One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta with Broccoli

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Classes have started back up for me. I am busier than I ever was, After November began, time flew. It was a very difficult end of 2015 for my family and I, but we made it through. That was one of the main reasons I have posted anything on my blog for such a long time. It went to the back burner after the beginning of November. 

The New Year has flown by, I can't believe it is already the beginning of February. Because I am so busy, sometimes I want something that's loaded with CARBS and quick to make. This One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta kicks butt. It is so yummy, and easy to make. Throw everything in pan, put a lid on it and stir it every so often? Sign me up! Because it's pasta, I don't have it often, but sometimes I just need a cheat on my healthy diet, and this usually does this trick. Plus, I add brocolli-- so that means the whole dish is healthy...?

Side notes: This pasta is cooked in the same pot from start to finish. This recipe can be doubles very nicely. The addition of the broccoli is optional. I add the broccoli about 10 minutes before the pasta is done cooking.

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta with Brocolli

adapted from Damn Delicious

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk, or more, as needed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

8 ounces uncooked fettuccine

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 pkg. frozen broccoli (12-14 oz.) (optional) (fresh broccoli can be used)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
2. Stir in chicken broth, milk, butter and fettuccine; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
3. Bring to a boil; add broccoli. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is cooked through, about 18-20 minutes. Stir in Parmesan. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed until desired consistency is reached.
4. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy your pasta!I know, I will! 

Peace, love, bake on.

                                             Andrea 

How to Make a Heart-Shaped Valentine's Day Cake (without a heart-shaped pan)

Any occasion that I can bake up something festive is right up my alley. Valentine's Day is one of those holidays where it's easy to bake up something special.
There's something out there for everyone when it comes to festive bakery treats. The best place to find festive treats to make for Valentine's Day (or really any holiday) is on Pinterest. I love Pinterest. I could talk all day about my love for Pinterest. Anyway, I saw a pin that I thought was really ingenious. It was directions on how to make a heart cake without having to use a cake pan shaped like a heart (those can be difficult to find). So, I thought I was share it with ya'll because something so cute and easy must be shared.

Valentine's Heart Shaped Cake
adapted from BetterRecipes.com

1 cake mix (2- layered or 9x13 size)
Eggs, oil, water (as directed on cake mix)
Frosting
Red food coloring
Sprinkles or other decorations

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix up cake mix according to directions on the package. Divide the batter evenly into an 8 inch greased round and 8x8 greased square pan. Bake for the labeled amount of times on cake mix (or until when a tooth pick comes out clean).
Remove from oven when baked. Cool in pan for ten minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Once cake has cooled, cut the round cake in half. Assemble to cake on a serving tray of some sorts. Use a little bit of frosting to "glue" to pieces together (Follow the picture guide below from BetterRecipe.com) Frost cake and decorate with sprinkles or other candy decorations.
Take pictures at your amazing creation and enjoy!

BetterRecipes.com

I hope my directions don't confuse, but in the likely chance that they do please go to BetterRecipes.com for beautiful photographs and detailed instructions. I hope you have a very happy and LOVELY Valentine's Day!

Peace, Love, Bake on.

                          Andrea 

Blueberry Cobbler {updated}

I thought I would update my one of my old posts, Blueberry cobbler. This recipe has become a staple in my house for couple years now. My old post didn't really do this recipe justice. Really the picture on this post does not do this recipe justice either. I found this recipe several years ago just when I was starting up my blog almost 2 years ago. 
This dessert is always a hit where ever I take it. Everyone always asks for the recipe. I could eat this whole thing by myself. There's not just eat one serving. It's so scrumptious. Words or pictures really can't describe it loveliness. It's even better served warm with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Consider yourself warned. 
This recipe does call for blueberry pie filling, but you do not have to use blueberry filling. I use this recipe as the basis for all my cobblers. I sometimes use canned peaches instead. You can use any fruit, but you would might need to put a little water over the fruit and sugar or make compote with the fruit. Also, I don't always have 2 or 2.5 quart dish so I use a 9x13 dish. This way it can easily be double for a larger crowd or for hungrier appetites. If you don't have an hour to bake it, you can do 40-45 minutes at 375 degrees, which is what I do sometimes. 

Blueberry Cobbler

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients: 

• 6 tbs. butter
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour (or 1 cup flour, 1 1/3 tsp. baking powder, & 1/3 tsp. salt)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (21 oz.) can blueberry pie filling or other fruit(You don't have to use pie filling)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter and pour into a 2 or 2.5 quart casserole or baking pan. Mix sugar, flour, and milk together.
3. Pour mixture into pan over butter, but do NOT mix. Pour blueberry pie filling over mixture, but do NOT mix. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. 
5. Serve warm with ice cream, if you desire to do so.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do. Have a happy Sunday! I will enjoy mine inside since its snowing out.

Peace, Love, Bake on.

                                                          Andrea  

Thanksgiving Oreo Turkeys

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It's so festive, and little pressure is placed upon the holiday. I could go on my soap box and talk about how Black Friday is no longer on Black Friday, but has instead intruded on a holiday where we reflect on the blessings that have been bestowed upon us and are thankful for what we have and the people that surround us. But I won't go take that step onto my soap box, I will, however,  talk about about turkeys.

Thanksgiving has long centered around the family table that is topped with a roasted turkey, a side of stuffing, and a slice of pumpkin pie. That's the way it is, and that's the way I like it. Because of this magnificent fact it is so easy to be festive on Thanksgiving. I can put pumpkin in anything, and everyone's cool with that. I can make food to look like turkeys, and that makes everyone more festive. And that is exactly what I did. 

I try to do this every year. Last year, I made cupcakes, and I made them into a big turkey shape.

One of my brothers and one of my sisters wanted a pic with the cupcake turkey. 

This year I decided to use OREOS as my medium for creating my turkey. 

These Oreo turkeys are fairly easy to make. I put each Oreo on a sucker stick (which can be found at Walmart or other craft stores). I used candy corn as the feathers, and M&Ms as the eyes. For the beak, I used frosting that I dyed orange.

Thanksgiving OREO Turkeys:

Ingredients:

Oreos

Sucker sticks

White almond bark or white chocolate

Chocolate chips (semi sweet or you can use almond bark)

Frosting

Frosting dyes (red and orange)

M & Ms

Candy corn

Directions: 

1. Melt some white almond bark in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl (about 2 squares).
2. Gently twist each of the Oreos apart, so that the cream stays on part of the cookie and the other is clean. 
3. Put melted melted chocolate in a baggie with a small tip clipped at one end. Squeeze a small amount of chocolate onto the cream side of the Oreo. 
4. Next, place a sucker stick on the small amount of the chocolate that is on the cream side of the Oreo. Add the top back onto the Oreo. Repeat until all of Oreos have been done. 
5. Next, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave. 
6. Dip the pointy end of the candy corn in to the chocolate. Then put in between the two cookie halves of the Oreo. I put 4-5 pieces of candy corn on each Oreo.
7. After all of the Oreos have candy corn on them, place in the freezer or fridge so that the chocolate can harden up (In the freezer for about 15-20 minutes).
8. For the eyes, you will need more white chocolate or just remelt the leftovers the  from previous steps. Using the same bag as before, pipe two small circle dollops on the Oreo (This makes the white of the eye). Then place an M&M on each of the dollops. Repeat for rest of Oreos.
9. Next, dye half of the frosting orange, place in a sandwich baggie with tip cut off. Pipe the beaks on the Oreos. (I basically did a squiggle; I started the squiggle bigger at one end and then taper off; refer to picture).
10. To make the snood (the red thing that hangs off a turkey's beak), dye the other half of the frosting red. Using a sandwich baggie with the tip cut of, pipe the snood on the larger side of the beak (I made a little line on the larger side of the beak).
11. Place in freezer or fridge to allow the chocolate to solidify if it hasn't already. 
12. Share with the family and friends!

I'm sorry if the directions are thoroughly confusing. It was sometimes hard ot explain what I was doing. If you have any questions please feel free to email me or contact me. Have a Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving,

                              Andrea

Halloween Cupcakes

I hope everyone is having happy fall. Halloween is upon us. I was busy tonight making treats for my brothers and sisters to take to school for their Halloween parties. I had a lot of fun. They were fairly easy to make, just time consuming to do. They ended up looking pretty great. 

I found a lot of ideas off Pinterest. I love Pinterest. Pinterest has everything a person could ever need know(well, at least about cupcakes). 

    

1. The first cupcake I made was a mummy cupcake. I just made my own version of grease frosting (I call it Crisco frosting). It makes really white frosting because there isn't any butter in it. I then cut a small tip off the end of a sandwich baggie. I piped frosting on the cupcake, and then added Reese's Pieces for the eyes (or M&Ms). This was really easy to do. 

2. The second cupcake I made was the ghosts. I made these ghosts on mini cupcakes for my little brother's class. He has a fairly large class, so it made it easier. I made Crisco frosting again. I cut a tip off of a sandwich baggie again, but this time I made a slightly larger cut. A tip when doing this, make sure to make a clean, straight cut. If you have the 1A or 2A frosting tip then you could also use that. I then colored some left over frosting black, and then piped little dotted eyes on each ghost. 

3. The last cupcake I made were green monster cupcakes. I made more frosting, which I then dyed green. I pipped the cupcakes in a swirl using a baggie; you could again use the 1A or 2A tip here. I couldn't find mine. I melted some white melties (white almond bark). I put the melted chocolate in a baggie with a small tip cut off. I piped enough to make eyes for my cupcakes. After, I placed a M&M on each of the dots I just made with the white chocolate. Now you have your eyes.

While those cool, I cut up Airheads in different shapes. I did triangles and rectangles. After the eyes cool and harden, place on frosted cupcake, and then add eyes. I then added Mike and Ikes on the side for ears. I let the kids help decorate these. It was a fun activity to do with them. 

I hope ya'll have a happy Halloween. Keep warm, and trick or treat to your hearts content. Eat as much candy as you can get, I know I will. 

Happy Halloween.

                         Peace, love, bake on.

                                  Andrea 

           

Mini Bagel Pizzas.

I don't know about anyone else, but I sometimes I am at a loss to fun easy creative lunch ideas for the kiddos. Finding fun and easy lunches can be a challenge during the summer. I mean I don't mind putting a ton of effort in occasionally, but it is my summer vacation too. So if I can do as little as possible sometimes and still have yummy lunch then it's a win-win. 

I have two brothers and two sisters. My youngest brother is seven, and my youngest sister is eleven. They both love to help me in the kitchen, so I usually try to find a meal where they can make their own lunch creation. One that we just tried and made together was mini bagel pizzas. They were so easy and fun to make together. They are effortless, and the best part is the easy clean up.

I loved this lunch because the kids got to do all the work. All I had to do was put it in the oven and remove it from the oven. The very best thing was that the kids loved it, which made it all worth it.

Mini Bagel Pizzas

Inspired by my love of carbs, cheese, and smiles.

Ingredients:

Mini bagels (purchased from grocery store)

Cheese, such as mozzarella 

Pizza sauce 

Any other pizza topping desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice each bagel in half. Top each bagel with sauce. Add toppings (Don't forget the extra cheese;the more the merrier).
3. Place on cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven 10-17 minutes or until cheese is melted (I always bake mine until bottoms are crispy because you don't want chewy pizza). 
4. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Eat up and enjoy your hard work! 

Don't forget to let the kids decorate their pizzas. I remember as a child, I loved to make pizza. My friends and I would have pizza parties, where we would decorate pizzas. Those were the good ol' days. To be young and only have to worry about what you were going to top your pizza with. Anyway please enjoy your summer, and don't forget to stay cool with a sip the perfect sweet iced tea. 

Peace, love, bake on.

                                             Andrea