New Blog Makeover

A long time ago I won a blog makeover from Indiechick Design.  Emma was so great to work with.  She created the new look for me and my blog.  You should check out her work.  She's very reasonable not to mention easy to work with! 

Thanks Emma and Indiechick Designs!

Easy Caramel Dip

I love caramel.  More than just about anything.  I'm picky about caramel too.  Don't try and fool me with butterscotch.  Yuck.  Caramel and butterscotch are NOT the same thing.  Not even close.  So I tasted this caramel dip about  6 months ago.  I was pleasantly surprised by it's goodness.  I finally got around to making it for myself (actually for a baby shower).  It was easy and delicious.  Fall is a great time to make this with all the yummy apples around.  But go ahead and dip anything in it. You'll love it.  I know I do!

Easy Caramel Dip

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together all ingredients.  Can be heated in crock pot.

Rootbeer Cupcakes

I wasn't sure what I thought when I first heard root beer cupcakes mentioned.  But I do love cupcakes and I love a good root beer.  So I was excited to try them when my friend Steph made them.

They did not disappoint!

So I had to get the recipe and try them out for myself. 

Here's the original recipe, followed by what I did when I made them.

Root Beer Cupcakes
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs

2 cups root beer

1 3 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp. root beer extract

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl.  Fill cupcakes 1/2 to 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 16 minutes.  Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

Frosting

1 8 oz container whipped topping, thawed

1 square softened butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. root beer extract

Mix whipped topping, softened butter and root beer extract together until smooth.  Add powered sugar and mix until desired consistency.  Frost cupcakes!  They may be stored in the refrigerator to keep frosting from getting too soft.

Now, I thought I had all the ingredients I needed but I didn't. I did NOT want to make one more trip to the store that day so I improvised. I just substituted the water in the cake mix with root beer and added 1 tsp. root beer concentrate.  Then I added the rest of the regular ingredients called for on the box, i.e oil and eggs.

I couldn't find root beer extract but I did have root beer concentrate.  It may be the same thing.  I'm not really sure.  But it's what I used.  They were soo yummy.  So root beery.  I will definitely be making them again soon.  Thanks Steph for sharing these with me!

Shirley J's Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchilada's are a favorite of my family.  I've been making a scratch version for years.  My recipe in fact for those makes 6 pans at a time.  So I was not sure how I would like the Shirley J version using the Universal Sauce.  I was overwhelmed with the goodness.  My son asked me why I would mess with something I had perfected over the years.  He too was amazed at how good they tasted.  Plus he didn't know how much time I had saved.  These enchiladas are easy, quick and delicious.

Shirley J Chicken Enchiladas

1 cup Shirley J's Universal sauce mix
4 cups water
1 7 oz can chopped green chilies
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chicken bouillon
2  12 oz cans chicken, drained
3 cups grated cheese, mozzarella or monterey jack work well
8-10 tortillas

Mix water and universal sauce together in a saucepan.  Mix together and bring to a slow boil.  Add green chilies, cumin and bouillon.  Stir and remove from heat.  Set aside.  In small bowl, break up chicken and add 11/2 cups of the cheese and 1 1/2 cups of the sauce.  Mix together. Place 2-3 T. of chicken mixture in center of tortilla and roll up. Place rolled up tortillas in 9x13 pan. Continue until all chicken mixture is used. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle the top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Cupcake Conference 2010 Summer Social

I went to the Cupcake Conference Summer Social a week ago.  It was soo much fun!

I went with these cute girls; Kelli,  Dee-Dee and Brittany.  The Social was held at The Grand America Hotel in one of the suites on the 23rd floor. 

It was beautiful. 

So were the views. 

We spent some time in the pastry kitchen with the executive pastry chef, Fernanda Dutra.

Then we had a little cupcake decorating contest.

We spent the remainder of the evening back in the suite.  We had more cupcakes, met new friends and won a bunch of prizes.  I won some beautiful earrings and an amazing cupcake stand.

Brittany may have won a cupcake bedazzled snuggie. 

Who am I kidding? 

Of course she did!

It was a wonderful, sugar-high, cupcake loving, gift winning, new friend making, swag bag receiving, lots of laughing night!

Thanks to these cute girls for all the planning!

 I can't wait to see what else is in store with the Cupcake Conference!

Busy July

I can't believe I haven't posted a thing this month.  It's been a busy one.  But relaxing too.  Isn't that what summer's all about?

But I'm headed to the Cupcake Conference Summer Social in about an hour.  I'm excited about it too.  I'll take pictures and report back on Monday.  Cupcakes.  Grand America Hotel.  Socializing.  Can it get any better? 

Check out the Cupcake Conference  I'll give you my take on it on Monday.

Whole Wheat Bread

I've finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that my family loves!  Not just to eat while it's warm, but for toast and sandwiches too.  It's soft yet doesn't fall apart.  It's absolutely delicious. 

I grind my own flour but you can just buy yours.  Or talk your friend with a wheat grinder into grinding some for you.  I started using hard white wheat to fool my kids that it was only half wheat flour.  But they like it so much that I've been using half hard red and half hard white wheat.

I found this recipe over at The Sisters Cafe.  I changed it a little bit to suit my needs.

Whole Wheat Bread

makes 5 loaves

3 1/2 cups hot tap water

1 12 oz can evaporated milk

3 T. instant yeast

2/3 cup oil

1 cup honey

1 cup white flour (I guess that doesn't make it "whole wheat" bread)

3 T vital wheat gluten

12 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 T salt

If grinding your own wheat, grind all of the wheat before you start.  Approximately 8 cups of wheat is equal to 12 cups flour. 

Using a heavy duty mixer, (I use a Bosch) combine ingredients in the order given, mixing well after half of the flour.  Then add the other half of flour and salt.  If dough is too sticky, add a little bit extra white flour.  Knead in mixer for 8 minutes.  Dump dough onto counter and form into a log.  Divide into 5 equal parts.  Put each part into a greased medium loaf pan.  Push down the sides to fill the bottom of the pan, leaving the top round and smooth.  Don't worry too much about it looking perfect here. 

Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until desired size. 

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush tops with melted butter, if desired. 

Let cool ten minutes before removing from pans.  Cool completely before slicing.  Although we never wait for that.