Red Velvet Cupcakes

I love baking. It's my passion. Cooking is fine and all, but I love the sweet, decadent, sinful desserts...which is why my co-workers complain that they only started gaining weight after I was hired. Because most recipes have more than 2 servings, I take the extras to work!! :) So they both love and hate me. Tonight I made Red Velvet Cupcakes from a recipe I found at AllRecipes.com.

This recipe make 30 cupcakes. o_O I definitely didn't need that many, so I halved everything the recipe called for. I am posting the recipe as I found it, so what you see below makes 30 cupcakes (or 60 minis).

Ingredients:
~Cupcakes~
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soad
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 (1 oz) bottle red food color [I used 1/2 of a Safeway 0.25 oz bottle]
2 tsp vanilla extract
~Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting~
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (16 oz) box confectioners' (powdered) sugar

Step 1:
Preheat over to 350F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Step 2:
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy (I do not have an electric mixer, so I used my stainless steel whisk). Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color, and vanilla.

Step 3:
Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed (or by hand) until just blended. DO NOT OVERBEAT!

Step 4:
Spoon batter into 30 paper-line muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.

Step 5:
Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cook in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

Step 6:
The Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.
Beat cream cheese, softened butter, sour cream, and vanilla extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.

Step 7:
FROST THE CUPCAKES!!!

Estimated prep time: 20 minutes
Estimated cook time: 25 minutes

My actual total cook time: 52 minutes

My first time making these, and I was only 7 minutes over the estimated timing. Not bad! And...these turned out just like they look....DELISHUS!!! Nom nom nom!!!

Garlic & Herb Beef Tenderloin

What to cook tonight.... Mexican? No. Some form of Italian? Nah. Salad? Hell no! *light bulb* I know!! STEAK!! Juicy, flavorful, wonderful, made-for-carnivores steak!! And I know just the recipe! From The Pampered Chef's 29 Minutes to Dinner: Volume 2, I'm gonna make Garlic and Herb Beef Tenderloin. This will be the second time I've made it (the first time was utterly delicious!). Let's see if I can replicate it.

Ingredients:
~Beef~
1 tsp vegetable oil
4 beef tenderloin filets (4-6 oz each; 1 inch thick)  [I used 2 filets, totally ~1.2 lbs, since Safeway doesn't sell 4 packs...]
1 tbsp Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub (PC)
~Sauce~
1 shallot, finely chopped (or 1/2 an onion, which is what I used the first time, but I used a shallot this time)
1/4 cup dry white wine (ie: Chardonnay)
1 pkg (5.2 oz) garlic and herb-flavored cheese spread [I used The Laughing Cow's Light Garlic and Herb spread - it comes with 8 wedges, and I used 7]
1/3 cup chicken broth

**Can be served with plain mashed potatoes mixed with a reserved portion of the above sauce**

Step 1:
Add oil to skillet, heat over med-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Season filets with rub (see above). Cook filets undisturbed 3-5 minutes or until browned. Turn filets over; cook 3-5 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, cook until it register 140F or 60C for medium-rare. Remove skillet from heat, transfer filets to plate. Tent plate with foil and let stand 5 minutes.

Step 2:
Return skillet to heat and cook shallot 30-45 seconds or until softened; add wine.

Step 3:
Use silicone whisk (or some non-scratch utensil) to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet. Add cheese spread. Cook and stir 20-30 seconds or until cheese spread is melted and smooth.

Step 4:
Add broth and cook an additional 30-45 seconds or until heated through.

Step 5:
Reserve 1/2 cup of sauce for mashed potatoes (if you're serving some with the steak). Serve filets with remaining sauce.

Proclaimed cook time: 24 minutes

Total cook time: 39 minutes (this includes prep time)

Not too shabby. A delicious dish in under 45 minutes!! And it serves 4 people (if you find 4 filets...or I guess you could cut the 2 in half). I served the steak with instant mashed potatoes mixed with the reserved sauce.

Lively Lemon Bars

Tonight, we ate out (Chinese food, yum!) and I made dessert!! I felt like something fruit, so I decided on lemon bars (which I actually meant to make last night, but I took a 2 hour nap instead). From The Pampered Chef's It's good for you cookbook.

Ingredients:
~Crust~
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup 70% vegetable oil spread  [I used 1/2 c. sweet cream butter since that's all I had in the fridge)
~Filling~
3 lemons (I used dried lemon peel and lemon juice instead of actual lemons)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp powdered sugar (for topping)

Recipe time estimate:
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 37 minutes

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray Square Baker (PC) [I used a glass square baking pan] with nonstick cooking spray.

Step 2:
CRUST. Combine flour and powdered sugar. Add vegetable oil spread (I added the sweet cream butter, softened); blend using a pastry blender (I used a fork) until misture resembles coarse crumbs.

Step 3:
Press crumb mixture onto bottom of baking pan. Bake 17 minutes; remove from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack (PC).

Step 4:
While crust is cooling, zest two lemons to meason 2 teaspoons zest. Finely snip zest using Kitchen Shears (PC). This is where I just measured out 2 tsp of dried lemon peel.

Step 5:
Juice lemons to measure 1/2 cup of juice. This is where I used store bought lemon juice.

Step 6:
Combine lemon zest, juice, and granulated sugar; whisk. Add eggs, egg whites, flour, and salt; whisk until blended.

Step 7:
Pour filling over crust, spreading evenly. Bake 20 minutes or until filling is set (I baked for an extra 10 minutes to set the filling; probably took longer due to different pan than recipe called for). Remove from oven to cooling rack. Cool completely.

Step 8:
Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

My actual cooking time:
Prep time: 16 minutes
Cooking time: 47 minutes
Total time: 63 minutes










Overall, rather tasty. Not the best lemon bars I've ever made, but not bad. I highly recommend using fresh ingredients (ie: lemon), as the bars taste a little more bitter than I think they should.

Doing this verbatum to the recipe would make each bar (16 total) 170 calories.

I'll try it with fresh next time, and may make an addendum to this recipe post. We'll see!

Beef and Nectarine Stir-Fry

So the past few months, since I became an independent consultant for The Pampered Chef, pretty much all the recipes I've made have been PC. Tonight, I decided to finally venture out and explore the world again!!! OK, nothing so dramatic. But tonight's recipe I found in The About.com Guide to Shortcut Cooking. Hey, it was on the heavily discounted bookshelf at Borders!

~Beef and Nectarine Stir-fry~

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 lb beef bottom round steak
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 onion, chopped
4 nectarines, sliced
1 cup stir-fry sauce (I found it at Safeway)

Step 1:
Place beef in the freezer for 15 minutes (makes it easier to slice). Slice partially frozen beef across the grain.
I admit, I cheated. I bought Safeway's "Ranchers Reserve Beef Top Sirloin Strips for Stir Fry" (pre-cut). Hey, it save me 15 minutes of freezer time and however many minutes of cutting time. But you can do it the hard way if you like. :)

Step 2:
Place meat in medium bowl; add vinegar, soy sauce, and corn starch. Toss with your fingers to coat. Let stand 10 minutes.

I took the time while the meat was marinating to slice and dice the nectarines and onions. You may also do this before you even start getting your hands dirty.

Step 3:
Heat wok (large skillet) until hot, then add peanut oil. Stir-fry beef until brown (4-6 minutes); remove beef to plate.

Step 4:
Stir-fry onion in wok (large skillet) until tender (4-5 minutes).

Step 5:
Return beef to skillet (don't remove the onions). Add the nectarines and stir-fry sauce. Cook over medium-high heat until sauce bubbles (~5 minutes).

Step 6:
Serve over rice (my choice), couscous, or noodles.

Total time: 40 minutes

Now, at first, nectarines with meat sounded....weird. But it was very good! And you get a serving or two of fruit in your meat and rice dish. ^^ Win-win!

Cheesy Chicken Chilaquiles

I was looking for a quick and easy recipe for tonight, so I didn't have to spend too much time in the kitchen on a day off, and opened up my Pampered Chef cookbook 29 Minute to Dinner: Volume 2. In it, I found something that looked absolutely delicious, and had less than 10 ingredients (spices included)!

~Cheesy Chicken Chilaquiles~

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (can substitute thighs)
1 tbsp Southwestern Seasoning Mix (Pampered Chef) - can substitute taco seasoning mix
1 3/4 cups salsa verde
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
12 cups tortilla chips (authentic restaurant-style)
2 cups shredded Chihuahua cheese (can substitute mozzarella or monterey jack)
1 cup crumbled queso fresco (can substitute farmer's cheese)
Optional: Sour cream

Listed cooktime: 23 minutes

My ingredients:

I also had a 14 oz bag of tortilla chips that claimed they were "restaurant style" (I used the whole bag).

Step 1:
Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces. Luckily, my Cutting Board (PC) has measuring units on each long side.

Step 2:
Combine chicken and seasoning mix in Deep Covered Baker (PC); mix well. Spread chicken evenly over bottom of baker. Microwave (covered) on High 4 minutes. Stir to separate chicken. Microwave (covered) another 4 minutes (or until chicken isn't pink). Drain using colander.

Step 3:

Combine salsa and broth. Chop cilantro. Arranged half the chips (broken) over bottom of baker (no need to rinse or wash baker prior).

Top with half the chicken, salsa mixture and cheeses. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the cilantro on top.

Repeat layers once, ending with cheeses.

Step 4:

Microwave (covered) on High 5-7 minutes, or until cheese are melted. Let stand (covered) 5 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Serve with sour cream (optional).

The finished product:

Looks pretty close to the picture in the cookbook, huh? :) It worked out great! And it was very, very delicious.

Prep time: 20 minutes (including attempting to figure out if the 14oz bag of chips = 12 cups the recipe called for; I gave up)

Cook time: 38 minutes

Total time: 58 minutes

Not bad for a first attempt. I bet after I've made it a few time I could get it down to the proclaimed "23 minutes".