that we live closer to family I am only required to make one thing. I'll allow a moment for your jealous rage...

Good?  OK.

This is my Father's recipe and it's a family one so I'm pretty sure that if he ever finds my blog that I'll be excommunicated from the Doyle brood but it's just too dang good not to share! This is a stuffing but since he's northern it's called a dressing and yes, it does have oysters in it and, yes, it can get a bit yucky to prepare but it is so worth it in the end. Don't you want to be the talk of the table this year?

Well, enough gab... On to the dressing!

*Warning* We do not measure, this is approximate. All the best recipes are ;)
**Double Warning** This recipe is for a large disposable tin pan, it's HUGE. Cut it in half and you'll feed half an army

1 cup celery
2 cups white onion
1 red bell pepper
2 green bell peppers
2 loafs of white bread
3 large bags of seasoned bread crusts (Pepperidge farms is what I use)
10 eggs (yup!)
1 cans of chicken broth
2 containers of fresh oysters
1 softened stick of butter
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

In a blender blend together the butter, oysters and chicken broth. Set aside.

Chop the celery, onion and bell peppers and combine together in a microwavable container, cover and cook for a 4 mins or until tender and steaming. Set aside.

Lay out all of the two loaves of bread to dry until the pieces feel slightly stiff on both sides (flip if you need to) then tear into smaller pieces and place the bread into a large deep tin cooking pan, add the 3 bags of seasoned stuffing crusts and the celery/onion/bell pepper combination and mix together with hands.

Now add the 10 eggs and mix again with your hands until all the ingredients are moist. Cover the top with Salt and Pepper and then pour on the oyster blend and mix again until completely mixed.

Well that was yucky!

Cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 30 mins or until the sides separate from the walls of the tin and testing the middle of the dressing with a straw comes out clean.


I will update this post with pictures around Thanksgiving!

Gobble 'Til Ya Wobble!
-Kels

My Thanksgiving dinner menu!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. Where did November go, where did the year go for that matter? I haven't gotten my turkey or any ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner yet. I need to get on the ball y'all!

Here is my Thanksgiving dinner menu. I will be hosting lots of family members in my home so our menu includes lots of foods that are traditional for us, along with some new items this year!

Citrus Herb Turkey (recipe to come, it's so good!)

Potato Salad - I'd love to be able to share this recipe with you, but alas... it's a family secret.

Green Bean Casserole - Nothing fancy, just the simple French's recipe. You can find it here- http://www.frenchs.com/recipe/frenchs-green-bean-casserole-RE1511

Creamy Peas and Carrots - This is new on the menu this year. I have been making this side dish for a couple of months now and everyone seems to love it. It's so easy...
Chop one onion and saute' in a large pan with a small amount of vegetable oil. Once the onions are translucent throw in some fresh carrots that have been peeled and chopped. Also put in a 1/2 tbsp of water. Let the carrots some up to a good simmer and throw in some thawed peas. Turn the heat down to medium and put the lid on. After the carrots are good and tender throw in a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese (don't freak, it's SO GOOD!) and put the lid back on. Let the cream cheese melt all the way through to create a creamy sauce and serve. So simple, and good!
This recipe is a variation of Giada's creamy pastina found here-
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pastina-with-peas-and-carrots-recipe/index.html

Spinach Artichoke Mac & Cheese - Another newbie on my menu this year. I stumbled upon this delicious bit of heaven on pinterest over the summer. Thank you to the Budget Savvy Diva for the recipe, which you can find here-
http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/05/spinach-artichoke-mac-cheese-bake-recipe/

Sweet Potato Casserole - Another family favorite. Here is a recipe you can follow, I just don't use pecans and I use real marshmallows!
http://www.pauladeen.com/food_section_articles/view2/a_house_and_casserole_divided/

Cranberry Sauce - Yeah, I take a shortcut on this one. Canned cranberry sauce is just as good as home made!

Mashed Potatoes - this is another family favorite, only this year I will be making them in the crock pot following this recipe (Thank you again Budget Savvy Diva!) -
http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/01/ultimate-crock-pot-mashed-potatoes/

Gravy - Our house is divided. My parents and husband love the giblet gravy which makes me shutter just thinking about it. I prefer the store bought canned!

Dressing - Here is Kelsey's (my partner in blogging!) recipe for easy peasy oyster dressing! http://2momsandablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-thanksgiving-contribution-oyster.html 
If you are not a fan of oysters try this - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-cornbread-stuffing-recipe/index.html

Rolls With Citrus Herb Butter - I buy pre-made rolls like these - http://www.saraleebread.com/our-bread/sara-lee/buns-and-rolls. The citrus herb butter to melt on top will go along with my turkey recipe which will be posted shortly!

DESSERTS!

Apple Pie - I am going to try my craft hand at these apple pies baked inside apples this year - http://domesticdilettante.com/2012/01/11/applepie/

Pumpkin Pie - I will not be making this, I am giving this dessert to my sister to make. But here is a good recipe to try! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html

So that's it! My Thanksgiving recipe round up. I hope that you have found some inspiration here!

~ Miranda

Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies

This cookie is beloved by my Hubby. 

Warning: Do not leave out overnight, there will only be crumbs in the morning!

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1 cup of light brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup dried cherries

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a medium mixing bowl, set aside. Cream unsalted softened butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Mix in one egg at a time into butter mix then add almond extract. Add flour mixture into butter mixture a little at a time on low speed until completely absorbed and is a cookie dough consistency. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries. 

Set oven to 350 degrees. Drop tablespoon size drops onto a greased cookie sheet or wax paper. Bake  for 10-15 minutes. YUM!

Enjoy!

-Kelsey

Pantry raid- Honey Mustard Chicken Fingers

More often than not, I begin to run out of groceries before I have a chance to get to the store again. I'm left having to do a pantry raid to scramble something up for dinner. My little guy has been asking for "Chik-fil-a" for days and I haven't been able to take him lately. So I came up with the next best thing. Chicken fingers. 

But I had no flour or eggs on hand to make the usual. So I had to get creative. I decided to try a honey mustard dredge in place of the egg, and use bread crumbs instead of flour. 

After rinsing the chicken I cut it up into the usual chicken finger size. I poured some honey mustard onto one plate and the bread crumbs onto another. 

*I used panko because it was all I had on hand, feel free to use whatever breadcrumbs you want- this is where you can get creative with your flavors*. 

I dredged the chicken in the honey mustard then tossed them into the bread crumbs. I then placed them into a baking dish and I had sprayed with a little bit of non stick cooking spray. They should look like this:

I then put them in a 425 degree oven. I would love to tell you how long I cooked these for, but since my oven acts up occasionally and for some reason it takes decades longer to make stuff in my oven than it should, just cook them for however long you would normally cook chicken.

After checking my chicken with a meat thermometer to ensure they were done, they were nice and golden brown.  

I will admit, I was worried about how they would come out. This is not something I've made before, and I've never used a honey mustard base for baking. I had PB&J on standby just in case. 

But my little guy took one bite and said "yummm- "Chik-fil-a!", I knew this recipe was a keeper. 

And after seeing this as my husband's Facebook status this morning I was beaming. 

 It's not every day I get kudos for my cooking!

~ Miranda