Welcome to my blog!

I'm so glad you came to visit! My goal with this blog is to share my cooking and baking adventures, kitchen tips, and fun!! I hope you'll join me on the adventure. Keep an eye out for new kitchen tips every Friday. Have some you'd like to share?? Let me know, and I'll be sure to post them! I'd also like to share recipes and swap some with friends, maybe even cook our way through a cookbook or 2. Who knows??

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Oops...a few days behind!!

Things have been so crazy busy around here, as I'm sure most of you can relate to!! There has been less cooking, and a lot more baking going on around here!! I made some delicious chocolate covered pretzel rods, as well as Oreo and Nutter Butter Truffles, some pink and purple cupcakes for a birthday party, 2 cakes for my niece's First Birthday (regular cake, and a "smash" cake), and plain cupcakes for the kids to decorate at our Cousin Christmas Party!!
Coming up this weekend: Red Velvet Cake, Cannolis, S'mores Bars and Brownies!!! Stay tuned for pics!! Below are seome pics from this past week!
My niece celebrated her First Birthday!
I think she enjoyed the cake.....

Baby Cake had fun decorating cupcakes with her cousins!!

Mmmmm....cupcakes!

A sea of cupcakes.....

Christmas Pretzel rods!

A plate of goodies ready to go for Baby Cake's teacher (I made the ceramic trays they were on too!!)
Well, until next week... here's wishing everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Have a safe and joyous holiday!!!!
-Cakegirl

Saturday, December 11, 2010

What a Week!!

Well, crazy holiday time is officially upon us!! I have been baking and cooking up a storm this week!! Tonight I'm going to share 2 easy dinner recipes, and then some pics of the 2 cookie orders I did this week.
Between baking and shopping and wrapping and packing and working on the new house, I needed a couple quick and easy dinners. So this week, I made two of our old favorites: stuffed shells and tortilla pie.
Let's start with the stuffed shells!!
Here's the ingredients:
large pasta shells
15oz ricotta cheese
2 cups grated or shredded mozzerella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp parsley
2 eggs
1 jar pasta sauce

Start by bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add 16  shells, and boil for about 10 minutes. Drain shells in a colander, and run cold water over them to stop them from cooking any more.
In a large bowl, mix together all the rest of the ingredients except for the sauce.
Pour about 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Stuff shells with about 3tbsp of the filling and place side by side in the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes.
Yum!! Just add some good garlic bread on the side, and you're ready to go!!

Now for the tortilla pie!
Ingredients:
1 package of 9 inch flour tortillas
1 lb ground meat (we use turkey, but you can use beef if you prefer)
1 jar of salsa con queso
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
assorted toppings of your choice: sour cream, tomatoes, green onions, salsa, etc

Start by browning your meat in a skillet. When fully browned, add entire jar of salsa con queso;mix well and heat for an additional 2 or 3 minutes.
Place a tortilla in a 9 inch pyrex dish and spoon some of the meat and cheese mixture onto the tortilla. Place another tortilla on top, then more meat, then one last tortilla, last bit of the meat, then sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes.
Good stuff! Then just add any toppings of your choice!!

Now, on to the really fun stuff!!
I had two sugar cookie orders this week.
The first was for zebra print cookies. Here's a couple of my fav pics!

And then I had an order for Christmas Cookies. I took a lot of pics, but here are a few favs! (If you wanna see the rest, visit me on facebook-if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will find a "like us on facebook" box!)

Tomorrow's adventure - a whole lot of cake balls!!!
Have a great night!!
-Cakegirl

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

Hi everyone!! Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but last week was my busiest week of the year!! My daughter's school held their annual Holiday Concert and Silent Auction, which I was in charge of. We had over 300 people attend! And, in the midst of the craziness, my husband had to go out of town for work, and we got the news that we will be closing on our new house this coming Tuesday! So I've done very little cooking and baking in the last week, but I will be getting back on track this week. (I hope). The only thing I did bake last week were some cake balls for the concert, so here are some of my favorite pics of them. I promise more interesting posts next week! ;)
And I couldn't resist adding a pic of my sweet Baby Cake with Santa at her concert!!
-Cakegirl