Betty Crocker's Kids Cook!

Victoria got this new cookbook from Gramma and she has found some recipes that she can't wait to try. It is the Betty Crocker Kids Cook cookbook.

M & M Cupcakes

To go along with the yellow and blue polka dot theme...

I made two batches of cupcakes, one Funfetti and the other Chocolate. I found bags of just yellow M&M's and blue M&M's in the Easter Candy aisle. Decorating these took a lot longer than I expected, but came out cute.

Monkey Cake

Here is the finished Monkey Cake. This time I used a box pound cake and it only took about an hour to bake. I also made a couple cupcakes from the extra batter.

After baking I let it cool for a few hours.

Trim flat side of cake to be level. Trim away top of cupcake to be level. Cut cupcake in half vertically for the two monkey ears. Cut bowl cake in half horizontally to make 2 layers. Spread 3/4 cup chocolate buttercream on top of flat layer (I used lemon frosting from a can). Top with domed layer. Transfer to a cake plate. Spread a thick layer of chocolate buttercream over entire monkey head. Spread buttercream over cupcake ears. Attach ears to sides of head, top of cupcake facing forward, securing with toothpicks.

Place remaining chocolate frosting in a piping bag fitted with a small plain round tip (I used the same star tip as the hair.). Pipe dots around bottom edge of cake in a continuous line.

Fill another piping bag fitted with a large plain round tip (such as Ateco #11) with yellow buttercream. (I used white frosting and put a tiny bit of brown Wilton gel and mixed it up)
Pipe an oval near the front base of cake. Fill in with frosting, and smooth. I then put on brown M&M's and used Black Wilton Icing in a tube and dotted on the pupils, nostrils and mouth. Decorated cake can be refrigerated up to 3 hours.

Bobby Flay Grill It

Look what Victoria and Marcel picked out for my birthday present. It is Bobby Flay's Grill It. Yum it has loads of yummy looking recipes.

Chocolate Pound Cake

I made this recipe yesterday to try and make a monkey cake with it.

1/2 lb butter
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter and shortening together in large bowl.
Gradually add sugar.
Add eggs, one at a time.
Sift flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa together.
Gradually add to butter and shortening mixture.
Add milk and vanilla.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 25 minutes in greased and floured pans.
Makes 2 loaves or 1 tube pan.

I used the mini sports ball pan and it took almost 1 hour 45 minutes and the rest of the batter I used and made a loaf and that took close to 2 hours. I think time I will use the batter and put it in mini loaf pans.

Chicken Saltimbocca

This is from my Taste of Home Chicken magazine. The picture is from their site.

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
6 thin slices deli ham
6 slices Swiss cheese
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
Hot cooked rice

Flatten chicken to 1/4-in. thickness. Top each piece with a slice of ham and cheese. Roll up tightly; secure with toothpicks. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Roll chicken in flour mixture; refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a large skillet, brown roll-ups in oil on all sides; transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine the soup and wine or broth; pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until meat is longer pink.

Remove roll-ups and stir sauce. Discard toothpicks.

Serve with rice. Yield: 6 servings

Chicken Provolone

This is again from Taste of Home Chicken Magazine.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp pepper
Butter Flavored Cooking spray
8 fresh basil leaves
4 thin slices of prosciutto or deli ham
4 slices of provolone cheese

Sprinkle chicken with pepper. In a large nonstick skillet coated with butter flavored cooking spray, cook the chicken over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170. (For the sake of an easy clean up, I just put them in a glass baking dish and will bake them in the oven, why dirty a skillet??)

Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet; top with basil, prosciutto and cheese. Broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat for 1 - 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a green salad.

Here it is before the cheese was melted. I did put cheese on the far left one after I took a picture of it.

All done and it was very very good!

Lemon Chicken and Rice

This also came from the Taste of Home Chicken Magazine. It wasn't lemony enough so I added another tablespoon or so.

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cut into strips
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
2 tbs butter (I used light olive oil)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tbs cornstarch
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth (I used chicken stock from a box)
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
1 cup frozen peas

In a large skillet, cook chicken, onion and carrot in butter for 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, broth, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Gradually add to skillet; bring to a boil. cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in rice and peas. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Chicken Satay Wraps

I picked up a new Taste of Home Chicken magazine and put sticky notes on a lot of good looking recipes.

Today at lunch I made the chicken satay wraps. They were super good!!!

2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs creamy peanut butter
2 green onions, chopped
1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups sliced cooked chicken
1 cup coleslaw mix
4 flour tortillas (8 inches), room temp

In a large bowl, whisk oil peanut butter, onions, soy sauce and pepper until combined. Add the chicken and toss to coat.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup coleslaw mix over each tortilla; top with chicken mixture. Roll up tightly.

Serve with chips.

English Muffin Bread (with pics)

I decided to make some English Muffin bread this morning since Victoria is home sick again. What can be better on a sick belly than toast. I have been using my bread machine just on the dough cycle lately because it just isn't baking right.

When they cycle was done, I placed the dough into a loaf pan that was greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover; let rise in warm, draft- free place until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from pans; cool on wire rack. Slice; toast to serve.

All risen and ready for the oven.

All baked and cooling!

Chicken, Squash and Pasta soup

I just finished making this for dinner.

1 tbs olive oil
2 medium celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 tsp dried sage leaves (or poultry seasoning)
6 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups uncooked tricolor rotini pasta
1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1/8 tsp pepper
pinch salt

In a dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat. Add celery, onion and sage. Cook 5 to 6 minutes stirring frequently, until onion is softened.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium. Cover; cook 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta and squash are tender.

Pumpkin Muffins

I just made these for my sick little girl.

1 cup pumpkin (canned "or" fresh)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup melted shortening
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup of raisins

Blend pumpkin, eggs, water, and shortening in large bowl.

Sift together remaining ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture.

Fill greased muffin tins about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 12 large muffins.

Golden Chicken and Noodles

This is what I just put in the crock pot. I found it in a Cambells cookbook.

2 cans Campbells Condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
8 large carrots peeled and thickly sliced
8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cups hot cooked egg noodles.

Stir the soup, water, lemon juice, mustard and garlic powder and carrots in a slow cooker. Add the chicken and turn to coat.

Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve with the noodles and sprinkle with fresh parsley (optional).

Creole Chicken

This is what is going in the crock pot this morning.

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth (using chicken stock)
8 z Polish sausage, coarsely chopped
1 cup diced cooked ham
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
Several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce
2 cups uncooked instant rice
1 cup chopped green sweet pepper

In a crock pot, combine tomatoes, broth, sausage, ham, tomato paste, water, Cajun seasoning, and hot pepper sauce.

Cover and cook on low setting for 5 to 6 hours.

Turn off crock pot. Stir in rice and sweet pepper and let stand 10 to 15 minutes or until rice is tender.

Makes about 6 servings.

Wilton Color Chart

Have you ever tried to mix gel food colors to get a color that you needed? I am getting things together in my head for Victoria's birthday party. This year it is "Mod Monkey" and the colors are lemon yellow and aqua. I am going to frost 1/2 the cup cakes lemon yellow and put on aqua M&M's and the other 1/2 of the cupcakes will be frosted aqua with yellow M&Ms.

So this morning at Walmart I picked up the yellow M&M's and light blue M&M's. Then I started wondering what color Wilton gels would make the aqua color. I found a link on their site!

ANTIQUE GOLD Add just an extremely small touch of Leaf Green to Golden Yellow

AQUA Sky Blue and Leaf Green

AVOCADO Use Moss Green color

BLACK Our paste color or Royal Blue, Christmas Red, Orange and Lemon

CHARTREUSE 9 parts Lemon Yellow, 1 part Leaf Green

CORAL Creamy peach and a touch of pink or orange and a touch of pink.

FLESH Add just an extremely small touch of Copper to white icing. Ivory can also be used. Light pink with a small amount of brown.

GRAY Add just a touch of Black to white icing.

HUNTER GREEN Kelly Green and a touch of Black

JADE Leaf green, Royal Blue and a touch of Black

LAVENDER Pink and Violet

MARIGOLD Lemon Yellow and Orange

MAROON Burgundy and Red Red

MAUVE Touch of Burgundy with very little Black.

MISTY GREEN Leaf Green, Royal Blue and a touch of Black

MOSS GREEN Our paste color or Violet and Lemon Yellow

MULBERRY Mix Rose with a touch of Royal Blue.

NAVY BLUE Royal Blue and Black

PERIWINKLE Royal Blue and Violet

PLUM Use violet with a touch of Christmas red.

RASPBERRY Pink and Red Red

RUST Orange, Red Red and Brown

SILVER We do not advise attempting to simulate silver color in icing. Instead, add silver leaves or other silver accessories to the cake.

TEAL Use teal paste color or Lemon Yellow and Sky Blue

TURQUOISE Sky Blue and Lemon Yellow

WARM GOLD Use Golden Yellow with just a touch of brown.

Minestrone with Italian Sausage

I am just putting this together for dinner, so far is smells great! I found the recipe in a Betty Crocker Magazine.

Prep time 25 minutes
Start to finish 45
Servings 7 (1 1/2 cups)

1 tbs olive oil
1 lb bulk sweet Italian Sausage (or links skinned and broken into bits)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tsp dried basil leaves
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
5 1/4 cups beef stock
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup uncooked small elbow macaroni (I am using mini bow ties)
1 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise in half then cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup frozen green beans.

In 5-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion, carrots, basil and garlic; cook 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until sausage is no longer pink; drain.

Stir broth, tomatoes and great northern beans into sausage mixture. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in macaroni, zucchini and frozen green beans; heat to boiling. Cook over medium-high heat 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are hot and macaroni is tender.

Shamrock Cookies

I had the cutest conversation last night with Victoria. She said that all the valentine cookies were gone and we should make some new ones and would like St. Patricks day cookies. Off we went to the laundry room to see what cookie cutters I had, hmm no luck. Since I had to run to walmart this morning I found a St. Patty set and some more SPRINKLES!

So when I was telling Marcel about our little conversation he laughed and said it sounds like when I go to him and say "I have been thinking" or "I have an idea" LOL

Butter Cookie Dough

1 cup salted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons whipping cream (I just used light cream)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (I didn't use that, today I used Lemon extract)
3 cups unbleached flour (I had to use a bit more)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a mixer combine butter and sugar. Add egg, cream, vanilla, and almond extract all at once and thoroughly blend.

In a separate bowl stir together flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and blend.

Roll out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch and cut with a cookie cutter. Bake on a greased cookie sheet 8 to 12 minutes and cool on a rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. (Dough does not need to be chilled before using.)

As you can tell from the pictures, I tinted half the dough with some Wilton Kelly Green and Leaf Green.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

2/3 cup warm water
4 tsp unsalted butter (softened)
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour
3 tbs dry milk powder
1 tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp Bread Machine yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacture.

When the dough is ready, roll it out to a rectangle. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar. I didn't measure, I just eyeballed it.

Roll dough up and place in a greased loaf pan.

Preheat oven to 350.

Let loaf rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until crust color is to your liking and when "knocked on" sounds hollow.
This made a really small loaf since I used a 1 pound recipe. I think next time I will try a 1.5 or 2 pound recipe.

French Countryside Bread

1 3/8 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups white bread flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients in order given by manufacturer of your bread machine.
Select French or Basic setting and desired Crust Color setting; press start.

Makes one (2 pound) loaf.

Since my machine isn't baking very well I will set it on dough cycle. When the cycle is done I am putting it into a loaf pan and letting it rise. Then bake it at 350 for 30 -35 minutes.

Dijon Steak and Potato Stew

Victoria picked this recipe out from a Betty Crocker magazine. I stopped at Sweetbay after I dropped her off at school and picked up the needed ingredients.

Prep time 20 minutes
Start to finish time 45 minutes
Servings 4 (1 1/4 cups each)

1 lb boneless beef sirloin, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp peppered seasoned salt
2 jars (12 oz each) home style beef gravy
1 cup water
2 tbs Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
4 unpeeled small red potatoes cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups frozen green beans
2 medium carrots, sliced (1 cup)

Sprinkle beef with peppered seasoned salt. In a 4 quart Dutch oven or 12 inch non stick skillet, cook beef over medium high heat about 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until brown.

Stir in gravy, water, mustard, and thyme until well blended. Stir in potatoes, green beans and carrots. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium low.

Cover; cook 20 to 22 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and beans are tender.

Now I need to see what kind of bread I should make....