When I used to bake and decorate wedding and birthday cakes, I would use different types of frosting depending on who was eating the cake. Most wedding cakes were frosted in egg- based recipes such as Italian or French meringue but for children’s cakes or cupcakes I usually frost cakes in American buttercream frosting. Made with powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk, this is a basic, easy recipe for classic vanilla buttercream frosting. This frosting works great for spreading on cakes, cupcakes, and/or for decorating. Some frosting recipes will call for shortening. Although you could easily substitute some of the butter for shortening, your frosting will taste greasy. But if you must have a true bright white frosting or need to stabilize it, shortening and clear vanilla extract flavoring would work fine. I prefer using all butter and occasionally substituting the vanilla extract for other flavors such as almond, coconut, milk, or lemon. The color of the buttercream is slightly off white but the taste of whipped buttery frosting makes it entirely worth it. Also, the frosting can be easily tinted with food paste gel or food coloring. [click to continue…]
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One of my favorite easy weeknight dinners is chicken marsala. Made with sauteed mushrooms in a marsala wine sauce, this dinner has become a regular in our household for years. Typically I buy two chicken breasts and split them to make four pieces. This is a great method to stretch a few pieces of chicken out to feed more people. By pounding the chicken out, it also shortens the cooking time making this dinner a doable meal under 30 minutes from start to finish. [click to continue…]
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I know its not summer yet but I don’t care. We’re making homemade kettle corn at our house and its the perfect salty-sweet snack on a beautiful day like today. Several months ago I posted a caramel corn recipe (Crackerjack) and a company called JustPoppin.com left me a comment. Out of sheer curiosity I replied via email with a very simple question. “How come my popcorn doesn’t have huge balloon type qualities like the kettle corn I get at the fair?” I was told the variety of popcorn they use at the fair are called “mushroom” kernels. I had always believed the way to get those huge kernels was the kettle cooking method and was happy to learn I could buy the same mushroom kernels to make kettle corn at home! Truth be told, I love the balloon type variety of kettle corn and was excited to learn the secret behind my misconception. [click to continue…]
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A few years ago a friend of mine taught me how to make potato chips in a microwave. I thought she was kidding because I couldn’t imagine a microwave producing crispy chips. After cooking them for 5 minutes they were done, crispy, and wonderful! [click to continue…]
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I’m so excited to share with you this simple but amazing blueberry sauce. This recipe is very similar to the cranberry sauce recipe I shared on the site months ago, but make no mistake, this blueberry sauce does not take a back seat to no other. My breakfast today went from ordinary to extraordinary when I spooned this warm blueberry sauce over my stack of pancakes. I could not help but feel so spoiled while eating it. I can’t explain in words how awesome this simple blueberry sauce really is, you will just have to make it yourself to understand why I love it so much. Trust me, if you pour this warm sauce over pancakes you will feel like you died and gone to heaven – that good. Best of all, this recipe is ridiculously easy. If you cannot cook and you make this for your friends and family, they’ll suddenly think you’ve gone gourmet on them. [click to continue…]
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