Yellow Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift cake mix into a separate bowl and set aside. Whisk together remaining ingredients until uniform consistency. Stir in cake mix until well combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 350* for 17 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.



Vanilla buttercream:
1 cup softened butter
3 tsp. vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 T. milk if needed
sprinkles or decorations (optional)
Beat butter two minutes. Add vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add milk if needed. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes with large open or closed star tip.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I bought a totally amazing cupcake book called "Your Cup of Cake" by Lizzy Early--highly recommend it! I usually don't use mixes often, but these recipes can be used with gluten-free cake mixes or pretty much any other special diet cake mix. Enjoy!


1 box devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift the cake mix into a separate bowl and set aside. Whisk together the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla until unified consistency. Stir in the cake mix until well combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full of batter. Bake at 350* for 17 minutes or until the cakes spring back from being touched. Let cool on rack. Frost when completely cooled.

Chocolate Buttercream:

1 cup softened butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

1 Tbsp. milk

3-4 cups powdered sugar

sprinkles (optional)

Beat butter 2 minutes. Add vanilla, cocoa and milk. Gradually add powdered sugar. Pipe onto cupcakes using a large open or closed star tip.

Filipino Noodle Dish (Pansit)

I'm sure this has a real name, but for now, this is the title: Filipino Noodle Dish. It's delicious!!

One 8 oz. package rice noodles (My package said "rice stick" on it. See picture at bottom.)
1 T. cooking oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup chicken or pork meat (I used a large 12.5 oz. can of chicken--I liked the texture better)
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. oyster sauce
2 1/2 cups chicken or beef stock
1/2 cup grated carrots
2 cups shredded/finely chopped cabbage

Saute onion and garlic in oil in a large skillet. Add meat, soy sauce and oyster sauce. (Soak noodles in water for about 3 minutes. I used a casserole dish.) Add carrots, cabbage and stock. Bring to a boil. Remove meat and vegetables. Put rice noodles in remaining stock. Cook about 10 minutes or until the noodles absorb the liquid. Stir in the veggies and meat.
There are some variations if you want: use some frozen peas, shrimp, some like more soy sauce, etc. You could also use some chopped broccoli because broccoli goes with almost everything! :)

Makes a lot of yummy noodles. Here are the noodles I use:

Cheesy Crackers

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shred yourself (the pre-shredded stuff comes with an anti-caking agent that will not allow the cheese to mesh with the other ingredients)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup flour
2-3 Tbsp cold water

Mix the butter, cheese, salt and pepper in a stand mixer with a paddle. It will form a ball--kind of. Slowly add flour while mixer is on low speed. Add cold water one tablespoon at a time. Mix in spices if desired--I like them!

Spice mixture:
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp paprika

After adding spices, mix briefly in mixer. It's okay to have some streaks.
Divide in two and wrap each section in plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for 30 min to an hour. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured surface. Yes, this is thin. I use rubber rings on my rolling pin to get the right thickness. Cut out dough with a cutter (I used mustaches and one inch cutters. The one inch cutters made very small bite sized crackers--addicting!) Poke holes in each cracker with a fork. Bake for 11-15 minutes--depending on the cutter size used--in an oven heated to 375 degrees. (The one inch crackers were done in 11 minutes, larger ones will obviously take longer.)
Here are the mustaches. You can see I baked them longer than the above crackers, but I like them crispy! :)

Rosemary Soup

Okay, I completely made this up this afternoon, but it's the best soup I have ever eaten. These measurements are approximate, as I did not actually measure--sorry!

Here's what I wrote down as estimates:

2 cans chicken broth
3 small potatoes diced to about 3/8 inch (I left the skins on mine for nutrition)
3/4 to 1 cup diced ham (I used turkey ham)
(Get these cooking in a large pot on medium heat while preparing other ingredients)

2 celery stalks, diced (I like mine diced really small)
1/2 cup broccoli stems diced (this is all I had left in my fridge)
2 Tbsp dried onion
2 minced garlic cloves

Let cook on medium-high covered for 10-12 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add these:
1/2 tsp dried rosemary (I'm not really sure how much I put in, I just sprinkled it around several times)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp flour to thicken (I use a fine sifter to sprinkle in while stirring to avoid clumps)

Stir until all melted and smooth. Makes around 8 cups, although I'm not sure how much I had eaten before I measured it into portions for my lunches this week! I had about two bowls and 6 cups left over--so about 8 cups total I'd guess. Enjoy!

Cabbage Delight

This is a recipe I made up. The proportions are estimates--just a warning. :)

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped broccoli
1/2 to 1 cup cut up low fat turkey kielbasa (It's about 3-4 inches of sausage. I slice it into 1/4" slices and then quarter cut the slices)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cabbage (about 3 slices off the cabbage about 1/2 inch thick)
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. Oil for sautéing

Heat frying pan or wok with oil on med-high heat. Add onions and sauté one minute. Add kielbasa. Stir for one minute. Add broccoli and sauté one minute. Add cabbage. Add soy sauce spreading it over all ingredients. Cook stirring and flipping ingredients until cabbage begins to turn clear. Don't over cook unless you like mushy vegetables. Serve hot. I think it makes about two cups cooked.  Experiment with proportions to your liking.

Baklava

                       

 

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough (fillo? I've seen it spelled that way too.)                                                                            

1 pound chopped nuts (I used 1/4 pecans, 1/4 pistachios and 1/2 almonds)                                                  

1 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

 

Sauce:                                                            

1 cup water                                                    

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup honey

 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.

Chop nuts (a little more course than crumbs) and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. (Mine was pan sized already.) Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth or plastic wrap to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly with a baking brush. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered at the bottom. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The very op layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep for a beautiful "crust" on top.
Using a sharp knife cut into triangle shapes. (Some say cut all the way through, but I have also seen where you cut mostly through the layers before baking so that the sauce doesn't pool at the bottom. Personal choice.)  Bake for about 40-50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Reduce heat to med-low. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.